LIFE   OF  THURLOW  WEED 

INCLUDING 

HIS  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

AND 

A  MEMOIR 


EMBELLISHED  WITH 


SEVERAL  STEEL  PLATE  ILLUSTRATIONS 

COMPLETE  IN  TWO  VOLUMES 
VOLUME  II. 


/    ^ 

x<_-^>^— ^-^      £^4 


MEMOIR 


OF 


THURLOW  WEED 


BY    HIS   GRANDSON 

THURLOW  WEED  BARNES 


BOSTON 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND   COMPANY 

New  York  :  11  East  Seventeenth  Street 

OEfe  Jttoerjjibe  £re0s, 

1884 


s.0$ 


Copyright,  1884, 
BY  TIIURLOW  WEED  BARNES. 

Ail  rights  reserved. 

7  r  o  &  7 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge. 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  H.  0.  Hougnton  &  Co. 


To 
MY  MOTHER 

EMILY  WEED  BAKNES 

Sfljis  Folume 

IS 

AFFECTIONATELY'  INSCRIBED 


PREFACE. 


THE  reader,  as  he  lays  down  the  first  volume  of  this  work, 
will  say,  "  After  all,  there  can  be  no  picture  of  a  man's  life  so 
vivid  as  that  which  is  drawn  by  his  own  hand."  ,  And  it  is  a 
matter  of  regret  that  Mr.  Weed  left  unfinished  the  record  which 
he  began  ;  that  he  was  prevented,  by  various  causes,  from  con 
tinuing  the  story  of  his  youth,  with  the  same  freedom  and  mi 
nuteness  of  detail,  down  through  years  which  witnessed  the 
contest  in  Kansas ;  the  collapse  of  the  old  Whig  party  and  the 
birth  of  its  successor ;  the  dissolution  of  "  the  firm  of  Seward, 
Weed  &  Greeley,"  and  the  war  for  the  Union. 

In  devoting  the  ensuing  pages  largely  to  the  period  between 
1840  and  1882,  and  more  particularly  to  that  between  1850  and 
1867,  the  writer  is  but  carrying  out  the  purpose  which  his 
grandfather  cherished.  When  possible,  —  as  it  has  been  often, 
—  Mr.  Weed's  own  words,  in  well-remembered  conversations, 
in  newspaper  articles,  or  in  unpublished  fragments  of  autobiog 
raphy,  have  been  employed.  As  frequently,  the  narrative  is 
carried  on  by  selections  from  the  letters  which  passed  between 
him  and  other  public  men.  Written  without  reserve,  and  of 
course  without  a  thought  of  publication,  these  letters  illumine 
with  wonderful  distinctness  and  fidelity,  not  only  the  characters 
of  those  who  wrote  them,  but  the  times  in  which  they  lived. 

No.  12  WEST  TWELFTH  STREET, 
NEW  YORK,  December,  1883. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
1630-1818. 

PAG* 

JONAS  WEED  AND  HIS  DESCENDANTS.  —  THEIR  SERVICE  IN  Two 
WARS.  —  BIRTH  OF  THURLOW  WEED.  —  His  CHILDHOOD.  —  AP 
PRENTICED  TO  A  PRINTER.  —  STATE  NEWSPAPERS  IN  1810.  —  THE 
WAR  OF  1812.  —  ON  THE  FRONTIER.  —  AT  WORK  IN  ALBANY.  —  A 
JOURNEYMAN  IN  NEW  YORK.  —  FIRST  EDITORIAL  ARTICLES.  —  THE 
GOSPEL  OF  LABOR 1 

CHAPTER  II. 

1818-1821. 

MARRIAGE.  —  CATHERINE  OSTRANDER.  —  IN  CHENANGO  Two  YEARS. 

—  EARLY  RECORD  ON  IMPORTANT   QUESTIONS.  —  INTERNAL  IM 
PROVEMENTS.  —  THE  COMPROMISE  OF  1820.  —  NORWICH  REVISITED. 

—  THE  MANLIUS  EXPERIMENT.  —  MAJOR  ANDRE".  —  GENERAL  VAN 
RENSSELAER.  —  RIVAL    STAGE   LINES.  —  CANAL   NAVIGATION.  — 
STRUGGLING  AGAINST   POVERTY.  —  A  NEW  VENTURE.  —  ADDISON 
GAUDINER 8 

CHAPTER  III. 

1822-1829. 

AT  ROCHESTER.  —  EVERARD  PECK.  —  THE  STATE  ADMINISTRATION.  — 
ITS  PLACE  IN  HISTORY.  —  TWITTING  A  JOURNEYMAN.  —  His  REPLY. 

—  MNEMONIC  EXERCISES.  —  DANIEL  WEBSTER'S  ELECTION  TO  THE 
SENATE.  —  THE  CHARACTER  OF  WASHINGTON.  —  ANNIVERSARY  OF 
AMERICAN    INDEPENDENCE.  —  DEATH    OF   DE  WITT   CLINTON. — 
GEORGE  DAWSON'S  REMINISCENCES.  —  LETTERS  FROM  ALBERT  H. 
TRACY.  —  FREDERICK  WHITTLESEY.  —  CHANCELLOR  LANSING  .        .    22 

CHAPTER  IV. 

1830-1837. 

AT  ALBANY.  —  THF  DEMOCRATIC  REGENCY.  —  EDWIN  CROSWELL.  — 
THE  "  EVENING  JOURNAL  "  FOUNDED.  —  FRANCIS  GRANGER.  — 


x  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

"THE  GLORIOUS  WEST."  —  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD.  —  His  PUBLIC 
CAREER  BEGUN.  —  GEORGE  W.  PATTERSON.  —  ADOPTING  A  NAME 
FOR  OPPONENTS  OF  GENERAL  JACKSON.  —  BUSINESS  DEPRESSION.  — 
MR.  CALHOUN'S  PURPOSE.  —  PRESIDENTIAL  ASPIRANTS  .  .  .36 

CHAPTER  V. 

1837-1838. 

MR.  GREELEY  TO  MR.  WEED.  —  "I  WILL  TURN  THE  CORNER  YET."  — 
THE  RIGHT  OF  PETITION  DEFENDED.  —  A  HARRISON  MEETING.  — 
" OUR  FRIENDS  IN  NEW  YORK."  —  SEWARD  FOR  GOVERNOR.  —  "A 
YEARLING  NOT  WANTED."  —  MILLARD  FILLMORE.  —  "  THE  PHILIS 
TINES  ARE  UPON  Us."  —  GOVERNOR  MARCY'S  "  THREE- WALLED 
HOUSE."  —  "  POLITICAL  DRILL  OF  THE  STATE  OFFICERS  "  .53 

CHAPTER  VI. 
1839-1840. 

WHIGS  AND  DEMOCRATS.  —  WILLIAM  KENT  TO  MR.  WEED.  —  "  THE 
BEST  MAN  IN  THE  DISTRICT."  —  A  TRACY-SEWARD  INCIDENT.— 
MR.  WEBSTER  AND  THE  PRESIDENCY.  —  MAGNANIMITY  OF  HENRY 
CLAY.  —  GENERAL  HARRISON  NOMINATED.  —  SPIRIT  OF  THE  CAN 
VASS. —  "!N  SIGHT  OF  LAND."  —  "A  KNOCK-DOWN  FOR  THE 
Locos."  —  LETTERS  TO  FRANCIS  GRANGER 71 

CHAPTER  VII. 
1841-1843. 

CHEERFUL  PROSPECTS.  —  LETTERS  TO  THE  POSTMASTER-GENERAL.  — 
HENRY  CLAY  FOR  PRESIDENT. — MR.  GREELEY'S  PROGRESS.  —  His 
OPINIONS  ON  SEVERAL  QUESTIONS.  —  THE  RURAL  PRESS.  —  PENN 
SYLVANIA  POLITICIANS.  —  DEATH  OF  GENERAL  HARRISON.  — 
"  THESE  VIOLENT  PROCEEDINGS."  —  WHIG  DEFEATS.  —  CLOSE  OF 
MR.  SEWARD'S  SECOND  TERM.  —  AN  OLD  STORY  RETOLD  .  .  88 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
1843. 

SCENES  IN  EUROPE.  —  BISHOP  HUGHES.  —  MR.  SCHOOLCRAFT.  —  FA 
THER  MATHEW.  —  POVERTY  IN  IRELAND.  —  DANIEL  O'CONNELL.  — 
A  MASS  MEETING  ON  DONNYBROOK  GREEN.  —  SIGHTS  IN  LONDON. 
—  ST.  PAUL'S.  —  FIRST  GLIMPSE  OF  ROYALTY.  —  FRANKLIN'S 
BOARDING  -  HOUSE.  —  SCOTLAND.  —  ABBOTSFORD.  —  MELROSE.  — 
PARIS.  —  THE  TOMB  OF  LAFAYETTE.  —  LETTERS  TO  WIFE  AND 
DAUGHTER  .  102 


CONTENTS.  xi 

CHAPTER  IX. 
1843-1844. 

PAGB 

EXTENDING  SLAVERY  INTO  TEXAS.  —  WASHINGTON  HUNT'S  SCHEMES 
FOR  UNITING  THE  PARTY.  —  THE  GOVERNORSHIP.  —  IRISH  REPEAL. 
—  MR.  WEED  TO  THE  SECRETARY  OF  WAR.  —  NATIONAL  CONVEN 
TION  OF  1844.  —  "  MY  OPINION  ON  THE  TEXAS  QUESTION."  —  EDI 
TORIAL  FUSILLADES.  —  MR.  HUNT  ON  POLITICAL  PROSCRIPTION.  — 
"  OLD  FATHER  FILLMORE."  —  "  MISRULE  AND  MISERY  "  .  .  .111 

CHAPTER  X. 

1844-1846. 


A  WINTER  IN  THE  TROPICS.  —  MR^^WKED'S  J?OOK.  —  DR.  FRANKLIN'S 
RULE.  —  WASHINGTON  HUNT  ON  POLITICAL  CORRUPTION.  —  RE 
TURN  TO  ALBANY.  —  THE  STATE  CANVASS.  —  GOVERNOR  YOUNG. 
—  "  MONEY  WELL  LAID  OUT  FOR  OUR  CONCERN."  —  TEXAS  JOINS 
THE  UNION.  —  WAR  WITH  ENGLAND  THREATENED.  —  "  NATIVE 
AMERICANISM."  —  LETTERS  FROM  BISHOP  HUGHES,  DANIEL  WEB 
STER,  AND  MR.  GREELEY 127 

CHAPTER  XI. 

1846-1862. 

THE  BUSINESS  OF  SWINDLING  EMIGRANTS.  —  How  IT  ONCE  FLOUR 
ISHED  IN  NEW  YORK.  —  REFORM  EFFORTS.  —  ORGANIZATION  OF 
THE  BOARD  OF  COMMISSIONERS  OF  EMIGRATION.  —  NON-PARTISAN 
GOVERNMENT.  —  OTHER  CITY  COMMISSIONS.  —  A  PIER  LINE  ES 
TABLISHED.  —  CHARITIES  AND  CORRECTION.  —  CENTRAL  PARK.  — 
METROPOLITAN  POLICE.  —  ALVAH  HUNT.  —  EVENTS  AT  WASHING- 
-  —  A  TOUR  THROUGH  THE  NORTHWEST 138 


CHAPTER  XII. 

1847-1882. 

FATHER  MATHEW. —  THE  TOTAL  ABSTINENCE  QUESTION.  —  MISTAKES 
OF  THE  PROHIBITION  PARTY.  —  THE  USE  OF  LIGHT  WINES.  —  GOS 
PEL  METHODS  OF  INCULCATING  SOBRIETY.  —  THE  RELIGIOUS  ELE 
MENT  yx  Mfi,  ^Y^ED'S  CHARACTER.  —  His  CHARITY.  —  RELIGIOUS 
EXPERIENCES.  —  MISSION  WORK.  —  DR.  BOOTH'S  REMINISCENCES. 
—  PRACTICAL  RESULTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  —  DUTY  OF  THE  SECULAR 
PRESS.  —  THE  LORD'S  PRAYER  .  .  150 


xii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

1848-1850. 

PAGE 

RALLYING  THE  WHIGS  FOR  GENERAL  TAYLOR.  —  LETTERS  FROM 
WASHINGTON  HUNT.  —  A  USELESS  PILGRIMAGE  TO  MARSHFIELD. 

—  "  MANAGING  "A  MASS  MEETING.  —  RESULTS  OF  THE  CANVASS. 

—  HAMILTON  FISH  FOR  GOVERNOR.  —  "  MY  SUFFERINGS  is  INTOL 
ERABLE."  —  MR.  SEWARD  SENATOR.  —  THE  FEDERAL  ADMINISTRA 
TION.  —  A  PRESIDENT  AFTER  MR.  WEED'S  OWN  HEART.  —  "  STAND 
FIRM,  WE  HAVE  DISUNION  MEN  TO  CONTEND  WITH  "...  165 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

1850-1851. 

THE  MAYORALTY  DECLINED.  —  CALIFORNIA.  —  "  OMNIA  NON  Pos- 
SUMUS  OMNES."  —  DEATH  OF  GENERAL  TAYLOR.  —  EFFORTS  TO 
"  CRUSH  "  MR.  WEED.  —  THE  WHIG  STATE  CONVENTION  OF  1850. 

—  BOLT  OF  THE  SILVER  GRAYS.  —  WASHINGTON  HUNT  FOR  GOV 
ERNOR.  —  A  TRIANGULAR  CANVASS.  —  THE  COALITION  DEFEATED. 

—  GOVERNOR  FISH  ELECTED  SENATOR.  —  H.  J.  RAYMOND.  —  GOV 
ERNOR  MARCY  AND  THE  PRESIDENCY 182 

CHAPTER  XV. 
1851-1852. 

MR.  WEED'S  SECOND  EUROPEAN  TOUR.  —  CHANGES  NOTED  IN  GREAT 
BRITAIN.  —  LONDON'S  PECULIARITIES.  —  KOSSUTH.  —  PROTECTION 
AND  FREE  TRADE.  —  FRANCE  AND  THE  COUP  D'ETAT.  —  PARIS 
SIGHING  FOR  A  RESTORATION.  —  PROVENCE.  —  MARSEILLES.  — 
GENOA'.  —  FLORENCE.  —  NAPLES.  —  ROME  AT  EASTER- TIDE.  —  THE 
APENNINES.  —  VIENNA.  —  FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN.  —  RETURN  TO 
ENGLAND 200 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

1852-1854. 

THE  WHIG  NATIONAL  CONVENTION  AT  BALTIMORE. — GOVERNOR 
HUNT'S  MISTAKE.  —  BUOYANCY  OF  THE  WHIG  CANDIDATE.  —  COL 
LAPSE  OF  THE  PIERCE  ADMINISTRATION.  —  THE  KANSAS-NEBRASKA 
CONTEST.  —  REPEAL  OF  THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE.  —  SHIFTING 
POLITICAL  FORCES.  —  THE  KNOW  NOTHING  PARTY.  —  NEW  YORK 
WHIGS  IN  COUNCIL.  —  MR.  GREELEY  DISAPPOINTED.  —  ELECTION 
OF  MYRON  H.  CLARK  .  215 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
1845-1855. 

PAGE 

A  TRANSITION  PERIOD.  —  DEATH  OF  MR.  WEBSTER  AND  MR.  CLAY. 
-  READJUSTMENT  OF  PERSONAL  RELATIONS.  —  PARTING  WITH 
FRANCIS  GRANGER.  —  KNOW  NOTHING  OPPOSITION  TO  MR.  SEW- 
ARD.  —  AN  INCIDENT  IN  THE  SENATORIAL  CANVASS.  —  FUSION  OF 
WHIGS  WITH  FREE  SOIL  DEMOCRATS.  —  MR.  WEED'S  WISH  TO  RE 
TIRE  FROM  JOURNALISM.  —  "  No.  11 "  AT  THE  ASTOR  .  .  .  229 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
1854-1856. 

THE  KANSAS-NEBRASKA  CONTEST.  —  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  REPUB 
LICAN  PARTY.  —  THE  PITTSBURG  CONVENTION.  —  ITS  PURPOSE.  — 
PROGRESS  OF  THE  MOVEMENT  IN  VARIOUS  STATES.  —  MR.  WEED  A 
REPUBLICAN.  —  His  CONSISTENT  RECORD  AGAINST  SLAVERY.  —  AN 
"  OLD  LINER'S  "  DOUBTS  AND  FEARS.  —  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  QUES 
TION. —MR.  SEWARB.  —  MR.  FILLMORE.  —  JOHN  A.  KING. —  RE 
SULTS  ANALYZED 239 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

1857-1859. 

MR.  WEED'S  READINESS  TO  ABDICATE.  —  PROGRESS  OF  THE  KANSAS 
CONTEST.  —  DECISION  IN  THE  DRED  SCOTT  CASE.  —  THE  REPUBLI 
CAN  STATE  CONVENTION  OF  1858.  —  NOMINATION  OF  E.  D.  MORGAN. 

—  GOVERNOR  HUNT'S  DECISION.  —  MR.  SEWARD'S  TRIP  TO  EUROPE. 

—  LOOKING  FORWARD  TO  THE  NEXT  NATIONAL  CAMPAIGN.  —  ELEC 
TION  RESULTS.  —  JOHN  JBROWN 249 

CHAPTER  XX. 

1860. 

THE  DEMOCRATIC  CONVENTION  AT  CHARLESTON.  —  PLAN  OF  THE  SE 
CESSION  LEADERS.  —  MR.  WEED  AND  THE  SEWARD  CANVASS.  — 
LETTER  FROM  MR.  BOWLES.  —  THE  CHICAGO  CONVENTION  OF  1860. 

—  WITHDRAWAL  OF  MR.  CAMERON.  —  NOMINATION  OF  MR.  LIN 
COLN.  —  THE  DECISIVE  BALLOT  IN  DETAIL.  —  POSITION  OF  PROMI 
NENT  DELEGATES.  —  HANNIBAL  HAMLIN  FOR  VICE-PRESIDENT        .  259 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

1860. 

"  GREELEY  AT  THE  TREMONT  :  WEED  AT  THE  RICHMOND  HOUSE."  — 
GOVERNOR  SEWARD  TO  MR.  WEED.  —  THE  VISIT  TO  IOWA.  —  "  Now 


xiv  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

I  AM  EVEN  WITH  GOVERNOR  SEWARD." — RAYMOND'S  REVIEW  OF 
THE  CONVENTION.  —  DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  POLITICAL  "  FIRM  "  OF 
"  SEWARD,  WEED  &  GREELEY." —  MR.  GREELEY'S  LETTER  TO  GOV 
ERNOR  SEWARD. —  MR.  WEED'S  REPLY 268 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

1860. 

"THE  RAIL  SPLITTER  CANDIDATE  FOR  THE  PRESIDENCY." — His  CAN 
VASS  BEGUN  IN  1859.  —  THE  ILLINOIS  STATE  CONVENTION  AT  DE- 
CATUR.  —  LEONARD  SWETT'S  RECOLLECTIONS  OF  THE  CHICAGO  CON 
VENTION.  —  "  THE  CHANCE  LAY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA."  —  MR.  WEED 
AT  SPRINGFIELD.  —  EFFORTS  IN  NEW  YORK.  —  LETTERS  FROM  MR. 
LINCOLN,  JUDGE  DAVID  DAVIS,  AND  MR.  SWETT  .  .  .  .  291 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

1860. 

THE  FREE  STATES  NOT  UNITED  AGAINST  DISUNION.  —  SECESSION  AD 
VOCATES  AT  THE  NORTH. —  A  NEW  EPOCH  IN  MR.  WEED'S  LIFE. 
—  TTrfi  WTTTTAraAriB'as  TO  ABIDE  BY  A  PEACEABLE  A  T^"^™™^ — 
WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD  SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  —  AFFAIRS  AT  WASH 
INGTON.  —  MR.  LINCOLN  TO  MR.  WEED.  —  POSITION  OF  THE  PRESI 
DENT-ELECT  303 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

1860-1861. 

THE  CRITTENDEN  PROPOSITION.  —  RETURN  OF  "  NATIONAL  PRODI 
GALS  "  TO  ENGLAND.  —  "  A  SECRET  OF  THE  GREATEST  IMPORTANCE." 
—  EFFORTS  TO  SAVE  THE  BORDER  STATES.  —  A.  T.  STEWART  TO 
MR.  WEED.  —  GENERAL  Dix  SECRETARY  OF  THE  TREASURY.  —  MR. 
SEWARD  TO  MR.  WEED.  — "  THE  CONSEQUENCES  AND  RESPONSI 
BILITY  MUST  FALL  UPON  THE  AGGRESSORS  " 312 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

1860-1861. 

INCONGRUOUS  REPUBLICAN  ELEMENTS.  —  THE  SENATORIAL  CANVASS 
OF  1861.  —  WM.  M.  EVARTS.  —  MR.  GREELEY.' — DEFEAT  OF  THE 
RADICALS.  —  "JUSTICE  TO  ALL."  —  MR.  LINCOLN'S  FIRST  INAUG 
URAL. —  ITS  TONE  AND  PURPOSE.  —  CABINET  SELECTIONS.  —  AP 
POINTMENT  POLICY.  —  FORT  SUMTER  SURRENDERS.  —  DUTY  OF  THE 
GOVERNMENT.  —  "  OUR  COUNTRY,  RIGHT  OR  WRONG  "...  321 


CONTENTS.  xv 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

1860-1861. 

PAGI 

EFFORTS  TO  CONFINE  REBELLION  TO  THE  EXTREME  COTTON  REGION. 
—  A  PLOT  IN  THE  CABINET.  —  GOVERNOR  CHASE.  —  SECRETARY 
CAMERON.  —  MONTGOMERY  BLAIR.  —  EDWIN  M.  STANTON.  —  MR. 
SEWARD  TO  MR.  WEED.  —  GENERAL  SCOTT'S  PROGRAMME  OVER 
RULED.  —  SCENES  AND  INCIDENTS  CONNECTED  WITH  THE  WAR  .  329 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

1861. 

THE  "  TRENT  "  AFFAIR.  —  How  MASON  AND  SLIDELL  WERE  CAP 
TURED.  —  MR.  WEED'S  FOREIGN  MISSION.  —  ARRIVAL  AT  PARIS.  — 
CONSULTATION.  -  -  MR.  BIGELOW.  —  MR.  SANFORD.  —  IN  LONDON.  — 
THE  VISIT  TO  PEMBROKE.  —  EARL  RUSSELL.  —  LORD  KINNAIRD.  — 
SIR  HENRY  HOLLAND.  —  MR.  PEABODY.  —  LETTER  TO  THE  LONDON 
"  TIMES."  —  EDITORIAL  COMMENT 348 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
1861. 

A  RECEPTION  AT  LORD  KINNAIRD'S.  —  MR.  WEED  AND  GEORGE 
PEABODY.  —  CAUSES  OF  THE  WAR  REVIEWED.  —  POSITION  OF  THE 
MILLIONAIRE  PHILANTHROPIST.  —  MR.  BIGELOW  TO  MR.  WEED.  — 
GENERAL  SCOTT'S  RETURN  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES.  —  ENGLISH  SOL 
DIERY  EN  ROUTE  TO  CANADA.  —  LETTER  IN  REPLY  TO  LIEUTENANT 
MAURY 362 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

1861. 

DESPATCHES  TO  LORD  LYONS.  —  "A  PEEP  INTO  THE  BAG."  —  RELEASE 
OF  THE  REBEL  COMMISSIONERS.  —  How  THE  NEWS  WAS  RECEIVED 
IN  LONDON.  —  JOHN  CASSELL.  —  EDWARD  ELLICE.  —  SIR  HENRY 
HOLLAND.  —  His  CALL  ON  COMMODORE  VANDERBILT.  —  LETTERS 
TO  MR.  WEED.  —  JOSEPH  PARKES.  —  THE  "  JUNIUS  "  QUESTION.  — 
AN  APT  ANECDOTE.  —  SIR  CURTIS  LAMPSON  .  .  '  .  .  .  376 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

1862. 

THE  BLOCKADE  AT  CHARLESTON.  —  How  IT  WAS  REGARDED  IN 
FRANCE  AND  ENGLAND.  —  THE  EMPEROR'S  SPEECH.  —  MR.  WEED 


XYI  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

AND  M.  LOUBAT.  —  INTERVIEW  WITH  THE  DuC  DE  MORNY.  —  ClT- 
ING  THE  TREATY  OF  UTRECHT.  —  PRINCE  NAPOLEON.  —  THE  EM 
PEROR'S  MESSAGE  MODIFIED.  —  AN  AFTER-DINNER  CONVERSATION 
REPORTED  BY  MR.  SENIOR,  OF  ENGLAND 390 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

1862. 

RETURN  TO  LONDON.  —  APPEALS  TO  THE  ENGLISH  MANUFACTURING 
DISTRICTS.  —  THE  EFFORT  IN  PARLIAMENT  TO  SECURE  FOREIGN  IN 
TERVENTION  ON  BEHALF  OF  THE  REBEL  STATES.  —  ARRIVAL  OF  THE 
CONFEDERATE  EMISSARIES.  —  AUGUST  BELMONT.  —  MR.  SEWARD 
TO  MR.  WEED.  —  THE  FREEDOM  OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK.  — 
LETTER  TO  THE  MUNICIPAL  AUTHORITIES 403 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

1862-1863. 

THE  WAR  FOR  THE  UNION.  —  STATE  ELECTIONS  OF  1862.  —  ATTEMPTS 
TO  MODIFY  THE  NATIONAL  ISSUE.  —  LETTERS  FROM  BISHOP  MC!L- 
VAINE,  AUGUST  BELMONT,  AND  GENERAL  Dix.  —  DEFEAT  OF  GEN 
ERAL  WADSWORTH.  — GOVERNOR  SEYMOUR  AND  GENERAL  MCCLEL- 

LAN.  —  MR.    McELRATH     TO     MR.     WEED.  —  GOVERNOR     MORGAN 

ELECTED  SENATOR.  —  WITHDRAWAL  FROM  JOURNALISM         .        .  418 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

1863-1864. 

GOING  TO  NEW  YORK.  —  RAISING  MONEY  FOR  THE  PRESIDENT.  —  THE 
GLOOMY  PERIOD  OF  THE  WAR.  —  MR.  WEED'S  PLAN  FOR  PUTTING 
AN  END  TO  HOSTILITIES.  —  RADICAL  EFFORTS  AGAINST  MR.  LIN 
COLN'S  RENOMINATION.  —  A  PREDICTION  WHICH  WAS  VERIFIED.  — 
THE  PUBLIC  DEBT  AND  THE  PUBLIC  DOMAIN.  —  NOMINATION  OF 
MR.  FENTON.  —  ISSUES  OF  THE  NATIONAL  CONTEST  ....  433 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

1865-1867. 

"WiTii  MALICE  TOWARD  NONE."  —  MR.  LINCOLN  TO  MR.  WEED. — 
THE  ASSASSINATION.  —  ANDREW  JOHNSON.  —  MR.  RAYMOND'S  VIS 
ITS  TO  THE  WHITE  HOUSE.  —  ATTITUDE  OF  CONGRESS. — THE  PHIL 
ADELPHIA  CONVENTION.  —  LETTER  FROM  GERRIT  SMITH.  —  RETURN 
TO  JOURNALISM.  —  A  POLITICAL  RE'SUME'.  —  NOMINATION  OF  GEN 
ERAL  GRANT .  449 


CONTENTS.  xvii 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

1868-1882. 

PAGE 

THE  NATIONAL  CANVASS  OF  1868.  —  MR.  WEED'S  HEALTH  FAILS.  — 
HE  GIVES  UP  SMOKING.  —  MR.  SEWARD  TO  MR.  WEED.  —  A  VISIT 
TO  EUROPE. — GOING  TO  AIKEN.  —  POLITICAL  GOSSIP.  —  LETTERS 
OF  GOVERNOR  MORGAN  AND  MR.  BLATCHFORD.  —  RECONCILIATION 
BETWEEN  Two  OLD  FRIENDS.  —  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM  .  .  .  459 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

1868-1872. 

APPROACH  OF  OLD  AGE.  —  LETTER  ON  THE  DEATH  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

—  SOCIAL  LIFE  IN  OLD  NEW  YORK.  — THE  KENT  AND  HONE  CLUBS. 

—  REPUBLICAN  STATE  CONVENTION  OF  1872.  —  NOMINATION  OF 
GENERAL  Dix.  —  MR.  WEED  NOT  IN  FAVOR  OF  RENOMINATING 
GENERAL  GRANT.  —  MIDSUMMER  PROSPECTS.  —  REASONS  FOR  DE 
CLINING  TO  VOTE  FOR  MR.  GREELEY 475 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 
1873-1875. 

RESUMPTION  OF  SPECIE  PAYMENTS.  —  GAMBLING  IN  GOLD  AND  GRAIN. 

—  THE  "  EIGHT  HOUR  LAW."  —  DEGENERATION  AT  WASHINGTON. 

—  AN  ALARMING  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES.  —  GOVERNOR  Dix  TO  MR. 
WEED.  —  THE  INEFFICIENCY  OF  CONGRESS.  —  ELECTIONS  OF  1874. 

—  CAUSES  OF  THE  REPUBLICAN  REVERSE.  —  MR.  WEED  TO  GOV 
ERNOR  Dix.  —  A  POLITICAL  RE'SUME' 498 

CHAPTER   XXXVIII. 

1876-1879. 

PRESIDENTIAL  CHANCES.  —  How  TO  MAINTAIN  REPUBLICAN  ASCEND 
ENCY. —MR.  WEED  TO  MR.  BLAIXE.  —  REPUBLICAN  STATE  CON 
VENTION  OF  1876.  —  GOVERNOR  MORGAN  NOMINATED.  —  MR.  WEED 
AND  THE  TICKET.  —  ELECTION  OF  PRESIDENT  HAYES.  —  LETTER  TO 
THE  STATE  PRESS  ASSOCIATION.  —  CIPHER  DESPATCHES.  —  STATE 
CONVENTION  OF  1879.  —  NOMINATION  OF  MR.  CORNELL  .  .  .  518 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

1873-1879. 

A  DEFENSE  OF  BIMETALISM.  —  No  STEPS  TAKEN  BY  CONGRESS  EX 
CEPT  IN  THE  INTEREST  OF  BONDHOLDERS.  —  How  SILVER  WAS  DE 
MONETIZED.  —  FRAUDS  PERPETRATED  TO  KEEP  GOLD  AT  A  PREMIUM. 


xvm  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

—  A  CONVENTION  OF  BANKERS.  —  "  EVENTS  WHICH  CAST  THEIR 
SHADOWS  BEFORE."  —  "  NOT  GOLD  ENOUGH  IN  THE  WORLD  TO  DO 
THE  WORLD'S  BUSINESS  " 529 

CHAPTER  XL. 

1874-1880. 

THE  EFFORT  TO  RENOMINATE  GENERAL  GRANT  FOR  A  THIRD  TERM. 

—  NEW  YORK  AND   PENNSYLVANIA   DEVELOPMENTS.  —  A  SENTI 
MENT  NOT  TO  BE  TRIFLED   WITH.  — "  THE  FIRST  STEP  IN  THE 
DIRECTION  OF  A  MONARCHY."  —  AN   EDITORIAL  ANNIVERSARY. 

—  ELECTION  OF  GENERAL  GARFIELD.  —  MR.   WEED'S  BIRTHDAY- 
CELEBRATED.  —  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS  ......  542 

CHAPTER  XLI. 

1872-1881. 

SCATTERED  UTTERANCES  ON  PUBLIC  THEMES.  —  CONTRASTS  IN  JOUR 
NALISM.  —  DEVELOPMENT  OF  EDITORIAL  ENTERPRISE.  —  DEMA 
GOGUES  ;  THEIR  METHODS  AND  THEIR  OPPORTUNITIES.  —  INAUGU 
RATION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD.  —  His  DEATH.  —  SELECTIONS 
FROM  MR.  WEED'S  LETTERS 559 

CHAPTER  XLII. 

1872-1882. 

OLD  AGE  AND  ITS  SURROUNDINGS.  —  AN  UNDEVIATING  ROUTINE.  — 
HOURS  FOR  MEALS.  —  READING  THE  NEWSPAPERS.  —  ATTENDING 
TO  BUSINESS.  —  How  MR.  WEED'S  TIME  WAS  DIVIDED.  —  THE 
CLUB.  —  WHIST.  —  THEATRES.  —  RAILWAY  MEETINGS.  —  READING 
DICKENS.  —  THE  STUDY.  —  No  ONE  TURNED  AWAY  WITHOUT  A 
HEARING.  —  AFTERNOONS  WITH  CHILDREN 568 

CHAPTER  XLIII. 

1882. 

THE  FINAL  ILLNESS.  —  THOUGHTS  FI^ED  ON  THE  WORLD  TO  COME.  — 
KINDNESS  OF  FRIENDS.  —  MR.  WEED'S  EIGHTY-FIFTH  BIRTHDAY. 
—  His  DEATH .  574 


MB-  WEED'S  WILL 577 

INDEX    ....  .  581 


LIST  OF  STEEL  PLATES. 

• 

THURLOW  WEED        ....  .  Frontispiece. 

DEWITT    CLINTON .     Page  28 

HENRY  CLAY .    «  120 

WILLIAM  L.  MARCY      ...  "  198 

DANIEL  WEBSTER "229 

WINFIELD  SCOTT .        «  3G7 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  .        .        -        -    "  450 


MEMOIR. 


CHAPTER  I. 

1630-1818. 

JONAS  WEED  AND  HIS  DESCENDANTS.  —  THEIR  SERVICE  IN  Two 
WARS.  —  BIRTH  OF  THURLOW  WEED. — His  CHILDHOOD.  —  APPREN 
TICED  TO  A  PRINTER.  —  STATE  NEWSPAPERS  IN  1810.  —  THE  WAR  OF 
1812.  —  ON  THE  FRONTIER.  —  AT  WORK  IN  ALBANY.  —  A  JOURNEY 
MAN  IN  NEW  YORK.  —  FIRST  EDITORIAL  ARTICLES.  —  THE  GOSPEL  OF 
LABOR. 

AMONG  emigrants  to  America  from  Yorkshire,  England,  in 
the  year  1630,  was  Jonas  Weed,  the  first  member  of  the  fam 
ily  of  whom  I  have  any  authentic  information.  He  took  the 
oath  of  a  freeman  in  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay  in  1631. 
Until  the  month  of  May,  1635,  he  lived  at  Watertown,  near 
Boston,  with  his  wife  Mary.  Then  he  went,  "  with  other  church 
members,"  to  Wethersfield,  Connecticut,  where  he  took  a  promi 
nent  part  in  a  certain  doctrinal  controversy.  High  ecclesiastical 
authorities  were  sent  to  Wethersfield  to  arrange  a  settlement, 
but  no  satisfactory  result  could  be  reached,  and  in  1642  Jonas 
and  his  friends  went  to  live  at  Stamford,  each  receiving  a  house- 
lot  by  vote  of  settlers  already  located  in  that  town.  Jonas  died 
in  1676,  leaving  three  sons  and  five  daughters.  It  is  believed 
that  Thurlow  Weed  was  his  lineal  descendant,  through  Nathan, 
who  lived  at  Stamford  about  1785. 

The  early  history  of  Stamford  bears  witness  to  the  patriotism 
no  less  than  to  the  piety  of  the  Weed  family.  In  1675  Daniel 
Weed  was  in  charge  of  the  stockades  which  had  been  con 
structed  under  his  care  to  ward  off  attacks  from  the  Indians. 
"  When  the  demands  of  the  Crown  grew  oppressive,"  says  an 
old  chronicle,  "  this  family  was  foremost  in  asserting  the  rights 
of  the  colonies."  That  their  services  might  be  fitly  recognized, 
1 


2  MEMOIR.  [1797. 

the  church  voted,  in  1757,  that  "  Capt.  Weed  and  Lt.  Weed  be 
ordered  to  set  in  the  fore  pew  in  the  meeting-house."  In  1775, 
no  less  than  twenty-three  Weeds,  from  the  town  of  Stamford 
alone,  among  them  Nathan  Weed,  Thurlow's  grandfather,  en 
listed*  in  the  Continental  Army.  No  family  contributed  more 
liberally  of  its  sons  to  aid  the  cause  of  American  independence. 
It  was  their  custom  to  name  children  after  the  prophets. 
Jonas  found  good  Bible  names  for  his  immediate  descendants, 
but  the  usage  was  disregarded  when  a  son  was  born  to  Joel 
Weed  and  Mary  Ells,  and  by  them  named  after  Edward,  Lord 
Thurlow,  of  Ashfield,  High  Chancellor  of  England.  It  was  only 
for  a  year  or  so,  however,  that  he  went  by  the  name  of  Edward. 
At  an  early  age,  dropping  the  first  part,  he  called  himself  sim 
ply  Thurlow  Weed,  —  a  strong,  sonorous  name,  for  which  no 
one  ever  invented  contraction  or  diminutive. 

After  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  Joel  and  Mary 
"  went  west "  from  New  Haven,  where  they  were  married,  to 
Dutchess  County,  and  then  to  Greene  County,  New  York.  They 
were  living  near  a  small  settlement  called  Acra,  in  what  is  now 
the  town  of  Cairo,  Greene  County,  when  Thurlow  Weed,  on  the 
15th  of  November,  1797,  was  born.  I  reached  the  place,  in  the 
winter  of  1883,  by  driving  over  a  fine  turnpike  road,  which, 
starting  at  Catskill,  pushes  up  into  the  mountain  region,  and 
winds  down  on  the  other  side  to  the  valley  of  the  Delaware. 
Ten  miles  away  from  the  Hudson,  the  turnpike  breaks  into  its 
Durham  and  Windham  branches ;  and  on  the  latter,  a  mile  or 
so  west  from  Cairo,  stood  the  old  homestead,  —  a  rude  log- 
cabin,  one  story  high,  with  a  door  facing  to  the  north,  and  a 
stunted  pine-tree  growing  by  the  side.  Although  he  worked 
hard  and  honestly,  Joel  Weed  was  unable  to  provide  a  more 
comfortable  habitation  for  himself  and  family.  Perhaps  Thur 
low's  better  success  was  owing  in  some  measure  to  the  fact 
that  he  inherited  many  of  his  mother's  peculiarities.  She  was 
a  woman  of  noteworthy  intellectual  and  executive  capacity. 

When  he  was  eight  years  old  Thurlow  felt  the  necessity  of 
doing  something  towards  his  own  support.  In  1805  he  found 
employment  in  a  blacksmith's  shop.  The  next  year  he  shipped 
as  cabin-boy  on  a  sloop  sailing  to  New  York.  When  navigation 
closed  he  became  boy-of-all-work  at  a  tavern,  and  in  the  spring 
of  1807  went  as  cabin-boy  on  another  sloop.  In  1808  his  par- 


1811.]  WHAT   THE    YEARS  HAVE  DONE.  3 

ents  moved  to  Cortland  County,  and  he  was  employed  on  a  farm. 
In  1809  they  moved  to  Onondaga,  where  he  worked  alternately 
in  a  furnace  and  on  a  farm  until  given  a  situation  under  Jasper 
Hopper,  receiving  as  wages  his  board  and  four  months'  school 
ing.  In  1811,  through  Mr.  Hopper's  influence,  he  was  installed 
as  apprentice  in  the  office  of  the  "  Lynx,"  at  Onondaga  Hollow, 
and  from  that  moment  until  his  death  no  music  was  so  delight 
ful  in  his  ears  as  the  click  of  type  and  the  thud  of  the  printing- 
press. 

"  Since  I  was  an  apprentice  in  Onondaga,"  he  wrote  in  18G1, 
"  the  wilderness  north  and  west  of  Ohio  has  been  converted  into 
nine  enterprising,  wealthy  states.  Upon  territory  then  unex 
plored,  not  to  say  unknown,  has  sprung  up  a  population  far 
greater  than  that  of  the  states  then  forming  the  Union.  Canals 
run  through  New  York.  Railroads  connect  every  city  and  al 
most  every  village  with  the  metropolis.  Steam  has  driven  can 
vas  from  rivers,  lakes,  and  oceans.  Out  of  a  tangled  and 
almost  impenetrable  swamp,  inhabited  only  by  frogs,  snakes, 
and  owls,  has  grown  the  large  and  beautiful  city  of  Syracuse. 
Instead  of  the  lumbering  stage-wagon  that  passed  either  way 
once  in  twenty-four  hours,  with  its  six  or  eight  passengers,  half 
a  dozen  trains,  with  a  thousand  passengers,  rush  through  with 
thundering  noise  and  lightning  speed.  Most  wonderful  of  all, 
we  can  whisper  to  a  friend  not  only  throughout  our  own  coun 
try,  but  in  England  or  France,  and  receive  his  response  before 
we  sleep.  And  all  these  wonders  have  been  accomplished  dur 
ing  the  last  fifty  years,  —  wonders  compared  with  which,  as  it 
seems  to  me,  the  world  was  barren  for  the  two  or  three  preced 
ing  centuries." 

But  the  changes  which  he  witnessed  in  New  York  city  were 
even  more  impressive.  There  was  no  Canal  Street  when  he  first 
visited  "  the  metropolis,"  and  all  above  that  line  was  common. 
There  was  no  Jersey  City  nor  Williamsburg,  and  Brooklyn  had 
not  even  become  a  village.  The  Park  Theatre  and  Scudder's 
Museum  were  the  only  places  of  amusement.  There  was  110 
public  garden ;  there  were  no  omnibus  lines  nor  carriage-stands, 
nor  was  there  occasion  for  either.  There  were  only  two  good- 
sized  hotels,  the  "  Tontine  "  and  the  "  City."  There  were  no 
concerts  nor  lectures.  There  were  but  three  steamboats  on  the 
North  River,  and  none  ventured  outside  of  Sandy  Hook.  Polit- 


4  MEMOIR.  [1811. 

ical  caucuses  were  addressed  by  men  of  high  standing ;  candi 
dates  for  the  common  council,  the  mayoralty,  or  the  legislature 
were  almost  uniformly  men  of  established  reputation  and  ap 
proved  integrity. 

In  the  year  1811  Azariah  C.  Flagg  started  his  newspaper  at 
Plattsburgh ;  William  L.  Stone  was  beginning  journalistic  work 
at  Herkimer ;  John  C.  Spencer  was  writing  editorials  at  Canan- 
daigua,  and  Mackey  Croswell,  the  father  of  Edwin  Croswell,  at 
Catskill.  New  York  city  had  five  newspapers,  but  two  of 
which,  the  "  Commercial  Advertiser  "  and  the  "  Evening  Post," 
survive.  The  now  flourishing  and  prosperous  Hudson  River 
and  interior  counties  were  so  sparsely  settled  that  their  news 
papers  were  few  in  number,  and  not  usually  published  oftener 
than  once  a  week.  Rochester,  Waterloo,  Palmyra,  Lyons, 
Albion,  and  Lockport  had  not  been  dreamed  of,  nor  was  there 
any  Oswego,  Wayne,  Monroe,  Orleans,  Niagara,  Chautauqua, 
Livingston,  Chenango,  Tompkins,  Yates,  or  Schuyler  County. 

Many  pleasant  acquaintances  were  made  by  the  young  appren 
tice  during  his  connection  with  the  "Lynx"  establishment. 
James  Geddes,  Joshua  Form  an,  Azariah  Smith,  and  Victory 
Birdseye,  whom  he  came  to  know  at  this  time,  were  then  laying 
the  foundation  for  careers  of  usefulness  and  honor.  Through 
out  their  lives  he  was  closely  allied  with  Amos  P.  Granger,  Yivus 
W.  Smith,  Judge  Lawrence,  and  Lewis  H.  Redfield,  of  Onon- 
daga  County.  "  I  have  known  you  for  nearly  fifty  years,"  wrote 
General  Leavenworth,  of  Syracuse,  in  1881,  "  intimately  for  more 
than  thirty.  Through  all  my  public  life  I  have  fully  appreciated 
your  many  kindnesses.  Perhaps  they  have  been  owing  in  some 
degree  to  your  strong  attachment  to  this  locality,  about  which 
there  must  cluster  in  your  memory  a  thousand  pleasant  recollec 
tions.  We  all  still  regard  you  as  an  Onondaga.  The  name  of 
no  one  now  a  resident  is  more  frequently  or  more  kindly  mentioned 
by  our  citizens  than  your  own.  ...  I  am  often  reminded  of  you 
by  various  localities  mentioned  in  the  story  you  told  to  all  of  us 
one  evening  at  your  house,  at  a  supper,  in  1855,  when  you  spoke 
of  catching  a  salmon  below  Wood's  milldam  :  how  the  fish  was 
struggling  to  get  over  the  rift  into  the  deep  water  above  when 
you  saw  it  stranded,  jumped  into  the  water,  and  seized  it ;  the 
sale  of  it  to  Judge  Forman ;  the  silver  dollar  he  gave  you  for  it, 
etc.,  etc.  I  never  pass  any  of  these  places  without  calling  to 
mind  that  event  in  your  boyhood." 


1812.]  A   JOURNEYMAN  IN  NEW   YORK.  5 

In  the  fall  of  1812,  witli  all  his  worldly  goods  wrapped  up  in 
a  handkerchief,  which  he  carried  in  his  hand,  young  Weed  walked 
from  Onondaga  to  Union  Springs  and  back,  and  then  from  On- 
ondaga  to  Utica,  seeking  employment.  Although  not  subject 
to  military  duty  when  the  war  with  England  began,  he  offered 
his  services,  and  was  accepted  as  a  volunteer.  During  the  first 
campaign  he  was  quartered  at  Sackett's  Harbor.  In  1813  there 
was  an  alarm  that  the  British  were  crossing  from  Canada,  and 
he  entered  upon  another  brief  term  of  militia  service.  Return 
ing  to  Utica,  he  resumed  work  as  a  compositor ;  but  "  when 
drums  and  fifes  were  passing  up  and  down  the  street  every 
day  I  could  not  stand  and  set  type,"  he  says,  and  so  he  went 
a  third  time  to  the  frontier.  In  1814,  when  appointed  quarter 
master  sergeant,  he  was  only  seventeen  years  of  age. 

Peace  was  declared  in  1815,  and  after  brief  employment  at 
Auburn  and  Cooperstown  he  drifted  to  Albany,  where  he  was 
given  a  place  in  the  "  Register  "  office  by  Solomon  Southwick. 
Then  he  went  to  New  York,  where  he  held  good  positions  as  a 
journeyman,  working  for  some  time  with  James  Harper.  "  He 
and  I,"  he  used  to  say,  "  were  both  emulous  to  be  first  at  the  of 
fice  in  the  morning.  Daylight  always  found  one  of  us  cleaning 
the  balls  upon  which  we  inked  the  forms.  Often  after  we  had 
done  a  good  day's  work  James  would  say,  '  Now,  Thurlow,  let 's 
break  the  back  of  another  token,  —  just  break  its  back.'  I  would 
generally  reluctantly  consent  just  to  break  the  back  of  iiie  token, 
but  he  would  beguile  me  or  laugh  at  my  complaints,  and  never 
let  me  off  until  the  token  was  completed,  fair  and  square.  It 
was  a  custom  with  us  in  summer  to  do  a  half  day's  work  before 
the  other  boys  and  men  got  their  breakfasts.  James  and  I 
would  meet  by  appointment  in  the  gray  of  the  morning,  and  go 
down  to  John  Street.  We  got  the  key  of  the  office  by  tapping 
on  the  window,  when  Mr.  Seymour,  the  proprietor,  would  take  it 
from  under  his  pillow  and  hand  it  to  one  of  us  through  an  open 
ing  in  the  blind.  A  pressman  who  could  do  twenty  or  even  ten 
per  cent,  more  than  usual  was  always  sure  of  a  situation.  Har 
per,  a  man  named  Kennedy,  and  I  made  the  largest  bills  in  the 
city.  We  often  earned  as  much  as  $14  a  week,  —  liberal  wages 
when  you  remember  that  good  board  could  be  obtained  for  $10 
a  month." 

At  the  age  of  twenty  he  established  himself  again  on  the  Al- 


6  MEMOIR.  [1818. 

bany  "  Register,"  of  which  he  was  made  half-way  editor.  The 
views  which  he  held  on  state  and  national  topics  were  now  first 
printed  in  the  leader  column.  One  of  the  earliest  referred  to 
the  American  Indians.  "These  aborigines,"  he  wrote,  "are 
becoming  objects  of  profound^  sympathy.  .  .  .  For  many  years 
they  have  been  beset  by  greedy  and  unprincipled  advisers.  The 
wrongs  they  received  they  could  not  explain ;  consequently  they 
were  unredressed.  If  by  the  instigation  of  bad  men  they  are  in 
duced  to  plunder  or  kill  our  citizens,  avengers  return  more  than 
twofold  retaliation ;  and  if  they  meet  in  council  with  our  coun 
trymen,  debate  invariably  ends  in  the  abrogation  of  some  right 
or  privilege,  or  the  ceding  of  additional  territory.  .  .  .  The 
condition  of  the  Six  Nations  residing  within  this  State  is  truly 
lamentable.  Their  reservations  have  become  very  valuable,  and 
every  species  of  intrigue  is  put  in  operation  to  wrest  these  lands 
from  the  confiding  occupants.  ...  A  few  years  will  undoubt 
edly  drive  them  from  these  possessions." 

In  an  article  which  appeared  on  the  llth  of  August,  1818,  he 
condemned  the  practice  of  kidnapping  free  negroes  for  the  pur 
pose  of  transporting  them  to  the  South  to  be  sold  into  slavery. 
"  It  is  but  rarely,"  he  wrote,  "  that  the  perpetrators  of  this  crime 
are  brought  to  punishment.  Such  temptations  are  held  out  to 
the  avaricious  that  an  occasional  exemplary  sentence  does  not 
deter  others  from  seeking  to  amass  wealth  by  the  same  means. 
.  .  .  Aa  the  law  stands  it  is  a  mere  dead  letter.  But  if  it  were 
enforced,  it  would  simply  divert  the  price  of  human  blood  from 
the  coffers  of  the  speculator  to  those  of  the  federal  govern 
ment.  What !  shall  it  be  said  that  a  nation  whose  government 
is  based  on  freedom  deals  in  human  flesh  with  as  little  feeling 
as  a  jockey  has  for  horses  or  horned  cattle  ?  Such  is  the  fact. 
And  a  disgraceful  fact  it  is,  too.  .  .  .  The  law  ought  to  be  re 
pealed.  The  traffic  is  carried  on  in  the  Southern  States  on  a 
most  extensive  scale,  in  defiance  of  all  decency  and  religion. 
Within  a  short  time  eight  vessels  with  over  three  hundred 
blacks  from  the  Northern  States  have  entered  the  port  of  New 
Orleans." 

1 8 1 8.  —  Thus  Mary  and  Joel  Weed's  boy  entered  upon  respon 
sible  life  not  without  certain  advantages  often  denied  by  inex 
orable  conditions  to  the  offspring  of  the  rich.  He  was  ambi 
tious,  resolute,  and  self-reliant.  His  frame  was  large  and  pow- 


1818.]  THE   GOSPEL   OF  LABOR.  1 

erful.  He  was  blessed  with  perfect  health,  and  his  own  contact 
with  poverty  and  labor  aided  him  vastly  in  the  disposition  of 
many  questions  with  which,  in  the  editorial  and  political  career 
now  about  to  begin,  he  was  called  upon  to  deal. 

"  The  first  great  duty  of  philanthropists  and  reformers,"  he  wrote 
in  1881,  "  is  to  impress  upon  rising  generations  in  this  country  the  di 
vine  law  that  by  the  sweat  of  a  man's  brow  shall  he  earn  his  bread. 
Let  every  boy  be  taught  at  his  mother's  knee,  by  his  father,  in  his 
school,  in  bis  academy,  in  college,  that  be  must  work  for  a  living ;  that 
to  become  useful  and  honored  he  must  exert  either  bis  mental  faculties 
or  his  physical  forces  diligently.  ...  In  our  country  thousands  of 
poor  boys,  by  industry,  honesty,  and  ambition,  have  not  only  acquired 
wealth,  but  become  useful  and  honored  citizens.  If  the  present  gener 
ation  realized  the  lesson  which  this  fact  conveys,  the  number  of  office- 
seekers  who  beleaguer  Washington,  throng  the  corridors  of  our  Cus- 
tom-House  and  Post-Office,  and  infest  the  City  Hall  would  be  greatly 
diminished.  Benjamin  Franklin  was  an  apprentice  and  journeyman 
printer.  Roger  Sherman  was  a  shoemaker.  Henry  Wilson,  Senator 
in  Congress  and  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  was  also  a  shoe 
maker.  Andrew  Johnson,  Senator  in  Congress  and  Vice-President  of 
the  United  States,  was  a  tailor.  Lieutenant-Governor  John  Tayler, 
a  successful  and  influential  citizen  of  Albany,  worked  for  several  years 
by  the  day  or  month,  first  in  a  brickyard,  and  then  in  paving  State 
Street.  Abraham  Lincoln  was  a  farmer.  Andrew  B.  Dickinson,  an 
intelligent  and  prominent  member  of  both  houses  of  our  legislature, 
worked  out  by  the  month  until  he  was  of  age,  and  learned  to  write 
after  he  was  married,  his  wife  being  his  teacher.  Stephen  Allen, 
James  Harper,  and  Isaac  L.  Varian,  honest  and  honored  Mayors  of 
New  York,  were  first  journeymen  and  then  master-mechanics." 


CHAPTEE  II. 

1818-1821. 

MARRIAGE.  —  CATHERINE  OSTRANDER.  —  IN  CHENANGO  Two  YEARS.— 
EARLY  RECORD  ON  IMPORTANT  QUESTIONS.  —  INTERNAL  IMPROVE 
MENTS.  —  THE  COMPROMISE  OF  1820.  —  NORWICH  REVISITED.  —  THE 
MANLIUS  EXPERIMENT.  —  MAJOR  ANDRI^ .  —  GENERAL  VAN  RENSSE- 
LAER.  —  RIVAL  STAGE  LINES. —CANAL  NAVIGATION.  —  STRUGGLING 
AGAINST  POVERTY.  —  A  NEW  VENTURE.  —  ADDISON  GARDINER. 

DUKING  his  boyhood  and  youth  Mr.  Weed  worked  for  a 
blacksmith,  and  as  cabin-boy,  furnace-hand,  farmer,  compositor, 
and  assistant-editor.  He  was  connected  with  a  dozen  different 
public  journals,  and  was  a  volunteer  in  the  army.  We  can 
hardly  wonder  that  when  he  went  to  Cooperstown,  in  1818,  to 
claim  the  hand  of  Catherine  Ostrander,  her  prudent  relatives 
warned  her  to  think  twice  before  she  threw  herself  away  upon 
this  strolling  journeyman. 

Catherine  belonged  to  a  family  of  some  position.  Her 
mother,  Clarissa  de  Montford,  came  to  America  from  France. 
Her  father  was  Moses  Ostrander,  of  Utrecht,  Holland.  The 
Ostranders  lived  in  Dutchess  County,  New  York,  until  early  in 
the  present  century,  when  they  moved  to  Cooperstown.  Cath 
erine  was  nineteen  and  Thurlow  barely  twenty-one  when  they 
were  married.  Soon  afterwards  they  went  to  live  at  Norwich, 
Chenango  County,  where  Mr.  Weed  established  the  "  Repub 
lican  Agriculturist." 

This  enterprise  was  almost  certain  to  end  in  failure.  Its  pro 
jector  had  all  the  energy  and  fire  which  should  characterize  a 
man  at  his  time  of  life.  Ten  years  of  "  knocking  about "  had 
taught  him  many  useful  lessons.  He  was  happy  in  his  marriage, 
and  had  every  incentive  to  labor.  But  he  was  not  adapted  to 
editing  an  agricultural  newspaper.  He  devoted  a  large  share  of 
attention  to  that  department  at  first,  urging  the  formation  of 
agricultural  associations,  and  dwelling  upon  the  dignity  and  im 
portance  of  the  farmer's  calling.  Through  his  zealous  efforts, 


1819.]    EARLY  RECORD  ON  IMPORTANT  QUESTIONS.         9 

indeed,  a  farmer's  club  was  organized  in  Norwich,  which,  on  the 
22d  and  23d  of  September,  1819,  rejoiced  in  the  success  of 
the  first  agricultural  fair  ever  held  in  Chenango  County.  But 
he  kept  drifting  into  politics,  although  the  position  which  he 
took  was  sure  to  provoke  local  antagonism.  Governor  Clinton's 
canal  policy  was  bitterly  opposed  in  Norwich,  which  lay  some 
distance  south  of  the  proposed  water-way ;  and  when  Mr.  Weed 
championed  the  cause  of  the  state  administration,  as  he  did, 
many  subscribers  indignantly  withdrew  their  patronage.  Thus 
matters  soon  came  to  a  crisis,  am}  the  "  Agriculturist "  went 
under,  with  the  Clinton  flag  still  gallantly  flying. 

There  were,  however,  firm  friends  to  Mr.  Weed  in  Norwich, 
and  many  of  them  were  active  in  his  behalf.  He  had  been  in 
the  village  only  a  short  time  when  several  residents  who  sided 
with  him  in  politics  drew  up  a  statement  setting  forth  some  of 
the  circumstances  under  which  the  "  Agriculturist "  was  started. 
This  statement,  which  was  issued  in  the  form  of  a  circular,  ran 
as  follows :  — 

NORWICH,  February  3,  1819. 

"  We  take  the  liberty  of  soliciting  your  influence  in  favor  of  the 
'Republican  Agriculturist,'  a  newspaper  printed  in  this  village  by 
Mr.  Thuiiow  Weed.  For  this  gentleman  we  feel  the  highest  respect, 
and  place  entire  confidence  in  his  integrity  and  in  the  correct  political 
course  of  his  paper. 

"  The  reason  of  our  interference. in  behalf  of  Mr.  Weed  is  the  un 
warrantable  abuse  that  he  has  received  from  Mr.  Hubbard,  editor  of 
the  Norwich  '  Journal,'  and  the  faithless  course  that  has  been  hitherto 
pursued,  and  is  still  pursued,  towards  him  in  this  connection.  Last 
October,  Mr.  Clark,  the  editor  of  the  Albany  'Register,'  was  on  a 
visit  to  this  county,  and  among  others  called  on  Mr.  Hubbard,  who 
had  formerly  been  a  journeyman  in  his  office.  Mr.  Weed,  then  fore 
man  in  Mr.  Clark's  office,  having  lately  married,  wished  to  purchase 
a  press  and  establish  himself  in  the  county,  and  Mr.  Hubbard  ex 
pressed  to  Mr.  Clark  a  wish  to  sell.  A  bargain  was  accordingly  struck 
between  Mr.  Clark  as  agent,  and  in  behalf  of  Mr.  Weed,  for  Mr. 
Hubbard's  establishment.  The  value  of  it  was  about  $350 ;  but  as  it 
was  represented  by  Mr.  Hubbard  to  be  very  profitable  and  the  ad 
vertising  custom  good,  it  was  agreed  that  $800  should  be  the  price,  — 
payable  half  in  one  and  half  in  two  years,  with  good  security.  Mr. 
Hubbard  was  to  let  him  have  the  press,  types,  and  everything  pertain 
ing  to  the  office  ;  was  to  give  him  the  profits  of  publishing  out  the 


10  MEMOIR.  [1819. 

advertisements  then  in  the  paper,  amounting  to  about  $62  ;  and  was 
to  leave  the  county  and  not  establish  another  paper  in  it,  thus  giving 
to  Mr.  Weed  all  the  support  that  he  then  had,  and  all  that  might  be 
expected  from  having  no  other  paper  in  the  village. 

"  Mr.  Weed  then  came  with  about  $200  worth  of  new  type,  when 
Mr.  Hubbard  declined  fulfilling  the  bargain,  and  left  Mr.  Weed  out 
of  employment,  after  having  expended  about  $300.  Under  these  cir 
cumstances  he  was  advised  to  procure  General  German's  notes,  who 
was  perfectly  responsible,  so  that  no  objection  could  be  made  to  the 
security,  and  tender  them  on  his  part  and  demand  a  fulfillment  of 
the  contract.  He  did  so.  Hubbard  reluctantly  complied,  and  on  the 
delivery  of  the  papers  ratified  anew  the  contract  as  above  stated. 

"  Now  after  having  obtained  from  Mr.  Weed  the  sum  of  $400  more 
than  the  establishment  was  worth,  under  the  understanding  that  he 
would  not  start  another  paper  in  the  county,  Mr.  Hubbard,  in  viola 
tion  of  that  agreement,  has  set  up  another  press,  and  has  directed 
Mr.  Weed  to  discontinue  the  advertisements  that  he  had  purchased 
and  paid  for.  Mr.  Weed  is  a  stranger  among  us,  and  depends  upon 
his  talents  and  industry,  and  upon  the  liberality  and  justice  of  the 
citizens  of  Chenango,  for  his  support.  Under  these  circumstances,  we 
feel  it  a  duty,  as  far  as  we  can,  to  aid  an  injured  man,  and  check  in 
their  course  the  operations  of  injustice  and  dishonesty. 

"  We  trust  you  will  aid  in  this  object  so  far  as  to  become  (if  not  one 
already)  a  subscriber  for  his  paper,  and  to  circulate  in  your  neighbor 
hood  the  enclosed  subscription,  and  then  return  it  to  him." 

The  Clintonian  policy  of  internal  improvement  was  through 
these  years  a  well-defined  basis  for  political  division.  "  This 
most  important  and  enlightened  feature  of  our  governmental  pol 
icy,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed  on  the  llth  of  February,  1819,  "ought 
to  command  the  admiration  of  the  republic.  The  information 
communicated  through  the  Governor's  speech  is  peculiarly  grat 
ifying.  It  appears  that  a  project,  for  the  completion  of  which 
a  half  century,  and  by  many  even  a  century,  was  anticipated, 
now  promises,  with  a  confidence  amounting  almost  to  certainty, 
to  be  accomplished  in  less  than  two  years.  The  most  san 
guine  friends  of  the  undertaking  never  expected  such  rapid 
progress."  l 

1  The  first  boat  to  traverse  the  Erie  Canal  was  the  "  Seneca  Chief,"  which 
left  Buffalo  on  the  26th  of  October,  1825,  reaching  New  York  011  the  4th  of 
November.  The  passengers  were  Gov.  Clinton,  Joshua  Forman,  Col.  W.  L. 
Stone,  Chancellor  Livingston,  Mr.  Weed,  and  Gen.  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer. 
See  Stone's  History  of  New  York  City,  pp.  390-411. 


1819.]  ATTEMPTS   TO  PURIFY  POLITICS.  11 

When,  in  July,  1819,  Thomas  J.  Oakley,  by  a  revolution  in 
politics,  succeeded  Martin  Van  Buren  as  Attorney-General  of 
New  York,  this  step  was  sustained  by  the  young  editor  at  Nor 
wich,  as  warranted  by  the  strictest  principles  of  republican 
justice,  and  indeed  imperiously  called  for  as  a  means  of  pro 
tection  to  the  administration.  "  Rotation  in  office,"  he  wrote, 
"  is  the  most  striking  and  brilliant  feature  of  excellence  in  our 
benign  form  of  government.  No  person  who  claims  to  be  repub 
lican  can  question  the  correctness  of  an  equalized  distribution  of 
public  favors.  Granted  that  sometimes  a  phenomenon  in  polit 
ical  duplicity,  after  contending  stubbornly  for  this  doctrine  until 
he  gets  himself  into  a  snug  berth,  may  then  refuse  it  allegiance. 
That  does  not  invalidate  the  principle.  Both  bad  and  good  men 
make  profession  of  their  faith  ;  good  men  exemplify  their  pro 
fessions  by  consistent  practice.  ...  By  this  doctrine,  bottomed 
as  it  is  upon  the  Magna  Charta  of  our  liberties,  and  rendered 
politically  sacred  by  the  examples  of  Washington  and  Jefferson, 
the  removal  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  not  only  sanctioned,  but  was 
absolutely  required." 

As  the  year  was  about  to  close  it  was  natural  to  indulge  in 
reflections  upon  its  record. 

"  We  have  had  a  squally  and  by  no  means  a  profitable  voy 
age,"  he  wrote  in  December,  "  but  we  shall  endeavor  to  repair 
damages  and  make  sail  again.  All  cannot  expect  to  go  before 
the  wind,  and  we  are  not  disposed  to  wrangle  with  the  fates  for 
sending  us  a  share  of  adverse  gales.  Every 'one  should  be  will 
ing  to  fish  in  troubled  waters  occasionally.  'Man  wants  but 
little  here  below.'  Give  us  but  health,  rye  coffee,1  buckwheat 
cakes,  and  a  clean  conscience,  while  others  riot  in  luxuries,  bask 
in  pomp  and  splendor,  or  count  their  hoarded  thousands,  we  can 
hail  cheerful  contentment,  and  bite  our  thumb  at  all  their  follies. 
.  .  .  We  must  gratefully  thank  those  persons  whose  patronage 
has  enabled  us  to  survive  thus  long  the  frauds  of  a  knave  and 
the  malice  of  faction.  We  should  do  extreme  violence  to  our 
feelings  not  to  pay  this  humble  yet  truly  sincere  tribute  to  those 
friends  who  have  supported  our  establishment.  Although  our 
patronage  has  been  very  limited,  yet  it  has  afforded  us  a  living, 

1  In  some  parts  of  the  South  and  West,  poor  people  still  roast  grain  just 
as  coffee  is  roasted,  grind  it,  put  in  sugar  or  molasses,  whichever  they  have, 
and  drink  it  for  breakfast  and  dinner. 


12  MEMOIR.  [1819. 

and  this,  considering  the  industry  of  our  enemies  to  prevent  it, 
is  all  we  could  reasonably  expect.  Three,  six,  and  nine  months 
were  the  different  periods  some  new-light  prophets  confidently 
asserted,  would  bring  our  valedictory ;  but  they  have  missed  a 
figure,  for  we  now  complete  twelve  months,  and,  if  kind  Heaven 
spares  us  life  and  ability  to  labor,  we  shall  commence  and  com 
plete  another  year." 

"  Who  will  not  rejoice,"  he  wrote,  still  later  in  December,  "  at 
the  intelligence  from  Washington  that  the  veterans  of  the  Revo 
lutionary  War  are  to  be  placed  on  the  pension  list  at  eighteen 
and  twenty  dollars  per  month  ?  Although  Congress  deals  out 
this  relief  with  a  sparing  hand,  it  gladdens  the  hearts  of  four 
thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty-two  of  our  Spartan  band  of 
Revolutionists.  Although  the  balm  was  limited,  it  has  healed 
many  languishing  wounds.  .  .  .  Would  to  Heaven  the  pittance 
were  more  bountiful,  and  that  some  good  genius  would  whisper 
to  the  kindred '  spirits  of  their  departed  fellow-patriots  that  the 
nation  is  not  ungrateful." 

[A    LETTER   OF   INTRODUCTION.] 

NORWICH,  December  21,  1819. 

GENTLEMEN,  —  Mr.  Thurlow  Weed,  owner  of  the  establishment 
and  editor  of  the  "  Agriculturist,"  in  this  place,  is  wishing  to  procure 
some  additional  type  and  printing  materials.  Should  he  apply  to  you 
to  purchase,  I  have  no  doubt  of  his  promptly  meeting  any  engagement 
he  may  make.  The  earnings  of  Mr.  Weed  since  he  has  been  here  have 
been  very  considerable  and  his  receipts  small.  He  has  undoubtedly 
much  more  due  to  him  than  would  cover  any  purchase  he  may  wish  to 
make.  Mr.  Weed,  though  not  wealthy,  may,  as  a  man  of  the  strictest 
integrity,  have  full  confidence  placed  in  his  representations  without 
danger  of  disappointment.  Yours  truly, 

JAMES  BIRDSALL. 

MESSRS.  SEWARD  &  WILLIAMS,  Utica. 

In  the  year  1819  slavery  began  to  darken  the  political  hori 
zon  in  the  United  States.  The  people  of  the  Territory  of  Mis 
souri  applied  for  permission  to  form  a  state  government.  It 
was  proposed  in  the  House,  by  General  Tallmadge,  to  grant 
their  request,  with  the  express  proviso  that  involuntary  servi 
tude,  except  for  crime,  be  not  permitted.  Members  from  the 
Free  States  voted  for  this  proposal,  but  members  from  the  Slave 


1820.]  THE   COMPROMISE   OF  1820.  13 

States  voted  against  it,  and  it  was  defeated.  Congress  ad 
journed  in  March,  and  the  subject  was  dropped  until  the  assem 
bling  of  the  next  Congress,  which  met  in  December,  1819,  and  in 
the  following  March  enacted  the  famous  "  Compromise  of  1820," 
which  remained  in  force  until  1854.  "  The  South,"  wrote  Mr. 
Weed,  while  the  great  Missouri  compact  was  pending,  —  "  the 
South  is  making  alarming  exertions  to  pollute  and  curse  the  soil 
of  the  new  states  by  the  legalization  of  slavery.  This  monstrous 
proposition  is  now  before  Congress.  The  advocates  for  traffick 
ing  in  human  flesh  are  going  to  great  and  dangerous  lengths. 
The  question  is  assuming  a  character  of  more  consequence  than 
any  other  which  has  agitated  national  councils  since  the  Revo 
lution.  Philanthropy  and  virtue  call  loudly  upon  the  friends 
of  liberty  to  declare  against  the  further  extension  of  slavery. 
This  foulest  stain  upon  our  character  already  blurs  and  degrades 
too  large  a  portion  of  our  otherwise  exalted  country." 

It  was  not  until  toward  the  close  of  the  year  that  he  began 
to  realize  how  dubious  were  his  prospects  in  Chenango,  and  to 
look  about  for  more  congenial  journalistic  connections.  On  the 
14th  of  September,  1820,  he  took  leave  of  his  readers  in  an  ar 
ticle  full  of  genuine  regret  at  parting  from  those  with  whom  he 
enjoyed  friendly  relations,  but  reiterating  with  new  emphasis 
the  political  convictions  which  brought  him  to  the  support  of 
Governor  Clinton.  "  My  interest  in  this  establishment,"  he 
wrote,  "  ceased  on  the  7th  instant.  .  .  .  The  dissolution  of 
those  ties  which  have  associated  the  proprietor  of  a  newspaper 
with  his  patrons  is  not  inaptly  compared  to  the  separation  of 
kindred.  The  constant  interchange  of  sentiment,  the  daily  so 
cial  intercourse,  and  the  many  kind  offices  which  patrons  ren 
der  their  publisher,  soon  create  sentiments  and  affections  which 
cannot  be  interrupted  without  exciting  the  liveliest  regret.  On 
this  occasion,  when  taking  leave  of  those  persons  who  have  be 
stowed  upon  me  these  highly-prized  favors,  I  feel  more  than  I 
shall  attempt  to  express.  .  .  . 

"  I  retain  undiminished  confidence  in  our  state  government. 
The  unprecedented  prosperity  of  the  Commonwealth,  under  the 
guidance  of  De  Witt  Clinton,  is  an  unerring  evidence  of  the 
wisdom  of  his  policy  and  the  republicanism  of  his  administra 
tion.  The  years  1817,  1818,  1819,  and  1820  are  proud  and 
distinguished  in  the  history  of  New  York.  These,  however, 


14  MEMOIR.  [1820. 

with  the  smiles  of  ever-directing  Providence,  are  but  mere  pre 
cursors  to  bounties  of  immense  value,  which  await  our  happy, 
highly-favored  State.  There  can  be  110  apprehensions  for  the 
virtue  and  integrity  of  an  administration  which  numbers  among 
its  efficient  friends  such  men  as  John  Tayler,  John  Jay,  Archi 
bald  Mclntyre,  T.  A.  Emmet,  Henry  Huntington,  C.  D.  Golden, 
P.  A.  Jay,  T.  J.  Oakley,  and  their  colleagues.  .  .  . 

u  In  the  progress  of  improvement  for  the  last  three  years, 
this  State  has  outstripped  the  bounds  of  fancy.  Our  canal,  the 
proudest  monument  of  munificence  and  enterprise  ever  erected 
within  our  borders,  has  progressed  with  a  rapidity  which  aston 
ishes  its  friends  and  confounds  its  enemies.  The  canal  route 
from  Utica  to  Montezuma  exhibits  a  scene  which  rejoices  the 
heart  of  every  good  citizen.  All  who  visit  this  grand  work  re 
turn  exclaiming,  in  the  language  of  the  Queen  of  Sheba,  '  The 
half  was  not  told  me.'  Valuably  laden  boats  are  now  con 
stantly  plying  through  a  section  of  country  which,  three  years 
ago,  could  be  traversed  only  by  beasts  of  the  forest.  Villages 
are  shooting  up  in  every  direction  on  the  borders  of  the  canal, 
and  what  was  then  a  howling  wilderness  is  now  converted  into 
fertile  fields." 

The  house  in  which  Mr.  Weed  lived  at  Norwich  is  no  longer 
standing,  but  many  of  the  older  residents  remember  it  well,  and 
the  next  neighbor's  house,  which  his  resembled,  remains  as  it  was 
sixty-five  years  ago.  I  visited  these  scenes  in  1883.  The  town 
lies  in  a  prosperous  portion  of  the  State,  and  is  built  in  a  valley 
surrounded  on  all  sides  by  rugged  hills.  Jedediah  Wheeler  told 
me  that  he  settled  there  in  1815.  He  remembered  Mr.  Weed's 
coming  as  an  event  of  some  importance.  He  also  remembered 
that  the  agreement  had  been  that  Mr.  Hubbard  would  not  start 
another  paper.  "  You  see  that  the  old  printing-office,"  he  said, 
as  he  pointed  out  the  place,  "  has  degenerated  into  a  cabinet-shop 
and  wagon-house.  It  was  pushed  back  from  the  main  street  to 
make  room  for  the  brick  Bank  of  Norwich."  Mr.  Wheeler  went 
into  Mr.  Weed's  office,  one  day,  thinking  that  he  would  like  to 
become  a  printer ;  but  he  gave  it  up,  he  says,  when  he  saw  how 
rapidly  compositors  work  at  the  "  case."  Charles  Thorpe,  the 
oldest  living  graduate  of  Hamilton  College,  which  he  entered  in 
1812,  told  me  that  Norwich  has  been  "made  over"  since  1820. 
Mrs.  Lewis,  aged  eighty-six,  lived  near  the  Weeds.  "  Their 


1820.]  NORWICH  REVISITED.  15 

house  was  very  small,"  she  said,  "  and  it  was  a  poor  sort  of 
house,  too,  sir,  —  begging  your  pardon.  I  do  not  know  that  it 
was  even  plastered.  The  walls  were  just  planked  up.  Mrs. 
Weed  used  to  go  to  Mrs.  Oviatt's  house,  where  there  was  a 
great  brick  oven,  to  do  the  family  baking.  There  were  very 
few  stoves  in  those  days.  The  oven  was  built  into  the  chimney, 
and  the  baking  was  placed  on  a  long-handled  shovel,  so  as  to 
get  it  in  as  far  as  the  back  end  of  the  oven.  Ah,  but  those 
shovels  were  great  things  for  brown  bread !  It  stayed  in  over 
night,  and  came  out  smoking  like  a  pudding  for  breakfast." 
All  this  Miss  Gary,  who  lived  next  door  to  Mr.  Weed,  corrobo 
rated,  adding  that  "  he  was  a  good  neighbor."  Mr.  Raynsford, 
born  in  1802,  told  me  that  Norwich  people  made  their  own 
clothing  up  to  1820.  He  remembered  when  the  forests  all 
about  were  frequented  by  wild  deer.  Another  old  resident  fur 
nished  me  with  an  anecdote.  "  One  day,"  he  said,  "  Mr.  Weed 
published  an  article  reflecting  upon  Lot  Clark,  who  thereupon 
became  so  exasperated  that  he  took  a  horsewhip  and  went  out 
to  chastise  the  offender.  He  met  Mr.  Weed,  who  seized  the 
whip,  and  applied  it  to  Mr.  Clark  to  his  satisfaction." 

Late  in  August,  1872,  Mr.  Weed  spent  a  few  days  in  revisit 
ing  Chenango  County. 

On  Monday  of  last  week  [said  the  local  paper]  Mr.  Weed,  his 
daughter  Harriet,  who  was  born  in  this  place,  and  two  grandchildren 
arrived  on  the  Midland  from  Sidney,  after  spending  a  few  days  in 
Cooperstown,  where,  in  his  younger  days,  he  had  worked  as  a  journey 
man  printer.  The  party  stopped  at  the  Eagle,  and  the  news  soon 
reached  the  remaining  old  residents  who  lived  here  in  1820  and  knew 
Mr.  Weed,  and  some  who  have  since  formed  and  retained  his  acquaint 
ance  and  friendship.  Among  the  former  we  may  mention  the  Hon. 
John  F.  Hubbard,  Sen.  These  two  venerable  journalists  were  all  their 
active  years  opposed  in  politics,  and  those  who  suppose  that  political 
battles  fifty  years  ago  were  less  sharp  than  now  are  seriously  mistaken  ; 
but,  after  long  lives  spent  in  advocating  the  respective  policies  to  which 
they  were  attached,  they  lay  aside  political  armor,  meet  in  their  declin 
ing  years,  and  greet  each  other  with  a  friendship  which  is  not  likely 
to  be  severed.  Mr.  Weed,  while  evidently  affected  by  these  meetings, 
was  also  highly  gratified  to  greet  those  whom  he  had  not  seen  in  half 
a  century,  and  to  look  upon  the  hills,  the  valleys,  the  streets,  and  the 
buildings  with  which  he  was  once  so  familiar. 

The  celebrities  of  Norwich  Mr.  Weed  vividly  remembered. 


16  MEMOIR.  [1821. 

He  spoke  a  few  years  ago  of  one  of  the  village  oracles,  whose 
name  was  Joshua  Aldrich,  and  who  was  as  impatient  of  contra 
diction  as  all  well-regulated  oracles  should  be.  Aldrich's  dog 
matic  assertions  were  the  admiration  of  the  Eagle  tavern.  He 
was  rarely  pushed  into  a  corner  in  debate  ;  but  in  case  that  oc 
curred,  would  exclaim,  "  '  Who  steals  my  purse  steals  trash,'  as 
Robert  Boyle  says ; "  and  this  quotation,  eloquently  delivered, 
with  the  addition  of  that  part  about  robbing  a  man  of  his  good 
name,  would  silence  opposition.  But  finally,  on  one  occasion, 
Benjamin  Chapman,  a  storekeeper,  quietly  observed  that  Mr. 
Aldrich  had  plainly  mistaken  the  paternity  of  the  extract  quoted  ; 
and  that  Shakespeare  was  really  the  author,  not  Boyle.  "  Uncle 
Josh  "  instantly  resented  this  assertion,  and  the  next  day  sub 
stantiated  his  accuracy  by  producing  the  "  Works  of  Boyle," 
printed  in  a  small  volume,  on  the  title-page  of  which  ran  the 
quotation  in  question.  The  merchant  endeavored  to  show  that 
the  lines  were  borrowed,  in  accordance  with  a  common  usage, 
but  neither  "  Uncle  Josh  "  nor  any  of  the  spectators  was  pre 
pared  to  accept  this  as  a  satisfactory  explanation. 

Jesse  Brown  was  another  idler  at  the  tavern.  He  was  espe 
cially  addicted  to  politics.  When  Daniel  D.  Tompkins  was 
running  against  De  Witt  Clinton  for  Governor  there  were  many 
animated  disputes.  Jesse  was  an  ardent  and  loquacious  Clinto- 
nian.  One  day  he  engaged  in  high  debate  with  an  equally  zeal 
ous  Bucktail,  whose  name  was  Snow.  Brown  expatiated  on  the 
talents  and  learning  of  Clinton.  Snow  extolled  Tompkins  for 
his  patriotic  services  during  the  war.  "  My  candidate,''  he  ex 
claimed,  "  after  borrowing  all  the  money  the  banks  would  lend, 
spent  his  own  fortune  besides  in  furnishing  clothes  and  food  for 
the  soldiers  who  fought  the  British.  You  talk  about  Clinton's 
great  ability,  but  I  want  to  know  what  he  has  ever  done  for  the 
country  or  the  State."  "  I  am  prepared,"  retorted  Brown,  "  to 
meet  you  on  that  point.  And  if  you  want  to  know  what  Gov 
ernor  Clinton  has  done  for  his  country,  I  advise  you  to  look 
at  his  future  conduct."  This  caused  a  laugh  at  the  expense  of 
Clinton  and  his  admirer,  in  which  even  the  Governor's  friends 
joined. 

1821.  —  Mr.  Weed  s  attention  was  turned  to  Manlius,  Onon- 
daga  County,  early  in  1821,  as  a  town  at  which  there  might  be 
a  favorable  opportunity  for  engaging  in  the  newspaper  business, 


1821.]  MAJOR  ANDRE.  17 

and  he  wrote  to  a  friend  there,  requesting  him  to  look  over  the 
prospect. 

[H.    L.    GRANGER   TO   MR.    WEED.] 

MANLIUS,  January  25,  1821. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  Conformable  to  your  request,  I  called  upon  Mr. 
Clark,  at  present  owner  of  the  printing-office  in  this  village,  as  soon  as 
I  received  your  letter,  and  he  informed  me  that  he  would  sell  on  rea 
sonable  terms. 

I  should  feel  highly  gratified  in  having  a  well-conducted  paper  in 
this  place,  and  am  confident  that  much  good  would  result  from  it. 
The  opposition  are  growing  daily  more  abusive  and  violent,  and  had 
we  a  paper  edited  with  ability  and  candor  I  should  not  doubt  of  a  ma 
jority  for  the  administration  at  the  next  election. 

Yours,  etc.,  H.  L.  GRAXGER. 

Not  long  after  this  Mr.  Weed  gave  up  the  "  Agriculturist," 
and,  after  an  unsuccessful  start  at  Albany,  began  to  publish  the 
"  Onondaga  Republican  "  at  Manlius. 

An  early  occasion  for  press  comment  was  found  in  the  an 
nouncement  that  the  British  government  had  determined  to  re 
move  the  remains  of  Major  Andre  to  Westminster  Abbey. 
44 This  project,"  he  wrote,  on  the  15th  of  August,  1821,  "has 
been  discussed  with  commendable  delicacy  by  the  New  York 
papers  generally.  But  there  is  one  exception.  The  'Ameri 
can  '  has  treated  the  character  of  '  that  accomplished  man  and 
gallant  officer,'  as  General  Washington  called  Andre,  with  un 
feeling  harshness  and  contumely.  .  .  .  This  attack  upon  the 
memory  of  a  virtuous  but  unfortunate  soldier  is  an  exemplifi 
cation  of  the  worst  of  feelings.  The  character  of  Major  Andre, 
as  is  acknowledged  by  all,  was  above  reproach,  his  morals  cor 
rect,  and  his  honor  unstained.  Devotion  to  the  cause  of  his 
monarch  induced  him  to  engage  in  a  perilous  adventure.  He  was 
captured,  tried,  and  executed,  and  the  '  American  '  says  his  re 
mains  '  lie  where  they  ought  to  lie,  in  a  dishonored  grave.' 
Major  Andre's  offense  was  not  a  venal  one.  He  committed  no 
crime  which  dishonors  his  memory.  An  ignominious  death 
atoned  for  his  violation  of  the  usages  of  war.  Let  us  respect 
his  virtues  and  his  magnanimity." 

"  General  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed  in 
another  article,  "  has  been  put  in  nomination  for  the  seat  in 
Congress  of  General  Solomon  Van  Rensselaer,  which  became 


18  MEMOIR.  [1821. 

vacant  by  the  appointment  of  the  latter  gentleman  to  the  office 
of  Postmaster  at  Albany.  It  is  consoling,  in  these  times  of 
general  and  almost  total  political  depravity,  to  see  men  of  ster 
ling  worth,  like  General  Van  Rensselaer,  in  positions  of  re 
sponsibility.  That  singularly  exalted  man  stands  preeminently 
first  among  the  few  politicians  l  of  this  State  who  remain  worthy 
of  trust.  He  will  be  elected  by  an  overwhelming  majority,  and 
will  serve  his  constituents  with  fidelity.  We  rejoice  to  see  such 
men  in  high  places." 

The  most  prosperous  citizens  of  Central  New  York  in  1821 
lived  upon  incomes  which  would  now  be  thought  entirely  in 
adequate.  Judge  Tousley  and  Nicholas  P.  Randall  were  the 
only  residents  of  Manlius  who  kept  carriages  for  their  own 
pleasure.  Azariah  Smith  had  one  horse,  which  he  sometimes 
let  to  a  young  man  who  wanted  to  take  his  sweetheart  sleigh- 
riding.  Mr.  Randall  probably  lived  on  less  than  $1,500  a  year. 
When  a  man  bought  a  hat  it  was  expected  to  last  twelve 
months,  at  least ;  and  to  buy  more  than  two  suits  of  clothes  in 
a  year  would  have  been  deemed  wasteful  extravagance.  Few 
houses  had  carpets.  But  in  1821  Manlius  was  far  more  in 
teresting  than  it  is  to-day.  It  was  then  a  stage-line  centre,  and 
picturesque  coaches,  as  they  swept  past  the  old  tavern  and 
printing-office,  made  the  streets  resound  with  their  cheery  tal 
ly-ho  and  the  voices  of  travelers.  One  route  ran  to  Albany 
by  the  Cherry  Valley  road,  and  another  to  Albany  and  Buffalo 
by  the  Seneca  turnpike.  The  "  Pioneer  Stage  Line  "  was  not 
what  its  name  might  imply,  but  was  started  as  an  opposition 
enterprise,  because  the  old  company  ran  on  Sundays.  In  the 
end  the  "  Pioneer "  was  worsted,  although  clergymen  all  fa 
vored  that  company.  From  1810  until  1821,  this  village  was 
the  principal  place  of  business  in  Oiiondaga  Comity.  The 
people  of  Cazenovia,  Chittenango,  and  the  northern  country  went 
there  to  trade.  The  town  had  several  citizens  distinguished  for 
ability  and  public  spirit.  It  was  the  residence  of  the  county 
judge  and  sheriff.  But  when  the  stage-coach  was  supplanted 
by  the  canal  boat,  Manlius  began  to  decline,  and  subsequently, 
when  it  was  left  off  the  great  routes  of  railway  transportation, 
it  sank  into  a  state  of  indifference  from  which  it  has  never 
rallied. 

1  Mr.  Weed  never  regarded  this  word  as  a  term  of  reproach. 


1821.]  A   NEW   VENTURE.  19 

The  house  in  which  Mr.  Weed  lived  and  the  office  in  which 
he  worked  are  still  standing.  The  former  —  a  small  frame 
dwelling,  located  at  the  intersection  of  two  side  streets,  one  of 
which  was  called  "  Clinton,"  in  honor  of  the  Governor  —  can 
not  have  looked  very  differently  in  1821.  "  I  knew  Mr.  Weed 
over  sixty  years,"  said  Peter  Wormood,  the  blacksmith,  as  he 
stood  reflectively  on  the  doorstep  of  the  old  dwelling,  u  and  I 
never  knew  anything  bad  of  him."  Arnold  Remington,  ninety 
years  old,  added  kindly  reminiscences. 

[MB.    WEED    TO    A    FRIEND.] 

MANLIUS,  September  23,  1821. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  It  was  imperatively  necessary  that  I  should  make  a 
start  somewhere,  in  order  to  support  my  family.  They  were  actually 
in  want  of  things  which  it  was  beyond  my  power  to  obtain.  The  out 
look  here  is  better,  so  far,  than  I  had  expected.  I  think  I  can  do 
something.  The  "  Republican  "  takes  well.  The  villagers  are  well 
pleased  with  it.  Subscribers  increase.  If  I  am  so  fortunate  as  to  be 
prudent  and  discreet,  I  think  I  can  acquire  a  little  influence.  But 
politics  are  strangely  entangled.  I  hardly  know  what  to  touch.  What 
is  to  come  out  of  the  schism  in  New  York  ?  I  feel  partial  to  the  new 
lights. 

A  Bucktail  paper  was  offered  to  me.  It  is  much  better  supported 
than  this,  but  I  could  not  take  it.  It  would  be  palpably  inconsistent 
with  my  former  course,  although  a  liberal  overture. 

I  hope  a  change  is  at  hand.  Whenever  the  iron  is  hot,  I  stand 
ready  to  strike  ;  or  if  any  assistance  is  wanted  in  heating  it,  I  will  be 
the  first  hand  at  the  bellows. 

I  had  barely  two  dollars  in  my  pocket  when  I  got  here  with  my 
family.  We  lived  eight  days  without  tea,  sugar,  or  meat  —  on  bread 
and  butter  only,  with  cold  water.  It  is  pinching  times,  but  I  am 
determined  to  stand  it. 

Yours  faithfully,  T.  WEED. 

It  was  natural  that  Mr.  Weed  should  foresee  some  of  the 
changes  which  the  construction  of  the  Erie  Canal  was  destined 
to  bring  about.  He  could  not  but  realize  that  it  would  be  much 
easier  to  establish  a  paying  newspaper  in  a  town  destined  to  ad 
vance.  He  discussed  the  inevitable  limitations  of  Maiilius  with 
his  friend  Addison  Gardiner,  then  just  beginning  the  practice  of 
the  law  in  that  village.  Without  much  hesitation  Gardiner  de- 


20  MEMOIR.  [1821. 

cicled  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  West,  fixing  upon  Indianapolis 
as  a  good  place  in  which  to  make  a  start.  Arrived  at  Geneva, 
he  found  that  the  stage-route  was  temporarily  blocked,  and  con 
cluded  to  visit  Niagara  Falls,  which  he  had  never  seen.  On 
the  way  thither  he  passed  through  a  village  which  appeared  so 
delightful  to  the  young  barrister  that  he  determined  to  make  it 
his  permanent  residence. 

This  chance  in  1822  gave  Rochester  a  citizen  who  remained 
one  of  her  foremost  gentlemen  for  sixty-one  years.  He  opened 
an  office  in  a  building  owned  by  Everard  Peck,  proprietor  of 
the  Rochester  "  Telegraph,"  1  with  which  Mr.  Weed  was  subse 
quently  associated.  He  was  the  first  Justice  of  the  Peace  elected 
in  Rochester,  and  was  successively  chosen  to  be  District-Attor 
ney,  Circuit  Judge,  Lieutenant-Governor,  and  Judge  of  the  Court 
of  Appeals.  "  I  was  always  urging  Mr.  Weed  to  leave  Man- 
lius,"  once  said  Judge  Gardiner,  "  and  I  think  I  may  add  that 
but  for  that  accident  at  Geneva  he  never  would  have  become  a 
resident  of  Rochester.  .  .  .  How  curious  it  seems  that  circum 
stances  which  we  regard  at  the  time  as  scarcely  worthy  of  notice 
often  change  the  entire  current  of  our  lives  !  " 

Judge  Gardiner  survived  his  old  friend  but  a  few  months. 
He  died  at  Rochester  in  June,  1883. 

[WILLIAM  KENT  TO  MB.  WEED.] 

NEW  YORK,  November  20,  1849. 

MY  DEAR  WEED,  —  Good-by  to  you,  old  fellow.  We  are  destined 
never  to  meet  except  in  railroad  cars,  or  in  Broadway,  or  on  the  wheel 
of  a  steamboat.  Still,  I  have  a  romantic  sort  of  regard  for  you, 
which  is  more  provoking,  as  you  do  not  appear  to  care  a  straw  for  me. 
But  I  can't  help  the  soft  impeachment.  Albert  H.  Tracy  (whom  I 
saw  in  Buffalo)  says  there  are  some  natures  —  frequent  in  women, 
not  uncommon  in  men  —  who  are  attached  all  the  more  for  careless 
treatment  and  a  little  tyranny.  I  acknowledge  this  spaniel  disposi 
tion,  and  admit  that  at  any  time,  with  a  whistle,  you  can  summon 
back  the  regard  of  yours  ever,  WILLIAM  KENT. 

P.  S.     I  met  Addison  Gardiner  in  Buffalo.     I  tried  hard  to  be- 

1  Telegraphs  were  in  use  long  before  the  electric  telegraph  was  invented. 
They  had  long  arms  for  displaying  signals  or  lanterns,  and  usually  stood  on 
headlands.  There  was  one  at  Sandy  Hook  to  signal  vessels  approaching 
Xew  York. 


1821.]  ADDISON  GARDINER.  21 

come  acquainted  with  him,  but  he  gave  no  sign,  and  looked  rigid  as  a 
Puritan,  grave  and  hard ;  yet  I  admit  your  good  taste.  There  is 
deep  thought  in  lu's  brow,  and  he  seems  to  be  in  earnest  in  being  so 
severely  Christian.  This  may  make  him  better  for  the  next  world, 
but  not  so  interesting  as  a  sinner  like  Thurlow  Weed  is,  in  this. 


trr-  T 


CHAPTER  III. 

1822—1829. 

AT  ROCHESTER.  —  EVERARD  PECK.  —  THE  STATE  ADMINISTRATION.  —  ITS 
PLACE  IN  HISTORY.  —  TWITTING  A  JOURNEYMAN.  —  His  REPLY.  —  MNE 
MONIC  EXERCISES.  —  DANIEL  WEBSTER'S  ELECTION  TO  THE  SENATE.  — 
THE  CHARACTER  OF  WASHINGTON.  —  ANNIVERSARY  OF  AMERICAN  IN 
DEPENDENCE. —  DEATH  OF  DE  WITT  CLINTON.  —  GEORGE  DAWSON'S 
REMINISCENCES.  —  LETTERS  FROM  ALBERT  H.  TRACY.  —  FREDERICK 
WHITTLESEY.  —  CHANCELLOR  LANSING. 

THERE  used  to  run  northward  from  what  was  Buffalo  Street 
in  old  Rochester  a  rough,  swampy  thoroughfare,  skirted  by  nar 
row  footpaths  on  either  side,  with  huge  logs  lying  in  the  middle, 
to  keep  wagons  or  stage-coaches  from  sinking  in  the  mud.  Such 
was  the  Fitzlmgh  Street  of  sixty  years  ago,  upon  which  Mr. 
Weed  took  a  house  when  he  went  to  live  in  Rochester.  The 
thriving  village  of  that  day  has  now  become  a  prosperous,  beau 
tiful  city,  but  the  "  march  of  improvement "  yet  leaves  intact 
what  was  a  "  poor  printer's  "  home  from  1822  to  1830. 

Now,  for  the  first  time  since  beginning  editorial  service,  his 
surroundings  became  thoroughly  congenial.  Aside  from  the  so 
cial,  business,  and  political  advantages  of  his  new  place  of  resi 
dence,  he  had  an  influential  friend  in  his  employer,  Mr.  Peck, 
proprietor  of  the  "  Telegraph,"  with  whom  he  enjoyed  while  life 
lasted  unbroken  relations  of  respect  and  confidence.  Mr.  Peck 
was  a  Clintonian,  but  disinclined  to  take  any  active  part  in  pol 
itics,  and  thus  the  political  direction  of  his  paper  fell  upon  its 
junior  editor,  —  an  arrangement,  it  need  hardly  be  said,  exactly 
to  the  liking  of  Mr.  Weed,  though  not  perfectly  satisfactory  to 
the  Bucktails  of  Monroe  County. 

[MR.    PECK    TO    MR.    WEED.] 

ROCHESTER,  January,  27,  1847. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  Yours  of  the  22d  has  relieved  me  of  an  apprehen 
sion  I  felt  lest  you  might  think  I  made  too  free  use  of  your  name  at 


1822.]  THE   STATE  ADMINISTRATION.  23 

the  festival.  But  I  knew  that  you  possessed  so  much  of  the  nature  of 
old  Franklin  as  not  to  feel  in  the  least  degree  mortified  at  having  the 
stormy  period  of  your  life  brought  out  to  public  notice. 

The  occasion  seemed  so  opportune  and  the  moral  so  calculated  to  be 
useful  that  I  could  not  resist  the  impulse  to  say  what  I  did ;  I  might 
have  said  more,  I  could  not  say  less,  and  I  felt  happy  that  the  re 
marks  appeared  to  be  so  well  received,  as  it  showed  an  interest  was 
felt  by  the  gathered  throng  in  the  subject  of  them.  Your  letter  would, 
I  assure  you,  have  been  most  acceptable,  and  its  not  appearing  as  was 
expected,  was  regretted. 

You  speak  of  the  aid  rendered  you  when  so  much  needed.  The  ad 
vantages  of  our  connection  were  mutual.  If  I  was  of  any  service  to 
you,  I  was  amply  repaid  at  the  time,  and  the  satisfaction  I  have  felt 
at  your  success  since  then  is  so  much  clear  profit. 

I  love  to  dwell  upon  examples  of  indomitable  energy  and  true  phi 
losophy  under  misfortune  and  difficulty.  Win.  Bush  paid  for  his  news 
paper  in  advance  by  chopping  wood  for  the  "  Telegraph  "  office.  C. 
F.  Jones,  when  first  coming  to  manhood,  chopped  wood  and  hauled  it 
to  the  village  at  sixty-two  and  a  half  cents  a  cord,  to  support  a  mother 
and  her  jamily,  who  were  thrown  upon  a  friendless  youth. 

If  men  of  that  sort  ever  turn  their  backs  upon  the  claims  of  human 
ity,  I  will  give  up  my  theory,  which  is  that  one  such  is  worth  more  to 
the  world  than  a  regiment  of  bandbox  gentlemen. 

Yours  truly,  E.  PECK. 

"  The  administration  of  Governor  Clinton,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed, 
in  one  of  his  first  Rochester  articles,  "  lias  secured  to  us  incal 
culable  benefits.  Agriculture,  manufactures,  literature,  science, 
and  the  arts  have  each  received  protection  and  encouragement 
from  an  enlightened  executive.  His  works  are  monuments 
which  will  secure  for  him  the  gratitude  and  veneration  of  pos 
terity.  The  feeble  attempts  of  blind  and  impotent  malevolence 
to  deprive  him  of  honors  so  nobly  earned  serve  only  to  confirm 
his  claims.  When  his  enemies  hoped  to  ruin  him  by  checking 
the  progress  of  internal  improvement,  their  motto  was,  '  Clinton 
and  his  canals  are  indissolubly  connected.  He  must  sink  or  swim 
with  them.'  That  was  the  language  of  the  '  National  Advocate.' 
And  he  does  '  swim '  with  them.  And  his  fame  will  remain  4  in 
dissolubly  connected  '  with  them.  When  those  who  are  strutting 
their  brief  hour  upon  the  public  stage  are  shuffled  off  and  for 
gotten,  the  name  of  Clinton  will  brighten  into  a  second  life,  and 
assume  its  place  upon  the  scroll  which  immortalizes  Franklin, 


24  MEMOIR.  [1823. 

Kittenhouse,  and  Fulton.  ...  In  attempting  to  blast  his  rep 
utation  and  destroy  his  influence,  his  infatuated  enemies  have 
been  instrumental  in  procuring  for  him  honors  as  unfading  as 
the  evergreen.  His  errors  in  the  paltry  concerns  of  office  will 
be  forgotten,  while  his  bold  measures  in  the  cause  of  national 
advancement  will  live  as  long  as  Erie  and  Champlain  shall  min 
gle  their  waters  with  the  Hudson." 

When  an  effort  was  set  on  foot,  in  1823,  to  revive  the  caucus 
system  of  presidential  nominations,  Mr.  Weed  ably  defended 
the  right  of  the  people  to  choose  their  own  electors.  The  fol 
lowing  criticism  and  reply,  called  out  in  that  controversy,  are 
worthy  of  preservation :  — 

When  we  noticed  the  Rochester  "  Telegraph,"  a  few  weeks  ago,  we 
supposed  we  were  dealing  with  Mr.  Peck,  the  man  in  whose  name  it 
is  published.  We  have  since  learned  that  the  editorial  department 
of  that  paper  has  been  committed  to  the  hands  of  a  journeyman,  who 
has  no  character  to  risk  or  lose.  A  hireling,  who  knows  no  other 
duty  than  his  master's  bidding,  can  feel  little  interest  in  the  more  im 
portant  concerns  of  the  country.  The  summit  of  his  ambition  is  to  see 
the  great  and  good  brought  down  to  his  own  level,  and  it  is  wholly  im 
material  to  him  what  means  are  used  to  accomplish  the  purpose.  Our 
only  surprise  is  that  Mr.  Peck  should  suffer  to  appear  in  a  paper  bear 
ing  his  imprint  such  an  article  as  that  in  the  last  k'  Telegraph."  The 
cause  of  John  Quincy  Adams  must  be  desperate  indeed  to  require  such 
support.  —  Ontario  Freeman. 

The  preceding  paragraph  is  in  reply  to  an  article  of  ours  on  the 
presidential  election,  and  may  perhaps  be  regarded  as  a  pretty  fair 
specimen  of  the  arguments  which  Mr.  Crawford's  agents  adduce  in 
support  of  that  gentleman's  pretensions.  We  are  not  anxious  to  de 
prive  Mr.  Crawford  of  any  advantage  that  he  derives  from  such  pro 
ductions.  If  efforts  of  this  description  can  elevate  him  to  the  presi 
dency,  it  must  be  confessed  that  all  other  competitors  are  contending 
against  fearful  odds  ;  for  with  a  party  organized  and  led  by  Binns, 
Noah,  Van  Buren,  and  Spencer,  a  man  of  exalted  mind  and  unspotted 
character  will  always  find  it  most  difficult  to  contend. 

Nor  is  it  a  matter  of  surprise  that  politicians  like  these,  with  what 
ever  excess  of  malignity  they  may  have  hitherto  contended  against 
each  other,  should  now  unite  in  support  of  Mr.  Crawford.  A  com 
munity  of  principle  will  necessarily  produce  a  harmony  of  effort  among 
men  whose  interests  are  the  same.  With  Mr.  Adams  politicians  of 
this  cast  of  character  stand  no  chance  of  advancement ;  but  in  the  Sec- 


1823.]  A   JOURNEYMAN'S  REPLY.  25 

retary  of  the  Treasury  they  have  a  man  who  can  appreciate  their 
merits,  and  who  is  disposed  to  reward  their  efforts.  He,  therefore,  is 
worthy  of  such  adherents,  and  they  of  such  a  patron. 

Mr.  Spencer,  it  seems,  has  but  just  been  informed  that  Mr.  Peck 
has  committed  the  editorial  department  of  the  "  Telegraph "  to  the 
"  hands  of  a  journeyman."  We  say  Mr.  Spencer,  because  his  journey 
men  have  been  in  possession  of  this  important  information  for  the  last 
six  months.  Neither  of  those  men,  therefore,  could  have  written  the 
article  which  adorns  the  head  of  this  column  ;  for  we  will  not  believe, 
however  loose  their  habits  may  be,  that  they  would  have  forced  an 
untruth  into  the  first  sentence,  merely  for  the  purpose  of  retaining  a 
consistency  throughout  the  article,  when  the  truth  would  have  an 
swered  every  purpose.  Mr.  Spencer,  then,  must  have  written  the 
paragraph;  and  we  make  the  distinction  with  the  view  of  adding 
another  sprig  to  the  numerous  editorial  laurels  which  cluster  around 
his  brow. 

To  the  crime  of  being  a  "  journeyman,"  the  person  alluded  to  in 
Mr.  Spencer's  dignified  article  stands  fully  convicted.  Nor  will  he 
attempt  to  palliate  his  offense  before  an  accuser  who  regards  poverty 
as  a  high  misdemeanor.  Never  having  been  in  fortune's  way,  or 
acquired  that  knowledge  which  enables  its  votaries  to  "  live  by  their 
wits,"  he  is  compelled,  for  the  sake  of  his  family,  to  labor  in  his  voca 
tion  as  a  journeyman  printer,  —  a  calling  which,  he  regrets  to  learn, 
Mr.  Spencer  holds  in  profound  contempt.  The  person  in  question 
has  made  two  efforts  to  rise  to  the  more  reputable  walk  of  proprietor, 
in  a  small  way,  of  a  newspaper,  but  his  experience  has  satisfied  him 
of  a  total  deficiency  in  all  the  qualifications  which  are  essential  to 
newspaper  success  in  these  latter  times  of  disinterested  republicanism. 
Binns's  proverbial  disregard  of  all  descriptions  of  truth  and  decency, 
Noah's  convenient  line  of  demarkation  between  moral  and  political 
honesty,  Stevens's  meek  reliance  upon  Providence,  and  Barnum's 
readiness  to  abandon  one  cause  and  espouse  another  as  often  as  his 
interest  indicates  the  expediency  of  apostatizing,  are  each,  in  their 
way,  powerful  recommendations  to  the  patronage  of  Martin  Van  Bu- 
ren  and  Ambrose  Spencer.  Nature,  in  pity  or  in  anger,  has  withheld 
from  us  all  these  rare  gifts,  and  hence  the  necessity  of  being  a  jour 
neyman.  But  our  humble  station,  after  all,  is  not  a  matter  for  morti 
fication.  The  proprietorship  of  a  newspaper  can  at  all  times  be 
purchased  by  sacrifice  of  principle,  which  Mr.  Spencer's  printers 
have  promptly  made,  but  which  we  cannot  reconcile  with  our  feel 
ings  of  independence.  TTe  will  sell  the  labor  of  our  hands,  but  the 
spirit,  free  as  the  air  it  inhales,  would  shrink  from  the  proposition 
of  self-abasement  that  Mr.  Spencer's  men  accepted,  and  which,  to  the 


26  MEMOIR.  [1825. 

amusement  of  all  who  know  the  fullness  of  their  humiliation,  they  dig 
nify  with  the  name  of  republicanism.  .  .  .  Mr.  Stevens  has  so  unre 
servedly  committed  his  concerns  to  the  supervision  of  Mr.  Spencer 
that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  distinguish  his  identity.  The  other 
fellow,  Mr.  Barnum,  has  given  early  hopes  of  future  usefulness.  Few 
persons,  we  believe,  in  their  youth,  have  furnished  more  distinct  indi 
cations  of  what  may  be  expected  from  them  when  experience  shall 
have  added  its  finish  to  a  work  upon  which  Nature  seems  to  have  ex 
hausted  her  skill.  He  is  now  in  the  springtide  of  experiment,  with 
principles  fashioned  after  the  best  model,  and  deriving  instructions 
from  a  master  whose  precepts  are  always  illustrated  by  example.  The 
friends,  therefore,  of  this  growing,  hopeful  youth  may  indulge  confi 
dent  expectations  of  his  ultimate  attainment  to  the  summit  of  political 
worthlessness  and  depravity. 

Mr.  Spencer  says  that  we  have  "no  character  to  risk  or  lose,"  by 
reason,  doubtless,  of  our  being  a  journeyman ;  for  this  is  the  only 
evidence  he  condescends  to  offer  in  support  of  his  modest  assertion. 
But  these  gratuitous  denunciations  never  affect  our  equanimity.  In 
passing,  however,  we  must  be  permitted  to  remark  that  we  have  no 
character  to  "  risk  "  in  the  support  of  Mr.  Crawford,  or  to  "  lose  "  by 
association  with  Binns,  Noah,  and  Spencer.  Were  this  charge  true, 
our  case  would  form  a  singular  exception  to  a  rule  which  we  had  sup 
posed  absolutely  inclusive  ;  we  should  find  great  difficulty  in  imagining 
a  person  destitute  of  principle  and  character  neither  an  instrument  of 
Van  Buren,  a  colleague  of  Noah,  nor  a  supporter  of  Crawford. 

We  owe  Mr.  Spencer's  freemen  an  apology  for  neglecting  to  notice 
a  column  of  words  that  they  bestowed  upon  us  some  three  or  four 
weeks  ago.  We  trust  they  will  not  construe  the  omission  into  a  disre 
spect  for  their  attentions.  Circumstances  forbade  our  noticing  subjects 
of  minor  importance  at  that  time.  In  future  we  shall  endeavor  to 
reciprocate  any  little  civilities,  like  those  which  call  for  our  present 
acknowledgments,  that  Mr.  Spencer  or  his  freemen  may  have  occasion 
to  offer  either  to  Mr.  Peck  or  his  journeyman. 

It  was  at  this  period  of  his  life  that  Mr.  Weed  began  to  cul 
tivate  his  memory.  "  Some  of  my  Rochester  friends,"  he  says, 
"used  to  think  that  I  was  'cut  out  for  a  politician.'  But  I 
saw  at  once  a  fatal  weakness.  My  memory  was  a  sieve.  I 
could  remember  nothing.  Dates,  names,  appointments,  faces,  — 
everything  escaped  me.  I  said  to  my  wife,  '  Catherine,  I  shall 
never  make  a  successful  politician,  for  I  cannot  remember,  and 
that  is  a  prime  necessity  of  politicians.  A  politician  who  sees 
a  man  once  should  remember  him  forever.'  My  wife  told  me 


1827.J       WEBSTER'S  ELECTION   TO   THE   SENATE.  27 

that  T  must  train  my  memory.  So  I  spent  fifteen  minutes  try 
ing  silently  to  recall  the  events  of  the  day.  Tcould  remember 
little  at  first ;  I  could  not  even  tell  what  I  had  had  for  break 
fast.  Finally  I  found  I  could  recall  more.  Events  came  back 
to  me  more  minutely  and  more  accurately.  After  a  fortnight 
or  so  of  this,  Catherine  said,  4  Why  can't  you  tell  me  everything 
that  has  happened  ?  My  interest  in  your  affairs  would  make  it 
pleasanter  and  easier.'  Then  I  began  a  habit  of  oral  confession, 
as  it  were,  which  I  followed  for  almost  fifty  years.1  Every 
night,  the  last  thing  before  retiring,  I  told  my  wife  everything 
that  I  could  recall  that  had  happened  to  me  or  about  me  during 
the  day.  I  generally  recalled  the  very  dishes  I  had  had  for 
breakfast,  dinner,  and  tea  ;  the  people  I  had  seen,  and  what 
they  said ;  the  editorials  I  had  written,  and  an  abstract  of  them ; 
the  letters  I  had  sent  and  received,  and  the  very  language  used, 
as  near  as  possible ;  when  I  had  walked  or  ridden,  —  every 
thing,  in  short,  that  had  come  within  my  knowledge.  I  found 
I  could  say  my  lesson  better  and  better  every  year,  and,  instead 
of  growing  irksome,  it  got  to  be  a  pleasure  to  run  over  the 
events  of  the  day  in  review.  I  am  indebted  to  this  discipline 
for  a  memory  of  somewhat  unusual  tenacity,  and  I  recommend 
the  practice  to  all  who  expect  to  have  much  to  do  with  influenc 
ing  men." 

1827.  —  "The  election  of  the  giant  Webster  to  the  United 
States  Senate,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed,  "  is  alike  honorable  to  Massa 
chusetts  and  to  the  Union.  It  will  do  much  to  redeem  the  lost 
dignity  and  reputation  of  that  once  august  body.  Faction  will 
stand  rebuked  by  his  frown,  and  intrigue  shrink  from  the  quail 
ing  influence  of  his  reproach.  His  presence  will  restrain  the 
intemperate,  his  watchfulness  expose  and  his  talents  confound 
and  overwhelm  the  boisterous  and  corrupt  leaders  of  the  oppo 
sition.  He  goes  to  Washington  shielded  in  the  armor  of  truth 
and  fidelity  :  his  motives  pure  and  lofty,  his  reputation  unas 
sailable.  The  withdrawal  of  Mr.  Randolph  from,  and  the  elec 
tion  of  Mr.  Webster  to,  the  Senate  is  a  twofold  gain,  which 
cannot  be  too  highly  estimated." 

Reviewing  a  "Life  of  George  Washington,"  which  ap 
peared  in  1827,  he  took  occasion  to  eulogize  the  "  father  of  his 
country  "  in  language  no  less  glowing  than  sincere. 

1  After  Mrs.  Weed's  death,  in  1858,  he  took  his  daughter  Harriet  into 
these  confidences. 


28  MEMOIR.  [1827. 

"  View  this  illustrious  patriot,"  he  wrote,  "  in  all  the  relations 
which  he  bore  to  his  friends,  his  country,  and  his  God,  and  we 
find  more  virtues  to  imitate  and  more  worth  to  admire  than 
were  ever  bestowed  upon  any  other  mere  man.  The  rigid  test  of 
scrutiny  vindicates  every  act  of  his  life,  whether  private  or  pub 
lic.  The  unerring  decisions  of  truth  hallow  all  the  impulses  of 
his  heart  and  all  the  suggestions  of  his  head,  while  the  mellow 
ing  hand  of  time  freshens  the  laurel  which  encircles  his  brow. 
The  wisdom  which  distinguished  him  in  his  Cabinet,  and  the 
patriotism  which  nerved  his  strong  arm  on  the  battle-field,  after 
giving  liberty  to  this  land,  now  go  abroad  through  the  nations 
of  Europe,  enlightening  and  encouraging  the  subjects  of  des 
potism  to  assert  and  obtain  the  blessings  which  we  enjoy." 

The  Fourth  of  July  was  the  gala  day  of  the  year  in  Mr. 
Weed's  calendar.  He  observed  it  invariably  in  the  good  old- 
fashioned  manner,  not  admitting  the  propriety  of  ordinances 
which  abridge  rights  formerly  held  by  American  boys.  Indeed, 
on  one  occasion,  after  he  had  passed  his  eightieth  year,  he  pub 
licly  rebuked  the  silence  of  New  York  city  on  the  birthday  of 
our  national  independence ;  and  when  he  learned  that  the  police 
were  instructed  to  arrest  any  person  who  started  a  bonfire, 
caused  a  tar-barrel  to  be  set  up  in  front  of  his  residence,  and 
applied  the  match  to  it  with  his  own  hand,  in  solemn  protest 
against  what  he  regarded  as  modern  degeneracy. 

"Of  all  the  lion-hearted  worthies  who  signed  the  Declara 
tion,"  he  wrote  in  1827,  "  one  only  remains  to  celebrate  this 
anniversary.  The  venerable  Carroll,  who  hazarded  the  then 
largest  estate  in  America  upon  the  result  of  the  contest,  still 
survives,  and  will  to-day  be  gratefully  remembered  by  twelve 
millions  of  freemen." 

1828.  —  "  The  sables  with  which  our  paper  is  this  day 
draped,"  he  wrote  on  the  19th  of  February,  "  announce  the 
death  of  a  great  man,  the  chief  magistrate  of  our  Common 
wealth.  De  Witt  Clinton  was  a  native  of  this  State,  whose 
destinies  he  has  so  long  and  so  triumphantly  wielded.  His 
name  is  associated  with,  and  his  fame  will  be  cherished  by,  all 
the  beneficent  and  enlightened  institutions  of  New  York.  The 
State  has  literally  grown  with  his  growth,  and  strengthened 
with  his  strength.  His  history  is  familiar  to  us  all.  We  have 
seen  him  rise  in  the  majesty  of  intellectual  light,  and,  after 


1828.]  GEORGE  DAWSON  >S  REMINISCENCES.  29 

reaching  his  meridian,  shed  abroad  lustre  upon  the  age,  and 
then  suddenly  shoot  from  his  sphere,  leaving  all  darkness  and 
gloom.  The  heart  of  every  citizen  is  a  tablet,  upon  which  the 
deeds  of  Clinton  will  be  engraved  and  his  memory  enshrined." 

There  arrived  in  Rochester  one  day,  during  Mr.  Weed's  edi 
torship  of  the  "  Telegraph,"  a  poor  emigrant,  seeking  employ 
ment.  He  had  recently  reached  America  from  Scotland.  Be 
coming  interested  in  the  case,  Mr.  Weed  gave  the  man's  fifteen- 
year-old  son  a  place  in  his  newspaper  office  and  a  home  with  his 
own  family.  Soon  the  boy  developed  promising  qualities.  He 
rose  to  the  position  of  foreman  in  1830,  and  accompanied  Mr. 
Weed  to  Albany.  As  time  went  on  he  became  an  expert  edi 
torial  writer,  possessing  a  certain  powerful  originality.  In  1836 
there  was  a  vacancy  in  the  directorship  of  the  Rochester  "  Dem 
ocrat,"  and  Mr.  Weed's  associate  accepted  that  post.  But  the 
"  Western  fever  "  carried  him  to  Michigan  after  a  year  or  so, 
and  he  was  next  heard  from  as  on  the  stump  for  Harrison,  for 
whom  he  rendered  effective  service.  Then  the  emigrant's  son 
became  state  printer  to  Michigan,  and  one  of  the  Whig  pillars 
in  that  rapidly  advancing  community.  He  had  grown  up  under 
Mr.  Weed's  eye,  however,  and  the  old  influence  hung  over  him 
with  irresistible  fascination.  In  1846  he  went  back  to  Albany, 
and  there  was  a  restoration  of  former  relations.  For  years  af 
terwards  he  was  a  force  in  state  and  national  politics ;  and 
when  he  died,  in  1883,  New  York  might  well  ask,  "  Who  is 
left  among  us  to  take  the  place  left  vacant  by  George  Dawson?  " 

It  is  a  remarkable  illustration  of  his  wonderful  power  over  men 
[writes  Mr.  Dawson,  referring  to  Mr.  Weed],  that  nearly  every  one  of 
those  with  whom  he  was  brought  in  conflict  while  he  lived  at  Roch 
ester  was  afterwards  reconciled  to  him.  Many  became  his  warmest 
personal  friends.  The  venerable  Judge  Sampson  was  an  exception. 
Mr.  Weed  found  it  hard  to  forgive  him.  He  had  been  a  relentless 
enemy,  who  manifested  his  hostility  in  many  cruel  ways.  The  inter 
position  of  friends  to  effect  reconciliation  was  unavailing,  but  when 
the  judge  sought  it  himself,  on  his  death-bed,  Mr.  Weed  surrendered. 

Another  illustration  of  his  readiness  to  forgive,  when  it  seemed  right 
to  him  to  do  so,  was  the  case  of  a  gentleman  who  was  excessively  offen 
sive  in  his  opposition.  I  remember  a  certain  election  day,  for  exam 
ple,  on  which  Mr.  Weed  was  particularly  potent  at  the  polls.  Just 
after  I  had  handed  him  a  bundle  of  tickets  from  the  office,  the  twelve 
o'clock  bell  rang  out  from  the  old  Court  House.  At  that  moment  Mr. 


30  MEMOIR.  [1828. 

Weed,  his  tall  form  looming  up  above  the  surging  crowd,  with  his 
arms  elevated  high  above  his  head,  and  his  hands  filled  with  anti-Ma 
sonic  ballots,  was  vociferating,  "There  is  no  blood  on  these  tickets, 
gentlemen  !  "  when  I  saw  this  offensive  Jack  come  up  to  Mr.  Weed, 
and,  shaking  a  handful  of  pennies  in  his  face,  cry,  "  Here,  Weed,  take 
these,  and  go  and  buy  your  family  something  to  eat !  "  Mr.  Weed 
made  no  reply,  but  he  evidently  felt  the  insult  keenly ;  for  it  is  no  dis 
credit  to  him  to  confess  that  at  that  time  his  larder  was  not  always 
overstocked.  I  felt  implicated  in  the  slur  myself,  somehow  ;  but  being 
only  a  very  small  chap,  could  do  nothing  more  than  mentally  strike  out 
from  the  shoulder  with  the  unspoken  thought,  "  Take  that ;  for  what 
business  is  it  to  you  whether  we  have  or  have  not  anything  to  eat  at  our 
house  ?  "  Years  afterwards  this  old  enemy  came  to  Albany  as  a  Whig 
member  of  Assembly.  Mr.  Weed  received  him  as  kindly  as  possible,  but 
it  always  seemed  to  us  that  he  could  never  be  very  cordial  with  him, 
whether  because  of  this  particular  incident  or  not  I  never  knew.  In 
deed,  I  do  not  even  know  now  that  Mr.  Weed  remembered  it ;  but  I 
have  never  seen  the  gentleman,  from  that  day  to  this,  —  and  he  is  now 
a  hale  and  hearty  old  man,  — without  feeling  my  elbow  twitch,  and  hear 
ing  the  jingle  of  those  coppers,  the  twang  of  the  old  Court  House  bell, 
and  Mr.  Weed's  voice  assuring  the  free  and  independent  electors  of  the 
old  town  of  Gates  that  "  there  is  no  blood  on  these  tickets,  gentlemen  !  " 

In  1828  an  election  was  held  at  the  Mansion  House.  .  .  .  The 
political  fever  was  at  its  height,  and  Mr.  Weed,  as  well  as  his  oppo 
nents,  was  as  busy  as  possible  distributing  tickets  at  the  polls.  There 
were  many  active  and  noisy  electioneerers  on  the  Masonic  side,  among 
them  a  large  number  of  men  who  were  not  Masons  themselves,  but  who 
were  pushing  about  in  defense  of  an  institution  about  which  they  knew 
nothing,  and  in  denunciation  of  the  anti-Masonic  party.  In  order  to 
shame  and  provoke  them  just  at  the  very  crisis  of  the  contest,  Mr. 
Weed  arranged  for  the  appearance  of  a  live  donkey  in  front  of  the  polls, 
and  the  beast  was  paraded  back  and  forth  in  solemn  silence,  to  the 
great  delight  of  "  the  boys,"  and  the  rage  and  chagrin  of  the  fellows  for 
whose  special  benefit  the  exhibition  was  intended. 

Chancellor  Whittlesey  was  very  active  at  this  same  election.  Al 
though  a  fine  writer,  an  excellent  organizer,  and  a  most  zealous  and 
efficient  politician,  he  was  not  adapted  for  work  at  the  polls.  In  those 
times  and  for  many  years  thereafter,  Mr.  Weed  could  mix  with  the 
most  excited  crowd  all  day.  He  could  be  jostled  and  jammed  from 
morning  till  night  without  losing  his  temper,  or  being  diverted  from 
his  work  even  for  a  moment.  He  was  always  efficient,  but  I  do  not 
remember  that  he  was  ever  personally  assailed.  Mr.  Whittlesey  had 
not  the  same  flexibility  of  temper.  When  impudently  spoken  to,  he 


1827.]  A  NTI-MA  SONR  Y. 

had  not  the  "  soft  answer  "  that  "  turneth  away  wrath."  Upon  this  par 
ticular  occasion,  a  massive  blacksmith  by  the  name  of  Cavanagh  was 
determined  to  knock  down  somebody.  It  would  have  afforded  him 
peculiar  pleasure,  as  well  as  those  who  were  egging  him  on,  had  Mr. 
Weed  been  made  the  recipient  of  a  blow  from  his  sledge-hammer  fist. 
But  at  every  approach  Mr.  Weed  would  blow  him  off  with  a  "  word 
fitly  spoken,"  and  compel  him  to  seek  elsewhere  for  a  subject.  Mr. 
Whittlesey  was  finally  made  the  victim.  Cavanagh  felled  him  to  the 
ground  with  one  blow,  breaking  his  nose,  so  that  not  a  bone  remained 
intact,  and  he  carried  the  deformity  to  his  grave. 

[ALBERT  H.  TRACY  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

BUFFALO,  December  17,  1827. 

DEAR  WEED,  —  I  was  extremely  pleased  to  hear  from  you.  I  had 
been  neglected  so  long  that  I  thought  you  had  forgotten  me,  especially 
as  a  letter  I  wrote  you  some  three  weeks  ago  remains  unanswered. 
Your  absence  from  Rochester  explains  it.  The  subject  of  my  commu 
nication  was  anti-Masonry  :  to  let  you  know  that  a  few  of  us,  and  a 
very  few,  too,  having  become  tired  of  continual  suppression  or  perver 
sion  of  the  truth,  made  an  arrangement  by  which  one  of  our  papers  — 
the  "  Patriot  "  —  should  publish  the  other  side  of  the  controversy.  Our 
object  was  in  no  respect  political,  but  the  mere  gratification  of  moral 
sentiment.  The  measure,  however,  has  produced  incredible  excite 
ment  in  our  village.  Let  me  hear  your  views.  .  .  .  We  shall  find 
the  path  of  duty  a  rugged  one,  but  it  is  a  consolation  to  know  that 
the  same  causes  which  make  it  arduous  also  make  it  plain. 

I  am  bothered  to  know  what  you  are  at  Washington  for.  It  is  no 
place  for  visit  except  to  exercise  or  obtain  office,  and  it  seems  your 
object  is  neither.  Pray,  what  is  it  ? 

I  was  not  surprised  that  the  opposition  elected  their  speaker.  I 
have  known  the  event  to  be  certain  since  the  Kentucky  election  ; 
and,  indeed,  entre  nous,  I  have  regarded  it  as  equally  decisive  of  the 
main  question.  But  of  that  anon.  I  know  Stevenson  very  well.  He 
is  a  man  of  parade,  — 

"  One  who  for  his  excellence 
In  heightening  words  and  shadowing  sense  " 

has  few  equals,  even  in  the  great  theatre  of  babblers  over  which  he  is 
called  to  preside. 

I  am  pleased  to  know  that  you  are  somewhat  intimate  with  Mr. 
Clay.  You  seem  to  appreciate  him.  He  is,  indeed,  a  thorough  poli 
tician,  —  one  of  whom  it  might,  in  rather  a  sinister  sense,  be  said,  — 


32  MEMOIR.  [1828. 

"  Turn  him  to  any  course  of  policy, 
The  Gordian  knot  of  it  he  will  unloose 
Familiar  as  his  garter." 

.  .  .  But  it  is  ungracious  to  pick  out  defects,  for,  on  the  whole,  I 
like  him  much,  and  the  cause  he  supports  is  dearest  to  my  heart.  In 
the  utmost  stretch  of  my  conception  as  to  what  is  right  and  what 
wrong,  I  could  not  contrast  them  more  completely  than  they  are  in  the 
present  controversy.  When  I  think  of  it  I  am  almost  frantic  at  the 
stupidity  and  corruption  of  the  people.  If  Jackson  succeeds,  —  and 
God  knows  there  is  danger  enough  of  it,  —  I  doubt  if  I  shall  have 
virtue  to  lament  the  curse  which  the  example  will  inflict  upon  our 
country.  .  .  . 

You  lament  that  I  am  not  in  Congress,  but,  if  events  have  the 
downward  direction  I  fear,  I  shall  rejoice  that  I  am  not.  While  I 
could  serve  my  country  it  would  be  my  greatest  happiness,  but,  as 
things  are  now,  I  u  find  the  blessedness  of  being  little."  Possibly  I 
despair  of  the  republic  too  soon.  I  pray  God  that  it  be  so.  Can  there 
be  a  reasonable  hope  of  Virginia  ?  She  alone  can  save  us.  But  I  have 
not  the  least  confidence  of  the  votes  of  any  Southern  State. 

Wherever  this  shall  reach  you  let  it  provoke  you  to  an  immediate 
answer.  If  anything  can  be  done  to  save  this  State  from  the  devour 
ing  gulf  of  Jacksonism,  it  is  time  we  were  about  it.  It  is  time  to  de 
termine  on  some  course,  — 

"  More  than  a  wild  exposure  to  each  chance 
That  starts  i'  the  way  before  us." 
Very  truly  yours,  ALBERT  H.  TRACY. 

BUFFALO,  June  19,  1828. 

DEAR  WEED,  —  I  received  yours  of  the  15th  yesterday,  and  was 
delighted  to  find  your  views  of  matters  and  things  precisely  those 
which  I  have  been  forced  to  entertain  for  weeks  past.  The  administra 
tion  party  in  this  State  l  is  in  the  hands  of  men  not  able  to  steer  it  to 
a  successful  issue.  This  I  have  long  known,  and  were  it  not  for  anti- 
Masons  they  would  not  have  a  loop  to  hang  a  hope  on.  Yet  such  is 
their  fatuity  that  they  are  determined  to  use  us  to  clear  the  way  for 
their  progress.  This  I  will  never  consent  to.  Let  them  go  on  with 
their  state  conventions.  I  am  for  Adams  and  against  Jackson,  but 
their  candidates  shall  not  have  my  support  unless  they  are  exactly 
of  my  choice,  independent  of  their  nominations. 

But  what  shall  we  do  in  the  mean  time  ?  There 's  the  rub.  Are 
we  strong  enough  for  an  independent  ticket  ?  I  confess  I  have 
doubts.  Again,  there  is  difficulty  in  finding  suitable  candidates. 
1  The  party  which  looked  to  John  Quincy  Adams  as  its  leader. 


1829.]  THE  ALBANY  PROJECT. 

Could  we  put  up  one  that  the  other  side  would  adopt,  provided  the 
administration  candidate  is  not  worthy  of  our  support  ?  It  has  always 
been  my  determination  not  to  sacrifice  our  party  to  the  presidential 
contest  •  but  strong  as  my  feelings  have  been  on  the  latter  subject, 
they  are  now  almost  totally  merged  in  the  former.  A  few  months, 
nay,  a  few  weeks,  will  decide  the  question  between  Adams  and  Jack 
son  ;  but  years,  and  I  sometimes  fear  ages,  will  transpire  before  Ma 
sonry  is  exterminated.  This  institution  has  taken  deep  root  in  our 
country,  and  Heaven  only  knows  whether  it  won't  maintain  itself  in 
spite  of  the  few  who  have  honesty  and  firmness  enough  to  persevere 
in  opposing  it.  But  let  the  result  be  what  it  may,  my  course  is  deter 
mined,  and  I  shall  pursue  it.  Your  friend, 

ALBERT  H.  TBACY. 

[FREDERICK  WHITTLESEY  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

ROCHESTER,  September  17,  1829. 

DEAR  WEED,  —  I  have  seen  our  friends  here  about  the  Albany 
project.  Fitch  and  Taggert  think  well  of  it,  and  feel  an  interest  in  it. 
Works  and  Ely  don't  like  to  lose  our  good  editors.  But  I  say,  let 
them  go  ;  all  they  can  do  here  is  to  maintain  ground  already  won,  and 
that  any  printer's  boy  can  do,  etc.  I  hope  you  will  succeed  in  getting 
your  two  hundred  subscribers  at  fifty  dollars  each.  It  will  enable  us 
to  effect  a  vast  amount  of  good. 

T.  C.  Strong,  of  Albion,  is  here,  and  is  desirous  of  getting  a  paper 
somewhere  else.  He  thinks  Albion  is  not  giving  him  a  support.  I 
hope  you  will  look  for  some  place  where  he  can  get  a  living  and  do 
good.  I  told  him  to  go  back  until  you  had  a  talk  with  Tracy,  when 
he  could  go  down,  judge  for  himself,  and  make  his  arrangements. 
He  is  an  editor  of  some  talent. 

W.  J.  Wood,  the  only  anti-Mason  in  the  land  office  at  Batavia,  — 
where  he  has  been  a  clerk  for  fourteen  years,  —  has  been  removed. 
The  pretext  is  that  they  have  too  many  clerks.  I  like  to  see  this 
proscription.  It  will  serve  to  keep  our  blood  up,  and  urge  us  on  for 
the  contest  before  us.  I  want  to  see  a  daily  paper  soon  started  in 
New  York.  That  unwavering  confidence  which  we  have  all  along 
held  in  our  cause  seems  now  about  to  be  justified.  Elwood  says  we 
can  never  carry  the  State.  "  We  can  try,"  as  Miller  said  at  Lundy's 
Lane.  Yours  truly,  WHITTLESEY. 

On  the  12th  day  of  December,  1829,  Chancellor  John  Lan 
sing,  of  Albany,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  Americans  of 
his  time,  walked  out  of  the  rotunda  of  a  prominent  hotel  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  to  take  the  boat  for  Albany,  and  the 

3 


34  MEMOIR.  [1829. 

hall-boy  who  brushed  the  dust  from  the  coat  of  that  eminent 
man,  as  he  went  away,  was  the  last  person  known  to  have  seen 
him  alive.  Chancellor  Lansing  studied  law  in  the  office  of  Rob 
ert  Yates,  afterwards  Chief  Justice.  Subsequently  he  became 
a  member  of  the  military  family  of  General  Philip  Schuyler, 
and  served  with  distinction  as  a  member  of  the  state  conven 
tion  which  conducted  the  civil  and  military  operations  of  New 
York  during  the  Revolutionary  War.  Soon  afterwards  he  was 
Mayor  of  Albany,  and  in  1787,  with  Chief  Justice  Yates  and 
General  Hamilton,  was  delegated  by  the  State  to  attend  the 
convention  which  framed  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
"  It  is  well  known,"  says  Joel  Munsell,  in  his  "  Annals  of  Al 
bany,"  :  "  what  part  those  gentlemen  took  in  the  discussions 
connected  with  that  subject.  Chief  Justice  Yates  and  Chancel 
lor  Lansing  withdrew  from  the  convention,  and  were  known  as 
anti-Federalists.  They  opposed  the  adoption  of  the  Constitu 
tion  principally  because  it  did  not  more  effectually  secure  the 
rights  of  the  individual  States  ;  and  to  those  men  and  their  co- 
patriots  we  are  indebted  for  the  ten  amended  articles  which 
were  subsequently  made  a  part  of  that  Constitution." 

Close  and  keen  investigation  failed  to  uncover  the  slightest 
clue  as  to  the  Chancellor's  fate,  and  nobody  could  furnish  a 
plausible  explanation  for  his  disappearance.  There  was  noth 
ing  in  his  character,  temperament,  or  antecedents  to  warrant 
the  belief  that  he  had  committed  suicide,  or  fallen  a  victim  to 
the  snares  of  a  great  city.  At  the  time,  the  excitement  was  in 
tense.  "  No  event,"  says  Munsell,  "  had  caused  a  deeper  sensa 
tion  in  the  city  since  the  death  of  De  Witt  Clinton."  But  year 
after  year  has  gone  by  without  any  light  on  the  subject,  and 
now  this  most  extraordinary  episode  is  almost  entirely  forgot 
ten. 

In  Mr.  Weed's  nature  there  was  a  certain  wonderful  quality 
which  invited  sympathy  and  confession.  Children,  as  well  as 
men  and  women,  made  him  their  confidant.  He  was,  in  his 
day,  a  sort  of  "  father  confessor  "  for  the  greatest  and  the  least 
among  the  people  of  New  York.  Presidents,  governors,  diplo 
mats,  speculators,  clergymen,  doctors,  and  lawyers  sought  him, 
when  yearning  to  speak  freely  of  their  errors,  perplexities,  or 
expectations.  Years  after  that  event,  the  mystery  surrounding 

1  Vol.  ix.  p.  197. 


1829.]  CHANCELLOR  LANSING.  35 

Chancellor  Lansing's  fate  was  communicated  to  Mr.  Weed,  by 
a  gentleman  of  high  position,  who  submitted  also  certain  pa 
pers,  not  only  showing  that,  and  by  whom,  the  Chancellor  was 
murdered,  but  explaining  the  motives  which  led  to  the  crime, 
and  describing  the  circumstances  under  which  it  was  committed. 
At  the  same  time  an  injunction  was  added  that  he  should  make 
all  the  facts  public  in  case  he  survived  those  whom  his  informa 
tion  implicated,  —  men  who  lived  useful  lives,  and  died  witli 
unblemished  reputations. 

By  a  literal  construction  of  Mr.  Weed's  promise  the  contin 
gency  upon  which  it  was  to  go  into  effect  occurred  in  1870. 
His  informant  and  the  persons  whom  his  proofs  directly  im 
plicated  had  then  gone  to  their  final  account.  But  Mr.  Weed 
found  that  to  make  known  the  facts  would  reach  further  than 
his  informant  contemplated.  "  While  it  is  true  that  the  parties 
named  are  beyond  the  reach  of  human  tribunals  and  of  public 
opinion,"  he  said,  "  yet  others,  immediately  associated  with  them 
and  sharing  in  the  strong  inducement  which  prompted  the  crime, 
survive,  occupying  high  positions  and  enjoying  public  confidence. 
To  these  persons,  should  my  proofs  be  submitted,  public  atten 
tion  would  be  irresistibly  drawn." 

Not  knowing  exactly  how  to  act,  he  submitted  all  the  facts 
to  his  friends  R.  M.  Blatchford  and  Hugh  Maxwell,  on  whose 
joint  judgment  he  felt  that  he  could  place  unquestioning  reli 
ance.  These  gentlemen,  after  carefully  considering  the  ques 
tion  in  all  its  aspects,  came  to  the  conclusion  that  if  Mr.  Weed's 
informant  were  living  he  would  revoke  his  request  for  publica 
tion.  Impressed  by  this  decision,  Mr.  Weed  felt  it  to  be  his 
duty  to  keep  inviolate  the  information  which  was  in  his  posses 
sion.  When  he  died,  therefore,  the  secret  of  Chancellor  Lan 
sing's  fate  died  with  him,  for  except  to  Mr.  Blatchford  and  to 
Mr.  Maxwell,  whom  he  survived,  it  never  passed  his  lips. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

1830-1837. 

AT  ALBANY.  —  THE  DEMOCRATIC  REGENCY.  —  EDWIN  CROSWELL.  —  THE 
"  EVENING  JOURNAL  "  FOUNDED.  —  FRANCIS  GRANGER.  —  "  THE  GLORI 
OUS  WEST.  " —  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD.  —  His  PUBLIC  CAREER  BEGUN.  — 
GEORGE  W.  PATTERSON.  —  ADOPTING  A  NAME  FOR  OPPONENTS  OF  GEN 
ERAL  JACKSON.  —  BUSINESS  DEPRESSION.  —  MR.  CALHOUN'S  PURPOSE. 
—  PRESIDENTIAL  ASPIRANTS. 

THE  Democratic  party  was  never  so  strongly  entrenched  in 
this  country  as  in  the  year  1830,  when  Mr.  Weed  left  Rochester 
and  went  to  live  at  Albany.  Andrew  Jackson  was  President  of 
the  United  States,  and  Martin  Van  Buren  controlled  the  poli 
tics  of  New  York.  The  National  Republicans  would  probably 
have  been  better  off,  politically,  if  John  Quincy  Adams,  their  can 
didate  for  President,  had  not  been  elected  in  1824.  By  right  of 
political  capacity  and  former  lines  of  division,  Henry  Clay  was 
entitled  to  be  their  leader ;  but  his  authority  was  disputed  by  a 
powerful  minority,  which  would  trust  no  man  who  affiliated  with 
a  secret  society. 

In  Mr.  Edwin  Croswell,  the  Albany  Regency,  so  first  called 
by  Mr.  Weed,  had  an  adviser  and  spokesman  of  rare  ability. 
He  was  made  editor  of  the  "  Argus  "  in  1823,  at  the  suggestion 
of  Governor  Van  Buren.  Owing  largely  to  the  fact  that  he  en 
joyed  the  zealous  editorial  cooperation  of  Governor  Marcy,  Silas 
Wright,  John  A.  Dix,  and  Azariah  C.  Flagg,  his  paper  became 
the  leading  organ  of  the  Democratic  party  in  the  United  States, 
retaining  that  position  easily  until  1848,  when  the  party  divided. 
It  was  a  curious  circumstance  that  Mr.  Weed  and  Mr.  Croswell, 
born  in  the  same  year  and  boys  together  in  the  same  town,  should 
now  turn  up  in  the  same  city  at  the  head  of  bitterly  antagonistic 
enterprises  ;  nor  was  it  less  singular,  after  each  had  carried  the 
war  to  such  lengths  that  personal  intercourse  became  iinpossi- 


1830.]  EDWIN    CROSWELL.  37 

ble,  that  one  of  these  men  should  be  the  means  of  protecting 
the  property  and  reputation  of  the  other. 

While  Mr.  Weed  was  working  hard  for  small  wages,  Mr. 
Croswell  became  wealthy.  But  in  1840,  when  the  tables  turned 
and  Mr.  Weed  became  state  printer,  he  wrote  a  note  to  Mr. 
Croswell,  giving  a  construction  of  the  law  which  made  a  differ 
ence  of  several  thousand  dollars  in  his  rival's  favor.  At  this 
time  they  had  not  recognized  each  other  in  years. 

Mr.  Croswell  was  a  director  in  the  Albany  Canal  Bank, 
which  failed  at  a  time  when  popular  feeling  was  very  strong 
against  him.  He  was  in  nowise  himself  dishonest  or  responsi 
ble  for  this  disaster,  but  suspicion  was  thrown  upon  him,  and, 
taking  advantage  of  a  technicality,  his  enemies  clamorously  ex 
pressed  their  determination  to  make  the  utmost  of  this  opportu 
nity.  When  all  other  avenues  of  escape  closed,  Mr.  Croswell 
went  to  Mr.  Weed,  and  implored  assistance.  "You  may  return 
to  your  duties,"  said  Mr.  Weed,  "  and  have  no  more  anxiety  on 
this  subject.  You  will  not  be  indicted."  Nor  was  he. 

Again,  after  he  went  to  live  in  New  York,  Mr.  "Weed  learned 
with  regret  that  Mr.  Croswell,  who  had  also  become  a  resident  in 
New  York,  had  been  prostrated  by  a  paralytic  shock,  and  had 
requested  that  his  dwelling-house  be  taken  to  cancel  a  mortgage, 
on  which  he  was  unable  to  pay  interest.  He  had  been  compelled 
to  sell  his  furniture,  for  some  small  debts,  and  had  to  live  with 
a  married  daughter  in  New  Jersey.  Immediately  Mr.  W^eed 
called  upon  wealthy  friends,  from  whom,  with-  his  own  subscrip 
tion,  $10,000  were  received.  With  this  money  government  bonds 
were  purchased,  and  handed  to  Mr.  Croswell  as  a  New  Year's 
testimonial. 

[MR.  WEED  TO  MR.  CROSWELL.] 

NEW  YORK,  January  1,  1871. 

DEAR  MR.  CROSWELL,  —  Some  of  your  old  friends  and  neighbors, 
availing  themselves  of  the  festive  season,  have  united  in  a  testimonial 
expressive  of  their  sense  of  your  public  services  and  personal  character, 
which,  together  with  their  best  wishes  for  your  restored  health,  will  be 
presented  to  you  by  our  mutual  friend,  Mr.  Augustus  Schell. 

Truly  yours,  TUURLOW  WEED. 


38  MEMOIR.  [1830. 

[MR.  CROSWELL  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

PRINCETON,  N.  J.,  February  7,  1871. 

DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  Our  mutual  friend,  Mr.  Augustus  Schell, 
handed  me  yesterday  your  highly  esteemed  favor  of  the  1st  January 
ultimo,  together  with  the  valuable  testimonial  by  which  it  was  accom 
panied  and  to  which  it  refers.  I  find  great  difficulty  to  command  fitting 
terms  of  acknowledgment  of  this  generous  and  liberal  offering.  Large 
as  its  pecuniary  worth  is,  and  as  such  a  source  of  grateful  thanksgiving, 
it  is  especially  precious  in  my  eyes  as  an  expression  of  approval  of  my 
public  services  and  personal  character,  coming  from  a  body  of  intelli 
gent  and  enlightened  friends,  whose  good  opinion  and  favorable  judg 
ment  are  of  inestimable  value. 

To  you,  my  dear  Mr.  Weed,  allow  me  to  say  that  I  feel  a  particular 
consciousness  of  your  voluntary  kindness  and  action  in  this  matter, 
springing  from  the  emotions  of  an  ever  generous  nature  ;  and  I  beg 
you  to  convey  to  my  friends,  in  your  own  good  time  and  manner,  my 
cordial  and  grateful  acceptance  of  their  testimonial. 

Very  truly  yours,  EDWIN  CROSWELL. 

When  urged  by  Rochester  friends  to  return  to  the  Assembly, 
to  which  he  had  been  chosen  from  Monroe  County  in  1824,  Mr. 
Weed  yielded  to  their  advice,  and  in  the  fall  of  1829  was  re- 
elected.  He  took  only  subordinate  interest  in  the  work  of  the 
session,  however,  occupying  himself  in  an  effort  to  concentrate 
elements  which  were  opposed  to  the  state  and  national  admin 
istrations.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend  he  describes  his  life  at  this 
period. 

[MR.  WEED   TO  A    FRIEND.] 

ALBANY,  January  21,  1830. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  received  a  letter  from  Childs  yesterday  announcing 
his  arrival  at  Washington  and  covering  yours  to  him,  in  which  I  am  so 
affectionately  remembered.  It  is  a  source  of  equal  pride  and  satis 
faction  to  know  that  I  enjoy  so  much  of  your  esteem.  I  desire  little 
else  in  this  world,  save  the  kindly  regard  of  a  few  valued  friends. 

Poor  Tim  is  in  a  wretched  state.  I  accompanied  him  to  New  York, 
from  whence  he  went  on  South  leisurely. 

I  am  roomed  alone  at  the  Eagle,1  and  live  the  life  of  a  hermit.     I 

1  A  famous  hotel  in  South  Market  Street.  The  great  fire  which  destroyed 
this  building  led  to  the  straightening  of  the  street,  and  the  change  of  its 
name  to  Broadway. 


1830.]  THE  ALBANY  "  JOURNAL  "   FOUNDED.  39 

have  not  had  an  hour's  relaxation  since  the  session  began.  When  not 
engaged  at  the  House,  I  am,  as  usual,  busy  as  a  bee  in  a  tar-bucket, 
writing  political  letters  and  editorial  matter  for  nearly  a  score  of  pa 
pers,  of  our  kidney,  in  various  parts  of  the  State.  We  shall,  as  you 
conjecture,  push  the  Regency  hard  next  fall. 

It  is  uncertain  whom  we  shall  run  for  Governor  :  probably  Granger ; 
perhaps  Tracy;  possibly  Judge  Spencer.  Frank  occupies  the  high 
est  seat  in  the  House,  and  Tracy  holds  a  corresponding  position  in  the 
Senate.  Judge  Spencer  is  getting  at  the  head  of  the  New  York  dele 
gation  in  Congress.  Throop  will  be  the  opposing  candidate. 

Everything  relating  to  the  presidency  seems  to  be  unsettled.  I 
think  old  Jackson  will  run  again,  in  the  teeth  of  all  his  professions. 
This  will  unite  a  force,  which,  divided  between  Van  Buren  and  Cal- 
houn,  would  enable  Mr.  Clay  to  cut  in  successfully.  But  upon  this 
subject  there  is  great  coyness.  Men  are  unwilling  to  talk  out  until 
their  political  horoscope  shall  indicate  whose  star  is  in  the  ascendant. 

Either  Albany  is  remarkably  dull  this  winter,  or  I  am  thrown  en 
tirely  without  the  circle  of  her  gayeties.  Theatricals  are  at  a  low  ebb. 
I  have  made  but  one  appearance  there  this  season  —  when  I  was  at 
tracted  by  Hackett,  whom  I  had  not  seen  before.  I  may  go  to  Bos 
ton  next  summer.  The  desire  to  do  so  is  increased  by  the  reflection 
that  it  would  afford  me  an  opportunity  to  take  you  by  the  hand. 

Faithfully  yours,  THURLOW  WEED. 

JOHN  BRADLEY,  ESQ.,  NEW  LONDON. 

The  first  number  of  the  Albany  "  Evening  Journal,"  Mr. 
Weed's  new  paper,  appeared  on  the  22d  of  March,  1830. 
There  was  a  general  feeling  among  his  party  friends  that  there 
should  be  an  organ  at  the  state  capital  reflecting  their  views, 
and  that  he  was  the  man  to  establish  and  edit  it.  Six  months 
after  the  paper  was  founded,  the  first  national  political  conven 
tion  ever  held  in  the  United  States,  that  of  the  anti-Masonic 
party,  convened  at  Philadelphia.  Francis  Granger  had  been 
nominated  for  Governor  of  New  York  a  month  before  this  meet 
ing  assembled.  Subsequently  he  was  elected  a  delegate  to  Phil 
adelphia,  where,  on  his  arrival,  he  was  designated  to  preside. 
"  This  is  a  mistake,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed  from  Albany,  to  his 
friend  Granger.  "  The  men  from  New  York  who  urged  it  are 
stark  mad.  More  than  50,000  electors  are  now  balancing  their 
votes,  and  half  of  them  want  an  excuse  to  vote  against  you. 
Will  one  doubtful  man  be  gained  by  this  step  ?  May  not  one, 
two,  or  three  thousand  be  lost  by  it  ?  " 


40  MEMOIR.  [1831. 

At  the  election  in  November,  Enos  T.  Throop,  the  Jackson 
candidate,  defeated  Mr.  Granger  by  eighty-four  hundred  ma 
jority. 

"  A  despotic  Regency  rules  the  people  with  a  rod  of  iron," 
wrote  Mr.  Weed.  "  The  government  is  administered  with  a  di 
rect  view  to  the  interests  of  office-holders,  while  popular  rights 
and  the  State's  prosperity  are  wholly  disregarded.  .  .  .  But  the 
West,  the  great,  enlightened  West,  has  again  done  her  whole 
duty.  The  emphatic  vote  which  her  electors  have  recorded 
against  misrule  and  outrage  is  truly  a  proud  achievement.  .  .  . 
There  is  a  moral  beauty  and  a  political  grandeur  in  the  con 
stancy  of  our  western  friends  which  elevates  our  cause  above 
the  reach  of  circumstances,  and  gives  assurance  of  ultimate  tri 
umph."  l 

[MR.    WEED   TO    FRANCIS    GRANGER.] 

ALBANY,  November  G,  1830. 

DEAR  GRANGER,  —  You  were  wise.  I  was  a  fool.  Against  the 
Regency,  with  its  money,  backed  by  20,000  Masons,  with  their  zeal, 
organization,  and  influence  over  men  who  cannot  understand  motives, 
how  could  there  have  been  any  other  result  ? 

I  cheated  myself  into  a  belief  that,  hereabouts,  Masons  politically 
with  us  would  not  join  the  Regency.  But  old  Cruttenden  and  even 
Mather  voted  against  you.  This  is  intolerable.  Two  days  before  the 
election  Mather  swore  to  me  that  Masons  could  not  be  so  drilled.  I 
began  to  fear  them  all,  and  expressed  my  apprehensions  to  him.  He 
said  hundreds  of  Masons  felt  as  he  did,  and  they  would  not  be  influ 
enced.  Sunday  night  J.  0.  Cole  fixed  him.  .  .  .  But,  thank  Heaven, 
Canandaigua  has  sustained  you,  and  I  hope  and  believe  the  district 
stands  firm. 

All  is  gone  in  this  quarter.  .  .  . 

Yours  ever,  T.  WEED. 

1831. — It  was  expected  that  the  Philadelphia  convention 
would  prevent  the  National  Republicans  from  renominating  Mr. 
Clay.  But  when  it  failed  in  that,  —  for  Mr.  Clay  became  the 
National  Republican  candidate  in  1831,  —  it  was  decided  to 
hold  another  anti-Masonic  convention,  at  Baltimore,  and  put 
:i  straight  ticket  in  the  field.  To  confer  with  members  of  the 

1  Referring  to  the  Eighth  District,  in  which  the  vote  stood:  Throop,  13.433; 
Granger,  26^385.  This  district  elected  Trumbull  Gary  and  Philo  C.  Fuller 
to  the  Senate. 


1831.]  WILLIAM  H.   SEWARD.  41 

party  in  that  section,  "William  IT.  Seward  visited  New  England 
in  September.  He  and  Mr.  Weed  had  met  each  other  at  Koch- 
ester  in  1824,  and  there  was  forming  between  them  a  friend 
ship  without  a  parallel  in  the  annals  of  our  politics.  "  While  I 
was  stopping  at  Albany,"  Mr.  Seward  writes,  "  011  my  way  to 
attend  the  Philadelphia  convention  [of  1830],  Thnrlow  Weed 
for  the  first  time  made  some  friendly  but  earnest  inquiries  con 
cerning  my  pecuniary  ability,  —  whether  it  was  sufficient  to  en 
able  me  to  give  a  portion  of  my  time  to  public  office."  Mr. 
Seward  then  had  neither  wish  nor  expectation  to  hold  official 
station,  but  was  so  situated  as  to  be  able  to  accept  a  nomination,, 
and  on  his  return  from  Philadelphia  found  that  he  had  been 
named  for  the  State  Senate. 

[WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

BOSTON,  September  14,  1831. 

MY  DEAR  WEED,  —  I  have  just  returned  from  a  visit  to  Quincy, 
where  I  had  a  long  and  free  conversation  with  Mr.  Adams.  The 
declaration  has  been  drawn  from  him  that  he  did  not  desire  to  be 
nominated ;  that  a  harmonious  choice  at  Baltimore  was  vastly  more 
important  than  a  personal  question,  etc.,  etc.  He  leaves  it  with  us  to 
determine  what  would  be  the  best  nomination,  with  this  injunction  : 
that  it  shall  be  made  on  the  above  principle,  and  that  his  name  shall 
not  be  pressed,  except  it  be  for  the  best  interests  of  the  party.  If  nom 
inated,  he  will  not  decline.  This,  in  substance,  was  communicated  to 
me  by  Dr.  Phelps  before  I  saw  Mr.  Adams. 

Rhode  Island  and  Massachusetts  will  go  to  Baltimore  in  favor  of 
Adams,  in  spite  of  anything  I  or  any  other  person  can  say  or  do.  But 
there  will  be  no  ultra-assertion  of  this  preference  ;  it  will  yield  to  rea 
son.  We  must  argue  solely  upon  the  indiscretion  of  that  nomination 
upon  our  cause  in  New  York,  —  the  argument  I  have  used  all  along 
here.  The  spirit  of  New  England  is  jealous  of  McLean,  because  he 
is  a  protege  of  Calhoun's.  I  have  not  erred  in  believing  that  this  jeal 
ousy  is  grounded  upon  conversations  with  Mr.  Adams  touching  Mc 
Lean.  .  .  .  About  the  vice-presidency  I  say  nothing. 

I  shall  be  at  Albany  Sunday.  I  still  think  that  if  Rush  declines 
McLean  is  our  man  for  President,  and  a  New  York  man  for  Vice- 
President.  Cadwallader  wants  John  C.  Spencer,  but  he  is  too  apt  to 
go  off  on  a  tangent.  I  think  Tracy  the  best  man.  Whittlesey's  day 
has  not  come.  .  .  .  There  is  a  great  deal  of  the  "  blessed  spirit  "  here. 
Yours  ever,  WM.  H.  SEWARD. 


42  MEMOIR.  [1832. 

[HENRY  CLAY  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

•  WASHINGTON,  April  14,  1832. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  received  your  favor  of  the  9th  inst.,  as  I  did  the 
previous  ones,  communicating  the  progress  of  measures  to  produce 
cooperation  between  the  anti-Masons  and  the  National  Republicans 
in  the  State  of  New  York.  I  most  earnestly  hope  that  such  coopera 
tion  may  be  cordially  produced,  to  the  satisfaction  of  both  parties.  If 
it  could  be  secured,  and  if,  as  the  necessary  consequence,  the  Jackson 
party  could  be  defeated  in  New  York,  there  is  only  wanting  a  perfect 
persuasion  of  that  result,  throughout  the  Union,  to  insure  a  signal 
overthrow  of  Jackson  at  the  approaching  election.  You  see,  then, 
how  important  the  movement  is  in  your  State. 

And  was  there  ever  an  occasion  which  should  prompt  true  lovers  of 
their  country  to  more  vigorous  exertions?  It  is  not  merely  some 
measures  of  public  policy  at  hazard  ;  but,  I  verily  believe,  the  purity 
of  the  government  and  the  existence  of  the  Union  are  involved  in  the 
struggle.  The  party  or  parties,  therefore,  that  shall  save  the  country, 
in  this  its  greatest  peril,  will  deserve  thanks,  gratitude,  and  honor. 

I  am  extremely  happy  to  learn,  as  I  have  from  several  quarters, 
that  Mr.  Maynard,  for  whose  character  and  talents  I  have  long  enter 
tained  very  high  respect,  has  taken  a  course  so  decided  and  efficient 
in  bringing  about  union  and  concert.  I  regret  that,  having  no  ac 
quaintance  with  him,  I  cannot  express  to  him  personally  how  much  I 
have  been  gratified  with  his  firm  and  patriotic  conduct.  It  seems  to 
me  that  if,  by  the  efficient  aid  of  anti-Masons,  the  dangers  can  be 
averted  which  now  threaten  the  liberty,  the  institutions,  and  the  union 
of  our  country,  they  will  establish  themselves  strongly  in  the  public 
confidence  ;  they  will  evince  the  sincerity  of  the  paramount  article  in 
their  creed,  which  ought  to  be  the  paramount  article  in  the  earthly 
creed  of  all  associations  and  of  all  men,  —  our  country  first,  our  coun 
try  always. 

Should  the  measures  to  which  I  refer  be  consummated,  it  seems  to 
me  that  a  convention,  on  the  part  of  our  friends,  would  be  still  desira 
ble,  some  time  or  other  during  the  summer,  in  order  to  insure  har 
mony  and  unity  of  action.  With  great  deference,  I  think  that  was 
the  error  committed  in  your  last  canvass  for  Governor.  There  was  no 
concert,  no  united  exertions,  among  our  friends. 

A  scene,  disgraceful  to  the  place,  occurred  here  yesterday.  The 
ex-Governor  of  Tennessee,  General  Houston,  made  a  brutal  attack 
upon  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  from  Ohio,  for  words 
in  debate,  thus  realizing  a  prediction  as  to  the  consequences  of  Jack 
son's  election  made  to  me  by  Colonel  Benton  eight  years  ago.  The 


1832.]  POLITICAL   COMMUNINGS.  43 

papers  will  give  you  a  detail  of  the  affair,  and  of  the  proceedings  of 
the  House  of  Representatives. 

I  think  the  apportionment  bill  will  be  decided  next  week. 

With  great  regard,  your  friend  and  obedient  servant,      II.  CLAY. 

[JOHN    C.    SPENCER    TO    MR.  WEED.] 

CANANDAIGUA,  July  13,  1832. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  see  the  Nationals  are  yet  pushing  for  their  state 
convention.  They  are  very  unwise  thus  to  show  their  hand  when  it 
displays  so  much  weakness.  They  will  not  have  representatives  from 
twenty  counties,  and  it  will  be  altogether  a  tame  and  meagre  business. 
What  are  they  to  do  when  assembled  ?  Some  of  them,  I  know,  are 
tenacious  upon  having  a  separate  ticket  throughout ;  but  probably  they 
will  quarrel  about  it,  and  finally  renominate  ours,  or  a  part  of  it.  If 
they  select  a  part,  the  consequence  will  be  that  those  taken  by  them 
will  be  struck  off  by  anti-Masons  ;  and  if  they  nominate  the  whole, 
then  so  they  will  furnish  evidence,  which  it  will  be  difficult  to  with 
stand,  of  a  coalition.  I  have  no  fear  of  that  cry  upon  the  public  at 
large.  All  that  I  apprehend  from  it  is  that  our  anti-Mason  friends 
will  doubt  whether  all  of  our  electoral  candidates  will  go  for  Wirt.  I 
am  persuaded  we  can  do  better  without  a  nomination  from  the  Na 
tionals  than  with  one.  Certain  it  is  that  no  possible  good  can  be  ac 
complished,  for  their  convention  will  not  induce  a  single  man  to  vote 
our  ticket  who  is  not  already  prepared  to  do  it,  and  while  there  is  dan 
ger  of  mischief  why  not  avoid  it  ?  I  really  wish  you  would  do  your 
utmost  to  prevent  the  assemblage  at  Utica. 

I  received  a  queer  letter  from  our  anti-Masonic  friends  at  Boston  ; 
similar,  I  understand,  to  one  you  got  from  them.  I  wrote  my  friend 
Hallet  that  we  have  a  difficult  game  to  play,  which  we  are  sure  of 
winning  if  let  alone ;  but  if  by-standers  insist  upon  looking  into  our 
hands  and  proclaiming  their  contents,  we  can  do  nothing.  I  begged 
him  to  abstain  from  all  comments,  for  he  might  do  mischief  when  he 
does  not  intend  it.  I  hinted  that  their  Jackson  friends  in  Boston 
might  be  very  willing  to  embroil  us  with  the  National  Republicans  of 
the  State,  but  that  I  trusted  our  anti-Masonic  friends  there  would  not 
be  accessory  to  any  such  design.  .  .  . 

Yours  truly,  J.  C.  SPENCER. 

CANANDAIGUA,  September  21,  1832. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  have  a  longing  to  hold  communion  with  you  on 
political  subjects,  although  I  have  very  little  worth  communicating. 
Everything  in  this  quarter  looks  well.  Our  anti-Masonic  friends 
stand  firm,  and  treat  with  contempt  the  cry  of  coalition.  Still  we 


44  MEMOIR.  [1832. 

have  judged  it  expedient  to  furnish  them  occasionally  with  anti-Ma 
sonic  matter.  This  seems  to  keep  them  satisfied,  and  shows  the 
friends  of  Mr.  Clay  that  we  hold  on  to  our  instinctive  principles. 
I  know  the  delicacy  of  your  situation,  but  I  am  persuaded  you  can 
lose  nothing  and  may  gain  much  by  avowing  firmly  our  anti-Masonic 
principles.  The  great  object  we  have  in  view  —  the  destruction  of 
Freemasonry  —  will  be  promoted  even  by  a  defeat,  now,  provided 
we  are  careful  to  keep  the  object  distinctly  before  the  people.  It  de 
pends  upon  ourselves,  in  my  opinion,  whether  the  result  of  the  elec 
tion,  be  it  what  it  may,  shall  place  anti-Masonry  upon  impregnable 
ground. 

We  have  to-day  heard  of  the  nomination  of  Marcy  and  Tracy,  and 
we  heartily  rejoice.  With  respect  to  Marcy  the  ground  is  preoccu 
pied.  Public  disgust  is  excited  towards  him  before  he  comes  into  the 
field.  We  shall  give  him  a  broadside  concerning  his  inconsistency 
in  admitting  one  Masonic  juror,  after  deciding  that  Masonry  was  a 
disqualification  in  the  case  of  a  previous  juror.  If  you  have  not  al 
ready  "  overslaughed  "  him,  I  think  you  will  do  it.  As  to  Tracy,  the 
policy  doubtless  is  to  enlist  the  friends  of  the  Chenango  Canal,  with  a 
view  at  all  events  to  distract  us  and  get  split  tickets,  if  they  cannot 
do  any  more.  It  seems  to  me  that  it  would  be  very  useful  to  have  a 
letter  from  our  candidate,  Stevens,  expressing  his  views  on  the  sub 
ject.  I  shall  write  to  John  A.  Collier  to  address  Mr.  Stevens,  and, 
in  the  mean  time,  will  you  prepare  Stevens  for  it,  and  let  him  do  the 
handsome  thing  ? 

The  veto  message  has  certainly  had  some  effect  upon  a  class  of 
men  who  do  not  stop  to  think.  An  article  has  been  prepared  headed 
''  The  Controversy  about  the  Banks,"  the  authorship  of  which  is  un 
known,  and  intended  to  be  kept  so.  It  is  calculated,  I  think,  to  turn 
the  tables  on  the  money-changers.  I  have  seen  it,  and  like  it  much. 
You  will  see  it  in  a  few  days.  I  want  you  to  republish  it.  Such 
things  derive  much  of  their  effect  from  the  trumpeting  with  which 
they  are  ushered  into  the  world.  If  you  can  do  so  consistently,  will 
you  give  it  a  shove  ? 

The  cry  of  aristocracy  takes  with  certain  folks,  and  there  is  no  way 
to  meet  it  but  to  clamor  louder  than  our  adversaries,  which  we  can 
do  in  this  case,  having  so  much  better  ground  than  they  have. 

What  an  awful  rent  you  have  made  in  Neddy's l  hypocritical  mo 
rality  cloak!  You  will  hear  no  more  of  juvenile  indiscretions.  You 
have  ungowned  him  more  effectually  than  it  was  ever  done  before. 
But  spare  him  not.  He  deserves  no  mercy  at  your  hands  until  he 
repents  and  asks  forgiveness  of  his  sins.  Remember  that  a  good  thing 
1  Edwin  Croswell  was  often  called  "  Neddy,"  "  Eddy,"  or  "  Miss  Edwin." 


1832.]  VICTORY  OF   THE  REGENCY.  45 

will  bear  repeating.  His  influence  through  his  paper  is  unparalleled, 
and  while  it  is  so  corruptly  employed  it  is  a  high  act  of  duty  to  un 
mask  him  and  paralyze  his  exertions. 

Turn  the  efforts  of  our  friends  towards  the  counties  on  Lake  Onta 
rio,  Oneida,  Herkimer,  Montgomery,  and  the  northern  counties,  as 
requiring  more  attention  than  any  other  quarter.  The  great  AVest 
will  take  care  of  itself. 

Yours  truly,  J.  C.  SPENCER. 

[MR.    WEED    TO    FRANCIS    GRANGER.] 

ALBANY,  November  5,  1832. 

DEAR  GRANGER,  —  I  have  just  been  able  to  hobble  upon  a  crutch 
and  a  cane  to  our  poll,  but  could  not  get  near  enough  to  vote.  Friends 
say  it  has  gone  well  so  far.  They  are  at  their  posts  in  sufficient  force 
to  protect  the  weak  and  timid.  .  .  „ 

November  1,  1832. 

I  am  housed  up,  and  have  heard  nothing  this  morning.  I  find  it 
went  harder  than  I  was  aware  of  in  the  Fourth  yesterday.  Sixty 
illegal  Irish  votes  were  sworn  in  against  us,  which  puts  them  ahead  in 
the  ward.  Our  friends  hope  to  bring  up  to-day,  but  I  doubt  it.  The 
Fourth  will  probably  give  a  small  majority  against  us,  and  if,  as 
I  fear,  the  Regency  have  got  the  Irish  sufficiently  excited  to  go 
to  the  different  wards,  swearing  in  votes,  our  prospect  will  be  bad 
enough.1  .  .  . 

November  9,  1832. 

I  need  not  say  to  you  that,  in  addition  to  my  physical  infirmity,  I 
am  now  sick  at  heart.  "  A  wounded  spirit  who  can  bear  ?  "  I  might 
have  written  you  yesterday,  but  ill  news  has  wings,  and  will  have 
reached  you  soon  enough.  .  .  „ 

It  is  thought  $20.000  were  bet  yesterday  on  your  election.  A 
western  man  was  offering  $10,000  here  on  you  yesterday.  I  sent 
for  him  and  stopped  him  after  he  had  bet  $700.  Judge  Spencer  and 
others  were  provoked  at  me  for  giving  up  in  yesterday's  paper,  but  I 
was  anxious  to  save  our  friends  from  utter  ruin.  They  are  now  offer 
ing  on  5,000,  7,000,  and  a  few  on  10,000,  so  that  they  will  get  back 
something. 

November  11,  1832. 

We  are  in  a  pretty  boat.  Our  friends  say  we  should  have  done 
better  on  our  own  hook ;  but  this  is  not  so,  for  the  result  would  have 
been  the  same,  and  the  opprobrium  of  producing  that  result  would 
have  been  charged  to  obstinacy.  Everybody  would  have  exclaimed 

1  It  used  to  be  said  in  New  York,  "  As  goes  the  Fourth  Ward  of  Albany 
so  goes  the  State." 


46  MEMOIR.  [1832. 

that  Jackson,  Van  Buren,  and  Marcy  owe  their  elections  to  anti- 
Masons.  Now  we  have  done  our  duty  to  the  country,  and  without 
wronging  anybody.  ...  It  is  a  great  calamity,  so  far  as  anti-Masonry 
is  concerned.  It  seems  peculiarly  unfortunate  that  we  have  not  the 
power  of  vindicating  ourselves  to  the  world  by  giving  the  electoral 
vote  of  the  State  to  Wirt. 

The  cause  of  our  defeat  is  to  be  found  in  the  deep  and  dark  delu 
sions  which  pervade  the  country  in  relation  to  Jackson.  We  have 
been  grossly  deceived  in  supposing  that  his  huzza  strength  was  in  the 
least  weakened.  Had  the  contest  been  between  you  and  Marcy,  — 
the  People  against  the  Regency, — the  10,000  majority  would  have 
been  reversed.  As  it  is,  Jackson  has  carried  everything  that  clung 
to  him.  ...  I  almost  despair  of  the  country.  The  yoke  is  on  and 
must  be  borne,  —  how  long  ?  Local  bank  politicians  will  hereafter 
rule  the  State.  I  could  endure  Jacksonism  until  it  spends  itself,  but 
am  shocked  at  the  thought  of  Van  Burenism  in  succession ;  and  this 
seems  inevitable,  unless  McLean  comes  out  and  takes  hold  of  Penn 
sylvania  and  the  Western  States.  .  .  . 

The  Regency  are  as  utterly  amazed  as  we  are.  They  had  n't  the 
slightest  hope  of  defeating  you.  Had  they  dreamt  of  this  result,  our 
whole  party  would  have  been  made  paupers  on  bets.  Three  days 
before  the  election,  Regency  men  left  large  sums  of  money  at  Chaun- 
cey  Johnson's  that  our  majority  in  Chenango  and  Broome  would  be 
cut  down  one  half.  Our  friends  wanted  to  take  them,  but  I  protested. 

Ever  yours,  WEED. 

[FRANCIS  GRANGER  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

ROCHESTER,  November  13,  1832. 

Well,  Weed,  as  I  thought  the  morning  after  the  election,  we  have 
suffered  a  perfect  Waterloo  defeat.  Thank  Heaven,  Jersey  follows  in 
the  train,  and  I  hope  Kentucky  also.  I  hope  that  every  electoral  vote 
in  the  nation  will  be  cast  for  old  Hick.  The  general  result  has  not 
surprised  me  in  the  least,  but  the  issue  in  certain  counties  is  beyond 
parallel.  .  .  . 

In  a  few  days  we  will  look  about  to  see  what  is  to  be  done.  I  fear 
that  you  are  in  total  despair.  For  myself,  while  I  have  no  doubt  the 
world  considers  this  the  "  be  all  and  end  all "  of  rny  political  career,  I 
do  Hot  so  consider  it,  and  if  I  did,  should  not  fret  about  it  for  an  hour. 
When  the  returns  are  all  in,  if  it  appears  that  I  lead  the  electoral  ticket, 
just  put  that  fact  in  full  relief.  .  .  . 

This  is  about  as  hard  for  you  as  anybody,  and  in  the  present  state 
of  your  health  I  greatly  fear  its  effect  upon  you.  The  blow  is  severe, 
but  take  it  calmly.  I  shall  go  home  in  two  days.  Let  me  know  all 
the  world  says  of  this  matter.  Yours,  FR.  GRANGER. 


1832.]  GEORGE    W.  PATTERSON.  47 

No  man  ever  had  a  more  loyal  friend  than  George  W.  Pat 
terson  was  to  Mr.  Weed  for  half  a  century.  "  Governor " 
Patterson,  as  he  was  called,  in  conformity  with  New  York 
usage,  which  confers  this  title  upon  those  who  have  held  the 
second  highest  executive  position  in  the  State,  entered  public 
life  as  a  member  of  Assembly  from  Livingston  County,  in  1832. 
His  ancestors  emigrated  from  Scotland  to  New  England  shortly 
after  the  Revolutionary  War.  He  served  several  terms  in  the 
Assembly ;  was  Lieutenant-Governor  in  1848,  and  subsequently 
went  to  Congress.  He  lived  an  entirely  blameless  as  well  as  an 
eminently  useful  life.  After  the  defeat  of  Wirt  and  Granger 
he  wrote  freely  to  Mr.  Weed,  foreshadowing  the  disbandment 
of  the  anti-Masonic  party,  and  alluding  to  the  necessity  of  find 
ing  some  new  name  by  which  to  designate  opponents  of  Jackson. 

[GOVERNOR  PATTERSON  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

GREIGSVILLE,  November  15,  1832. 

DEAR  WEED,  —  Election  is  over,  and  the  result  is  bad  enough.  .  .  . 
When  I  last  wrote  you  I  supposed  there  had  been  little  or  no  effort 
made  in  this  county  to  bring  electors  to  the  polls  ;  but  I  find  that  I 
was  mistaken.  In  many  towns  everything  was  done  that  could  be 
*  done,  but  to  no  purpose.  Voters  stayed  home.  We  say  they  would 
have  voted  right  had  they  been  there,  but  the  important  question  is, 
Why  were  they  not  there  ? 

Is  it  because  Masonry  is  actually  dead,  and  therefore  there  is  no 
more  necessity  for  anti-Masonry  ?  Or  is  it  because  the  people  have 
labored  long  enough  in  the  cause  to  become  satisfied  that  they  can 
never  succeed  as  a  party,  and  are  therefore  determined  to  give  it  up  ? 
These  are  important  questions,  and  such  as  require  older  political 
heads  than  mine  to  solve. 

The  principle  of  anti-Masonry  is  an  honest  principle,  and  the  cause 
a  just  cause ;  but  a  question  arises  whether  anything  more  can  be 
done  politically  to  put  down  the  institution.  If  not,  we  are  spending 
our  strength  for  naught.  These  are  subjects  which,  without  doubt, 
have  long  since  presented  themselves  to  your  mind,  and  I  would  like 
to  have  your  views. 

If  there  is  no  prospect  of  doing  any  good  by  retaining  our  present 
name,  we  may  as  well  abandon  it,  always  keeping  in  view  the  prin 
ciple.  Another  presidential  election  is  approaching,  and  I  feel  as 
though  there  was  a  duty  to  our  country  to  exert  ourselves  to  the 
utmost  to  prevent  the  election  of  Martin  Van  Buren.  In  what  way 
can  we  most  effectually  accomplish  that  object  ?  By  continuing  under 
the  name  of  anti-Masonry,  or  by  sailing  under  a  different  flag  ?  .  .  . 


48  MEMOIR.  [1833. 

I  wish  it  distinctly  understood,  if  it  is  thought  best  by  our  friends 
to  continue  under  the  name  of  anti-Masonry,  I  do  not  desert  the  ship, 
not  even  if  she  sinks,  nor  when  she  is  sinking. 

Yours  truly,  GEO.  W.  PATTERSON. 

The  use  of  the  word  "  Whig,"  to  cover  the  scattered  political 
forces  alluded  to  in  the  above  letter,  was  first  suggested  by  Gen 
eral  James  Watson  Webb,  of  New  York.  "  In  writing  to  my 
paper,  the  New  York  '  Courier  and  Enquirer,'  "  says  General 
Webb,  "  I  gave  an  account  of  the  Baltimore  convention,  and 
commented  upon  the  folly  of  General  Jackson's  opponents  in 
running  so  many  candidates  against  him,  concluding  my  letter 
by  recommending  that  anti-Jackson  men  adopt  the  title  of 
'  Whigs,'  and  call  their  opponents  4  Tories.'  On  the  evening 
of  the  day  on  which  this  letter  appeared,  the  great  meeting  of 
anti-Jackson  men  took  place  at  Masonic  Hall,  in  New  York 
city.  Philip  Hone  presided,  and,  on  taking  the  chair,  read  my 
letter  to  the  meeting,  after  which  the  suggestion  which  it  con 
tained  was  put  to  vote  and  adopted.'  l 

1833-1837.  — Mr.  Weed  worked  against  wind  and  tide 
through  these  years.  General  Jackson  began  his  second  term 
in  1833,  after  carrying  nearly  all  the  States,  and  Mr.  Van 
Buren,  now  promoted  to  the  vice-presidency,  still  kept  his 
wary  hand  upon  the  Regency  in  New  York.  Governor  Mar- 
cy's  first  term  expired  in  1834,  whereupon  he  was  reflected  by 
twelve  thousand  majority  over  William  H.  Seward.  In  1836 
he  ran  for  Governor  a  third  time,  and  was  re  elected,  receiv 
ing  an  increased  majority  over  a  scattering  opposition.  During 
this  period  the  most  prominent  political  issue  was  the  question 
as  to  where  national  funds  should  be  placed  on  deposit.  For 
sixteen  years  they  had  been  kept  in  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  but  in  1833,  by  order  of  the  President,  they  were  in 
trusted  to  various  state  institutions.  General  Jackson's  famous 
edict  making  this  disposition  of  the  funds  is  usually  ascribed 
as  the  direct  cause  of  the  financial  depression  which  immediately 
followed. 

1  These  facts,  gathered  in  conversation  with  General  Webb,  are  here 
recorded  with  his  permission. 


1833.]  DANIEL    WEBSTER1  S  PROPHECY.  49 

[ALBERT  H.  TRACY  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

BUFFALO,  June  10,  1833. 

DEAR  WEED,  —  I  forgot  when  writing  my  last  to  mention  a  conver 
sation  which  Mr.  Webster  had  with  me  about  a  newspaper  in  this  State, 
which  may  in  some  measure  affect  your  establishment.  In  the  first 
place,  he  is  infatuated  with  the  notion,  that  you  see  every  now  and 
then  put  forth,  that  the  great  approaching  political  division  of  the  whole 
country  is  to  be  between  Unionists  and  anti-Unionists.  I  tried  to  per 
suade  him  that  it  could  never  exist,  for  the  obvious  reason  that  Van 
Buren  would  never  commit  himself  against  the  strong  side.  But  he 
seemed  to  think  otherwise,  without  being  able  to  explain  why  he 
thought  so. 

Now,  a  plan  which  he  suggests  is  that  there  be  established  at  Utica 
a  paper  devoted  to  this  question  almost  exclusively,  and  which  he  said 
could  be  made  very  strong  and  interesting  by  regular  contributions 
from  the  Massachusetts  delegation  in  Congress,  which  you  know  em 
braces  a  number  of  ready  and  powerful  writers.  I  was  unwilling  to  be 
committed  to  any  such  arrangement,  —  certainly  not  without  first  con 
sulting  you ;  and  even  then  there  may  be  found  in  the  progress  of  the 
business,  vexations  and  embarrassments,  not  at  first  clearly  to  be  seen. 
I  wish  you  would  reflect  on  this  matter,  and  let  me  know  what  you 
think  of  it.  Mr.  Webster  returns  to  Boston  about  the  1st  of  July,  and 
I  can  make  some  arrangement  with  him  if  it  shall  be  thought  advisable. 

My  standing  objection  to  the  whole  of  it  is  that  it  inevitably  looks 
to  Webster's  being  a  candidate  for  the  next  presidency,  which,  not 
withstanding  my  warm  attachment  to  the  man  and  exalted  estimate  of 
his  talents,  I  regard  as  utterly  unwise  and  hopeless.  I  believe  I  ex 
pressed  my  views  on  this  point  in  my  last ;  but  I  wrote  that  so  hastily 
that  I  hardly  know  what  it  contained,  more  than  that  I  would  not 

"  Contaminate  our  fingers  with  base  bribes, 
And  sell  the  mighty  space  of  our  large  honors 
For  so  much  trash  as  may  be  grasped  thus." 

But  whether  I  gave  my  views  or  not,  I  cannot  now,  for  the  bearer 
hereof  is  about  starting.  .  .  .  Very  truly  yours, 

ALBERT  H.  TRACY. 

P.  S.  I  need  not  remind  you  of  the  propriety  of  keeping  Webster's 
suggestion  a  profound  secret.  Stow  it  away  with  the  ten  thousand  and 
odd  secrets  which  you  keep  so  well. 

More  P.  S.     Put  Millard  Fillmore  on  your  list  for  the  Semi-Weekly. 

The  Whigs  were  not  slow  in  pointing  out  the  responsibility 
of  the  Democrats ;  but  before  voters  fairly  comprehended  the 


50  MEMOIR.  [1837. 

state  of  affairs,  General  Harrison  was  defeated  in  the  national 
canvass  of  1836  by  Mr.  Van  Buren.  There  was  a  reduction  of 
one  hundred  thousand  on  the  majority  recorded  for  Jackson  in 
1832,  but  this  change  was  of  no  practical  importance,  inas 
much  as  the  opposition  divided  its  vote  between  Daniel  Web 
ster,  Hugh  L.  White,  of  Tennessee,  and  W.  P.  Manguin,  of 
North  Carolina.  Mr.  Weed's  letters  to  his  friend  Granger 
refer  to  the  financial  crisis  and  its  probable  bearings  on  the 
approaching  presidential  canvass. 

[MR.    WEED    TO   FRANCIS    GRANGER.] 

ALBANY,  February  3,  1837. 

DEAR  GRANGER, —  .  .  .  The  banks  are  making  trouble  for  "the 
party,"  —  all  of  which  and  more  they  deserve.  Those  who  open  the 
dance  will  have  to  pay  the  piper. 

The  Regency  have  had  at  least  a  half  bushel  of  trouble  for  three 
or  four  days.  They  found,  to  their  astonishment,  a  formidable  opposi 
tion  to  Wright's  election.  The  bolters  had  forty-nine  men  counted 
and  pledged  against  him.  Sam  Birdsall  was  their  candidate.  Marcy, 
Flagg,  Dix,  Croswell  &  Co.  took  the  field.  Birdsall  was  pushed  out. 
The  bolters  then  determined  to  go  for  Butler.  There  was  no  time  to 
get  his  declension,  and  therefore  the  screws  were  applied.  Vengeance 
dire  was  threatened  against  every  man  who  should  vote  against  Wright 
in  caucus.  .  .  .  He  will  get  the  nomination,  but  there  will  be  many 
votes  against  him. 

The  Regency  is  in  the  utmost  danger.  I  think  the  rascals  will  be 
shipwrecked,  as  they  ought  to  be,  on  the  bank  question.  The  people 
are  greatly  excited.  .  .  . 

February  14,  1837. 

I  am  satisfied  that  Calhoun  and  others  intend  to  separate  the  Union. 
They  are  determined  to  push  on  to  their  fate.  I  was  prepared  by 
your  letters  for  the  result  on  Vice-President.1  .  .  .  They  will  hasten 
the  crisis,  which  I  had  hoped  was  farther  off. 

There  is  a  fearful  war  going  on  here  against  the  state  banks,  which 
have  really  provoked  it  themselves.  The  feeling  is  more  bitter  against 
them  than  it  was  against  the  United  States  Bank. 

May  15,  1837. 

.  .  .  The  times  pinch  so  many  that  it  is  scarcely  worth  while  to 
designate  those  who  aro  not  pinched.  Few  have  had  the  wisdom  to 
place  themselves  beyond  the  reach  of  the  storm.  The  banks  say  they 

1  Richard  M.  Johnson  was  elected  by  the  Senate  in  February,  1837. 


1837.]  PRESIDENTIAL   ASPIJIANTS. 

cannot  hold  out  much  longer.  Some  of  our  business  men  must  soon 
stop.  Flemming  loaned  $250,000  to  Bullock,  Lyman  &  Co.,  which  is 
a  dead  loss.  They  say  that  General  Gansevoort  loses  heavily.  .  .  . 

This  sort  of  thing  cannot  go  on.  We  shall  march  from  the  ex 
tremes  to  the  centre.  The  Regency  will  be  defeated  in  the  next  gen 
eral  fight. 

Yours  ever,  THURLOW  WEED. 

The  Whigs  made  significant  gains  in  the  fall  elections  of 
1837,  and  although  the  time  for  a  presidential  nomination  was 
still  two  years  distant,  movements  to  secure  the  success  of  this 
or  that  aspirant  were  set  on  foot  by  over-zealous  partisans.  Mr. 
Weed  had  as  strong  personal  predilections  as  any  member  of 
his  party.  It  was  a  profound  pleasure  to  him  to  see  those  of 
his  friends  whom  he  knew  to  be  fitted  for  public  life  chosen 
to  high  official  stations  ;  it  was  his  great  ambition  to  promote 
vast  public  interests  by  the  elevation  of  enlightened  and  trust 
worthy  men  to  positions  of  responsibility.  But  through  all  his 
career  he  never  thrust  personal  friendships  or  personal  griev 
ances  into  a  political  canvass.  Among  the  Whigs  of  1837  he 
stood  almost  alone  in  refusing  to  agitate  the  presidential  ques 
tion. 

"  We  must  postpone  the  selection  of  candidates,"  he  wrote, 
"  until  the  fitting  time  for  designating  them  shall  arrive.  We 
can  all  act  with  more  effect  eighteen  months  hence  than  now. 
Patience  is  a  high  political  virtue.  The  few  who  have  the  wis 
dom  to  practice  it  are  most  richly  rewarded.  .  .  .  The  over 
whelming  triumphs  which  spangle  the  Whig  banner  display  the 
efficiency  of  united  efforts.  For  the  last  four  months  we  have 
battled  not  as  the  partisans  of  Webster,  of  Harrison,  or  of  Clay, 
but  as  the  opponents  of  misrule  and  corruption.  And  what  has 
been  accomplished  ?  Four  states  which  gave  their  electoral 
votes  to  Van  Buren  have  been  disenthralled.  In  three  states 
Whig  candidates  for  Governor  have  displaced  Democratic  in 
cumbents.  In  nine  states  overwhelming  majorities  are  re 
corded  against  the  administration.  Shall  we  now,  in  full  view 
of  the  glorious  consummation  of  all  the  hopes  of  patriotism,  be 
diverted  from  the  great  object  by  premature  discussion  of  dis 
tracting  issues?  We  hope  and  believe  not.  Let  us  for  the 
next  twelve,  as  we  have  for  the  last  six,  months  exert  all  our 


52  MEMOIR.  [1837. 

faculties  to  rescue  state  and  nation  from  Loco-Foco  1  and  Ke- 
gency  desecration.  The  whole  question  of  presidential  candi 
dates  should  by  common  consent  be  referred  to  the  national 
convention." 

1  This  curious  word  came  into  general  use  to  designate  the  Democrats 
shortly  after  the  adoption  of  the  word  Whig  to  designate  opponents  of  Jack 
son.  It  originally  meant  a  kind  of  self -igniting  match,  but  as  no  other  sort 
of  matches  are  known,  in  this  sense  it  soon  became  obsolete.  At  a  gather 
ing  in  Tammany  Hall,  New  York,  in  1835,  the  Varian  faction  extinguished 
the  lights,  fearing  that  the  Curtis  men  had  control  of  the  meeting,  where 
upon  matches  were  produced  by  the  Curtis  side,  and  business  proceeded. 
The  Whig  papers  took  advantage  of  this  incident  to  fasten  the  term  "  Locos," 
or  "  Loco-Focos,"  upon  the  Democratic  party. 


CHAPTER.  V. 

1837-1838. 

MR.  GREELEY  TO  MR.  WEED. —  "I  WILL  TURN  THE  CORNER  YET."- 
THE  RIGHT  OF  PETITION  DEFENDED.  — A  HARRISON  MEETING.— 
" OUR  FRIENDS  IN  NEW  YORK."  —  SEWARD  FOR  GOVERNOR.  —  "A 
YEARLING  NOT  WANTED."  —  MILLARD  FILLMORE.  —  "  THE  PHILIS 
TINES  ARE  UPON  Us."  —  GOVERNOR  MARCY'S  "  THREE- WALLED  HOUSE." 
— "  POLITICAL  DRILL  OF  THE  STATE  OFFICERS." 

LONG  before  the  lines  were  drawn  for  the  presidential  con 
test  of  1840,  Mr.  Weed  was  busied  in  preparations  for  that 
memorable  campaign.  He  made  arrangements  in  1837  for  the 
establishment  of  a  new  Whig  paper,  of  which  Horace  Greeley 
was  to  be  editor. 

[HORACE  GREELEY  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

NEW  YORK,  December  29,  1837. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  Your  favor  of  the  27th  is  this  moment  at  hand, 
and  is  the  first  line  or  word  I  have  had  from  you  or  any  one  else  at 
Albany  since  you  left.  I  have  been  unable  to  see  Willis  Hall  or 
Blatchford  since  the  meeting,  twelve  days  since,  and  had  concluded, 
from  these  indications,  that  the  project  was  virtually  abandoned. 
Your  letter  is  the  first  contrary  symptom  that  has  reached  me. 

It  will  be  utterly  impossible  for  me  to  come  to  Albany  immedi 
ately.  I  have  not  heard  from  any  proposed  partners  yet.  I  am  not 
disappointed,  exactly ;  for  you  know  what  an  unlucky  sinner  I  have 
always  been  in  everything,  except  getting  plenty  of  hard  work  to  do, 
and  no  pay  for  it,  —  nor  credit  either.  You  would  say  that  is  all  a 
matter  of  course. 

When  you  first  came  here  I  thought  it  impossible  that  I  could  go 
to  Albany  at  all,  as  I  had  already  done  when  several  of  my  friends 
offered  to  urge  my  nomination  for  the  Assembly.  While  you  were 
here,,  however,  I  made  such  arrangements  as  seemed  to  insure  me 
liberty  for  the  winter.  I  sold  one  fourth  of  my  paper  to  a  young  man 
for  one  thousand  dollars,  and  he  set  out  immediately  to  visit  his  friends 
in  Massachusetts,  to  whom  he  had  written,  and  who  had  promised  him 
money.  He  left  me,  promising  to  send  me  money  in  a  week,  and  to 


54  MEMOIR.  [1837. 

rejoin  me  in  a  fortnight,  prepared  to  take  charge.  He  was  a  young 
man  of  known  integrity  and  excellent  character.  Sixteen  days  have 
now  passed,  and  I  have  not  heard  a  whisper  from  him.  My  luck ! 

Another,  Mr.  John  Adams,  of  the  Portland  "  Advertiser,"  wrote, 
proposing  to  engage  with  me,  and  manifesting  great  eagerness.  I 
answered  him  while  you  were  here,  offering  him  half  of  my  concern 
for  two  thousand  dollars  :  one  half  down,  the  remainder  on  time.  He 
answered  me  that  my  terms  were  very  reasonable,  and  he  would  not 
fail  of  engaging  with  me,  but  he  could  pay  nothing  for  six  months.  I 
cannot  get  through  the  winter  without  money,  so  I  was  obliged  to 
forego  the  bargain,  though  he  is  a  first-rate  business  man. 

A  third  man  with  whom  I  have  been  treating  is  Mr.  P.,  of  Win 
chester,  Va.  He  is  a  young  man  of  property.  He  is  eager  to  engage 
with  me,  but  his  property  is  included  in  an  undivided  estate,  which  he 
is  making  an  effort  to  withdraw.  Part  of  it  is  bank  stock,  of  which 
he  owns  one  third  (733  33-100),  which  he  thinks  he  can  sell,  at  any 
rate.  I  wrote  him  a  week  ago  to  join  me  instantly,  if  with  only  five 
hundred  dollars.  I  hope  to  hear  from  him  to-morrow. 

Thus  I  am  ;  and  you  will  see  the  absolute  absurdity  of  my  entering 
into  new  engagements,  such  as  you  kindly  propose,  until  I  have  made 
some  arrangements  to  fulfill  those  already  incurred.  These  have  a 
sacred  prior  claim  upon  me,  which  I  must  not  disregard. 

Give  me  all  the  time  you  can,  my  friend,  and  I  will  turn  the  corner 
yet.  Give  me  advice  frequently.  I  have  again,  indirectly,  advertised 
my  concern  this  week,  and  will  give  it  away  if  I  cannot  sell  it  the 
coming  week.  Have  patience  with  me,  and  I  will  try  to  beg  a  loan  of 
some  friend  to  put  my  concern  in  a  shape  to  leave  it  for  a  time. 
Yours  perplexed,  HORACE  GREELEY, 

127  Nassau. 

During  the  session  of  Congress  which  began  in  December, 
1837,  petitions  for  negro  emancipation  were  sent  to  Washington. 
Pending  the  disposal  of  these  papers,  Mr.  Weed  wrote  :  — 

"  Inherent  and  inalienable  rights,  to  establish  which  cost  the 
best  blood  of  the  Kevolution,  have  been  called  in  question  in 
the  House  of  Eepresentatives,  by  an  attempt  to  reject  a  petition 
praying  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
and  more  recently  by  the  adoption  of  a  resolution  of  a  most 
extraordinary  character,  in  favor  of  which  many  members  from 
this  State  gave  their  votes.  This  resolution  establishes  prin 
ciples  and  will  produce  consequences  of  such  vital  importance 
that  we  will  not  trust  ourselves  to  speak  of  it,  or  of  those  who 


1837.]  RIGHT  OF  PETITION  DEFENDED.  55 

voted  for  or  against  it,  without  first  giving  the  resolution  itself, 
with  the  votes  of  the  Representatives  from  this  State  upon  the 
question  of  its  passage,  and  also  upon  the  previous  question, 
which  cut  off  all  debate.  The  resolution  was  offered  by  Mr. 
Patton,  of  Virginia,  on  the  21st  of  December,  in  the  following- 
words  :  — 

"  '  Resolved,  That  all  petitions,  memorials,  and  papers  touching  the 
abolition  of  slavery,  or  the  buying,  selling,  or  transferring  of  slaves  in 
any  State,  District,  or  Territory  of  the  United  States,  be  laid  upon  the 
table,  without  being  debated,  printed,  read,  or  referred,  and  that  no 
further  action  shall  be  had  thereon.'  .  .  . 

"  We  ask  the  friends  of  constitutional  liberty  to  look  at  the 
manner  in  which  the  resolution  was  passed,  and  at  the  tenor  of 
the  resolution  itself,  and  then  say  whether  as  American  citizens 
they  can  approve  it.  In  expressing  our  most  unqualified  disap 
probation  of  the  manner  in  which  this  tyrannical  law  was  forced 
upon  the  House,  and  the  more  than  Turkish  despotism  to  which 
it  subjects  the  right  of  petition  in  this  boasted  land  of  liberty, 
we  desire  to  strip  it  of  all  extraneous  circumstances,  and  present 
it  to  our  insulted  people  in  its  own  naked  deformity.  With 
the  freedom  of  speech  and  the  right  of  petition  we  mingle  not 
the  discussion  of  other  topics.  These  are  the  very  essence  of  a 
free  government,  .  .  .  the  Promethean  fire  that  gives  it  vitality 
and  life.  Without  these,  it  is  the  cold,  unfeeling  mass  of  des 
potism. 

"What,  then,  is  the  right  of  petition  under  this  resolution? 
It  is  to  have  Representatives  crawl  up  to  the  Speaker's  table, 
and  lay  upon  it  in  humble  silence  the  prayers  of  fathers  and 
mothers,  sons  and  daughters,  and  brothers  and  sisters,  of  all 
political  parties  and  of  all  religious  denominations,  and  then  to 
leave  them  unopened  and  unread.  Will  the  freemen  of  New 
York  submit  to  this  ?  Will  they  permit  their  petitions  to  be 
treated  with  silent  contempt  by  their  own  Representatives  ? 
Will  they  suffer  their  petitions  to  be  consigned  to  the  tomb  of 
oblivion,  unread  and  unheard?  Will  they  permit  their  Repre 
sentatives  to  sell  this  birthright  of  freemen  for  a  mess  of  pot 
tage?  Will  they  sanction  a  time-serving,  slavish  subserviency 
which  strikes  at  the  foundation  of  our  freedom  ?  Has  the  spirit 
of  independence  at  the  North  sunk  so  low  that  the  degenerated 
sons  of  a  noble  ancestry  will  submit  to  be  gagged  and  bound 


56  MEMOIR.  [1838. 

hand  and  foot,  and  spurned  from  the  national  legislative  hall  ? 

Then  let  us 

"  « Peep  about 
To  find  ourselves  dishonorable  graves.' 

"Look  at  the  language  of  our  forefathers.  Look  at  the 
Constitution  they  gave  us.  It  declares  that  '  Congress  shall 
make  no  law  respecting  the  establishment  of  religion,  or  prohib 
iting  the  free  exercise  thereof,  or  abridging  the  freedom  of 
speech,  or  of  the  press,  or  the  right  of  the  people  peacefully  to 
assemble  and  to  petition  the  government  for  the  redress  of 
grievances.' 

"  The  spirit,  if  not  the  letter,  of  this  part  of  the  Constitution 
was  grossly  violated  by  the  adoption  of  that  resolution.  It 
abridges  the  freedom  of  speech.  It  renders  the  right  of  peti 
tion  but  a  solemn  mockery.  It  rejects  without  hearing;  nay, 
further,  it  warns  the  petitioner,  before  he  approaches,  that  he 
is  not  to  be  heard.  .  .  . 

"  Freemen  of  .  New  York,  if  this  step  be  tolerated  by  the 
American  people,  a  precedent  so  fraught  with  danger  to  con 
stitutional  liberty  is  established,  that  whenever  the  interests  or 
the  prejudices  of  faction  may  render  it  expedient,  all  other 
petitions,  in  like  manner,  will  be  treated  with  contumely  and 
contempt.  We  call  upon  the  American  people,  everywhere,  to 
pause  before  they  sanction  a  doctrine  so  monstrous.  We  call 
upon  the  patriots  of  all  parties  to  stand  by  the  Constitution  of 
the  common  country,  and  shield  it  from  these  grievous  wounds. 
We  warn  them  to  watch  with  jealousy  this  attempt  to  violate 
that  sacred  charter  of  liberty.  We  call  upon  them  to  resist, 
firmly,  this  bold  invasion  of  their  rights.  We  summon  all  to 
mark  this  law  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech.  And  finally, 
we  proclaim  to  those  who  now  represent  the  freemen  of  New 
York  in  Congress  that  the  sacred  right  of  petition  and  of  free- 
debate  may  not,  with  impunity,  be  made  the  sport  of  gaming 
politicians  ;  that  they  are  dealing  with  principles  too  dear  to 
every  lover  of  his  country  to  be  for  one  moment  jeopardized  in 
the  party  squabbles  of  the  day.'1 

1838.  —  "  The  friends  of  General  Harrison,"  wrote  Mr. 
Weed,  in  January,  "  by  a  large  and  enthusiastic  meeting  at 
Cincinnati,  have  again  nominated  that  distinguished  and  patri 
otic  statesman  and  soldier  as  a  candidate  for  President.  Judge 


1838.]  PRESIDENTIAL  DEMONSTRATIONS.  57 

Burnett,  formerly  a  Senator  in  Congress,  presided.  The  pro 
ceedings  throughout  evince  an  honest  devotion  to  their  candi 
date  and  to  the  Whig  cause.  .  .  . 

"  It  is  known  that,  from  the  beginning,  we  have  deprecated 
these  premature  movements.  It  is  but  an  act  of  justice,  how 
ever,  to  the  friends  of  General  Harrison  to  admit  that  they 
have  been  forced  into  this  position.  They  were  willing  to  sub 
mit  the  whole  question  to  a  national  convention,  where  every 
thing  should  be  decided.  But  with  that  too  many  impatient 
gentlemen  were  dissatisfied.  Demonstrations  in  favor  of  other 
candidates  were  made,  and  the  friends  of  General  Harrison  must 
either  see  him  jostled  off  the  course,  or  do  as  others  have  done. 
Thus  we  are  hurried  into  a  scuffle  about  men,  when  the  entire 
energies  of  our  party  should  be  exerted  to  arrest  and  defeat  the 
destructive  measures  of  the  administration.  For  one,  we  are 
utterly  opposed  to  the  infatuated  project  of  jarring  among  our 
selves  about  a  candidate  for  President  three  years  before  the 
election,  and  when  our  single  and  united  efforts  are  required  to 
save  the  country  from  the  miseries  inflicted  by  the  present  ex 
ecutive." 

[FRANCIS  GRAXGER  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

CANANDAIGUA,  March  14,  1838. 

DEAR  WEED,  — ...  Fillmore  sees  the  presidential  question  just  as 
I  do.  I  suppose  you  observe  the  fire  that  the  Abolition  batteries  are 
making  upon  Clay.  They  are  gaining  converts  by  the  regiment.  Pat- 
ton's  resolution  has  made  more  than  20,000  Abolition  votes  already. 
They  will  have  one  fourth  of  the  votes  of  the  states  before  the  grand 
contest  of  1840,  and  before  that  day  men  who  now  say,  "  D —  -  'em, 
put  'em  down !  "  will  beg  not  to  be  put  down  by  them.  They  are 
engaged  in  it  with  the  same  honest  purpose  that  governed  the  great 
mass  of  the  anti-Masons. 

May  1,  1838. 

I  returned  yesterday  from  Rochester,  where  I  saw  a  great  many  of 
the  intelligent  men  of  that  county,  —  among  the  rest  George  Brown,  of 
Chili,  whom  you  know  to  be  an  exceedingly  sensible  man.  I  asked 
him  to  say  candidly  what  he  thought  of  Clay,  and  what  the  people 
think  and  say.  He  replied  that  in  the  winter,  when  everything  looked 
well,  he  had  hoped  that  we  would  have  more  of  a  man  than  H.,  and, 
although  there  were  a  good  many  things  to  get  over,  still  lie  was  for  C., 
and  so  were  his  neighbors ;  but  that  latterly  the  most  active  papers  for 
him  seemed  rather  the  Slave-State  papers  than  those  which  belonged 


58  MEMOIR.  [1838. 

to  us ;  that  he  was  glad  when  he  saw  your  article,  for  when  he  saw 
that  the  Conservatives  had  taken  up  Clay,  and  that  you  rather  seemed 
to  like  it,  he  was  afraid,  for  he  thought  that  these  Conservatives  were 
only  a  set  of  Van  Buren  men,  who  had  come  to  us  because  their  folks 
would  not  give  them  what  they  wanted,  and  that  we  were  to  be  de 
ceived.  That  farmer  spoke  the  feelings  of  a  vast  majority  in  Western 
New  York.  ...  A  Clay  flag  raised  here  would  ruin  everything. 

Yours,  FK.  GRANGER. 

Early  in  May,  Mr.  Weed  went  to  New  York  to  restrain  the 
ardor  of  certain  officious  friends  of  Mr.  Clay,  who,  foreseeing  a 
probable  Whig  victory  in  1840,  and  imagining  that  Mr.  Clay 
would  be  the  candidate,  were  anxious  to  make  it  appear  that 
they  were  responsible  for  his  selection.  "  Don't  let  our  friends 
in  New  York  act  like  fools,"  wrote  Mr.  Seward.  "  When  such 
a  nomination  as  Clay's  or  Harrison's  is  to  be  made,  it  will  be 
most  effectual  if  it  seems  spontaneous,  and  begins  like  the  Clin- 
tonian  meetings  at  the  West  in  1824."  In  New  York  Mr. 
Weed  met  some  twenty  patriotic  gentlemen,  who  were  making 
preparations  for  a  demonstration.  There  was  a  long,  sharp 
talk.  "  Hall,  Noah,  and  Selden,"  he  wrote  to  Granger,  "  were 
determined  on  the  meeting,  assigning  as  reasons  for  it  such 
as  told  loudly  against  it,-  and  almost  accusing  me  of  lethargy. 
They  think  Clay  will  surely  be  nominated."  No  Clay  meeting 
was  held. 

The  time  for  holding  the  Whig  state  convention  was  now 
approaching,  and  friends  of  Mr.  Granger,  who  had  twice  led  a 
forlorn  hope  against  the  Democrats,  felt  that  he  was  entitled  to 
the  nomination  for  Governor.  When  Mr.  Granger  ran  in  1832, 
he  had  fallen  ten  thousand  votes  below  Governor  Marcy,  whereas 
Mr.  Seward  had  been  defeated  by  Governor  Marcy  in  1834  by 
nearly  thirteen  thousand  majority.  This  fact  was  urged  by  the 
Granger  element  as  the  canvass  progressed.  Friends  of  Seward, 
on  the  other  hand,  held  that  inasmuch  as  Mr.  Granger  had  been 
already  twice  nominated,  equal  consideration  at  least  should  be 
shown  to  their  favorite.  With  the  idea  that  a  third  candidate 
might  slip  in  between  these  contestants,  Luther  Bradish  entered 
the  field. 

Mr.  Granger,  Mr.  Seward,  Albert  H.  Tracy,  George  W.  Pat 
terson,  and  Trumbull  Gary  were  constantly  in  communication 
with  Mr.  Weed,  either  at  his  house  in  Albany  or  by  letter ;  and 


1838.]  MR.  SEWARD   FOR    GOVERNOR.  59 

as  they  looked  to  him  for  a  decision,  his  position  became  some 
what  embarrassing.  But,  for  reasons  which  were  wholly  of  a 
public  nature,  he  finally  announced  that  he  was  in  favor  of  Mr. 
Seward. 

"  I  deeply  regret,"  wrote  Governor  Patterson  before  a  settle 
ment  was  reached,  "  that  our  friends  Granger  and  Seward  do 
not  come  to  an  amicable  agreement  about  who  shall  be  the  man. 
I  fear  that  it  will  embarrass  the  convention  very  much,  and  the 
result  may  cool,  if  not  alienate,  some  of  the  friends  of  the  un 
successful  candidate.  We  need  all  our  strength,  and  I  will  say 
to  you  that  with  our  whole  force  in  the  field  I  think  the  chances 
two  to  one  against  us.  Then  why  fight  among  ourselves  to 
know  who  shall  be  beaten  ?  It  is  a  miserable  business.  .  .  . 
I  know  you  did  not  say  that  Seward  would  be  nominated  ;  but 
it  was  a  fair  inference  for  me  to  draw.  You  said  you  could  not 
ascertain  that  Granger  had  much  strength,  except  in  a  few  coun 
ties.  It  was  fair,  then,  for  me  to  presume  that  Seward  was  to 
be  the  man,  and  hence  my  inquiry  about  Lieutenant.  I  under 
stand  that  the  friends  of  Bradish  are  determined  he  should  not 
play  '  second  fiddle  '  to  any  one.  This  should  not  be.  lie  must 
not  refuse.  It  would  be  perfect  death  to  go  to  New  York  for  a 
Lieutenant,  if  the  whole  people  think  of  the  Yorkers  as  I  do. 
There  is  an  almost  entire  destitution  of  political  genius  in  that 
locality.  Where  would  the  Whig  party  have  been  to-day,  had 
the  New  York  delegation  ruled  last  winter  ?  If  Stevens,  or  any 
other  New  Yorker  who  would  not  pay  for  the  4  Jeffersonian,'  is 
put  in  nomination,  he  may  get  my  vote,  but  that  will  be  all.  I 
don't  go  their  kind  of  republicanism.  Should  Bradish  chance 
to  be  named  for  Governor,  Fillmore  is  my  man  for  Lieutenant, 
and  I  think  you  will  say  the  very  man." 

44  You  have  succeeded  to  your  liking,"  wrote  Governor  Pat 
terson  when  the  convention  had  finished  its  labors.  44  Now  let 
us  all  put  our  shoulders  to  the  wheel.  As  soon  as  the  result 
was  known  in  this  vicinity  there  was  a  general  feeling  of  disap 
probation  among  old  anti-Masonic  farmers,  who  with  one  ac 
cord  were  for  Frank ;  but  all  within  my  reach  have  been 
quieted  and  will  go  the  ticket.  I  started  immediately  for  Gen- 
esee  in  order  to  see  our  printer  and  put  him  straight.  He  was 
strongly  in  favor  of  another  nomination,  but  will  proclaim  this 
4  the  best  that  could  have  been  made.'  ...  It  was  reported  by 


60  MEMOIR.  [1838. 

some  of  the  state  delegates  who  passed  through  Genesee  that 
there  was  some  doubt  about  Bradish's  accepting.1  He  must  ac 
cept.  Should  he  decline,  and  old  Gid.  Lee  be  nominated,  we 
are  gone,  hook,  line,  and  sinker.  We  of  the  West  must  have 
something  more  than  a  c  yearling '  to  vote  for,  or  we  will  bolt. 
We  will  not  consent  to  pass  by  old  friends,  and  take  one  who 
still  carries  a  hickory  cane."  2 

Governor  Marcy  was  renominated  by  the  Democrats,  and  the 
campaign  was  pushed  vigorously  on  both  sides.  Whig  news 
papers  bristled  with  scathing  reviews  of  "  Loco-Foco  "  misman 
agement,  to  which  were  ascribed  the  "  hard  times,"  now  even 
more  oppressive,  under  Mr.  Van  Buren,  than  they  had  been 
under  President  Jackson.  There  was  some  inclination  to  re 
proach  Mr.  Weed  for  turning  his  back  upon  Mr.  Granger,  but 
it  quickly  subsided.  This  feeling  Mr.  Granger  himself  never 
shared.  Great  as  was  his  disappointment,  there  was  not  for  a 
moment  any  interruption  of  the  most  cordial  relations  which 
existed  between  him  and  Mr.  Weed.  Than  he  no  one  supported 
the  ticket  more  zealously.  Men  like  Francis  Granger,  William 
H.  Seward,  and  George  W.  Patterson,  when  personal  prefer 
ences  were  sacrificed,  never  faltered  in  allegiance  to  the  princi 
ples  which  they  espoused.3 

"  Dear  Weed,"  wrote  Millard  Fillmore  from  Buffalo,  in  Oc 
tober,  "  I  fear  we  have  lost  Ohio,  and  I  think  it  apparent  that 
we  shall  not  gain  Pennsylvania.  This  has  thrown  a  wet  blanket 
over  our  cause  here.  Unless  something  can  be  done  this  county 
will  not  give  2,000  majority.  I  see  but  one  thing  now  that  gives 
the  least  hope  of  success.  Those  interested  in  the  banks  may 
see  their  danger,  and  again  burst  the  shackles  of  party  and  come 
to  our  relief.  If  not,  all  is  gone.  I  regret  that  the  Harrison 
flag  was  not  nailed  to  our  mast.  It  would  have  saved  Ohio  and 
gained  Pennsylvania,  and  this  State  would  have  followed ;  but  I 

1  He  was  nominated  for  Lieutenant-Governor. 

2  The  Democrats  chose  this  wood  for  their  sticks  and  flagpoles,  in  honor 
of  General  Jackson,  familiarly  known  as  "  Old  Hickory." 

8  On  the  day  of  the  Whig  convention  it  was  reported  at  Mr.  Seward's 
home  that  Mr.  Granger  had  been  nominated.  Hearing  this,  Mr.  Seward  at 
once  told  his  friends  that  Auburn  must  be  the  first  town  in  the  State  to  hold 
a  ratification  meeting.  He  began  himself  to  write  a  set  of  resolutions,  to 
be  submitted  to  the  meeting,  when  a  second  messenger  announced  that 
Seward  was  the  Whig  candidate. 


1838.]  ON   THE  EVE   OF   THE   CONTEST.  61 

now  regard  all  as  lost  irrevocably.  It  is  too  late  to  retrace  our 
steps.  The  Philistines  are  upon  us.  We  shall  never  be  able  to 
burst  the  withes.  Thank  God,  I  can  endure  it  as  long  as  they, 
but  I  am  sick  of  our  Whig  party.  It  can  never  be  in  the  as 
cendant.  But  I  will  say  no  more.  Old  Erie  shall  be  the  last 
spot  that  shall  yield.  We  will  stand  alone  amid  the  general 
desolation." 

"  We  are  on  the  eve  of  the  contest,"  wrote  Mr.  Seward  on 
Sunday,  the  4th  of  November,  "  and  I  fear  that  the  State  is  lost. 
This  conclusion  was  forced  upon  me  strongly  by  news  from  the 
southern  tier  of  counties,  and  is  confirmed  by  an  analogy  in 
Ohio.  .  .  .  But  I  will  not  stop  to  reason  on  the  causes.  Your 
own  sagacity  has  doubtless  often  considered  them  earlier  and 
more  forcibly  than  mine.  I  go  through  the  election  with  a 
cheerful  countenance,  and  have  dissipated  every  apprehension 
of  failure  that  has  been  indulged  in  by  any  one  here.  If  it 
could  happen  that  success  should  crown  our  efforts,  my  wife  and 
my  sister  would  be  the  only  witnesses  of  what  would  be  regarded 
as  despondency.  I  do  not  expect  now  to  speculate  upon  the 
causes  and  responsibilities  of  the  evil  I  apprehend,  or  its  con 
sequences  on  my  future  action.  .  .  . 

"  When  the  hurly-burly  is  over,  and  the  battle  lost  or  won,  I 
shall  gird  myself  up  for  the  excitement  and  the  duty.  Can't 
you  steal  away  from  the  office  for  three  or  four  days,  and  spend 
them  here?  Such  a  meeting  as  we  had  here  last  night  I  never 
saw  before.  They  dragged  me  in  among  them.  I  made  rny  bow 
to  them  and  an  apology  for  not  making  a  speech.  The  spirit  of 
our  friends  in  town  and  county  is  at  its  height." 

"  I  was  struck  dumb,"  Mr.  Seward  continues,  after  the  result, 
"when  the  election  commenced.  I  have  scarcely  recovered 
speech  since  it  was  over.  It  is  a  fearful  post  I  have  coveted. 
I  shudder  at  my  temerity,  and  have  lost  confidence  in  my  abil 
ity  to  manage  my  own  private  affairs  preliminary  to  the  new 
year.  ...  I  waive  all  expressions  of  acknowledgment  to  you. 
Indeed,  I  feel  just  now  as  if  your  zeal  had  been  blind  ;  but  I 
may  perhaps  get  over  this.  God  grant,  at  all  events,  that  I  be 
spared  from  committing  the  sin  of  ingratitude.  I  hate  it  as  the 
foulest  in  the  catalogue. 

"  I  want  to  see  you,  and  believe  I  must  go  East  for  that  pur 
pose.  Tell  me  by  return  mail  whether  you  will  come  here,  or  I 


62  MEMOIR.  [1838. 

shall  go  to  you,  or  we  shall  meet  at  Syracuse  or  Utica.  Heaven 
knows  what  I  shall  do.  Must  I  keep  house  ?  Can't  I  take 
more  or  less  of  the  Eagle  ?  There  is  not  the  least  prospect  of 
Mrs.  Seward's  being  able  to  go  to  Albany  this  winter.  I  don't 
know  how  to  keep  the  house  alone.  I  think,  if  you  can,  you  had 
better  come  here.  Our  friends  burned  an  immense  amount  of 
powder  in  honor  of  Chautauqua.  I  hope  you  will  dwell  upon 
this  in  the  '  Journal '  until  it  becomes  as  familiar  as  Croswell's 
three-walled  house.1  .  .  .  There  is  an  application  from  some 
one  in  Albany  for  i  anything  high  or  low.'  Of  course  I  answer 
nothing  of  that  kind.  Judge  Colliding,  before  election,  applied 
for  the  appointment  of  aid  for  his  son  in  New  York.  What 
do  you  say  of  L.  Benedict  for  private  secretary  ?  I  have  had 
many  applications  for  office  and  other  letters  to  answer.  I  hope 
I  have  learned  to  do  it  discreetly." 

"  I  am  glad  you  were  in  New  York,"  wrote  Mr.  Seward,  a 
month  later,  "  to  save  the  Conservatives  from  so  fatal  an  error 
as  that  which  they  were  prepared  to  commit.  Strange,  —  is  it 
not  ?  —  how  few  minds  are  found  with  sufficient  stays  and  braces 
for  times  of  success !  I  expect  you  will  be  continually  busy  in 
averting  just  such  madness.  How  strong  a  propensity  men 
have  to  dictate  public  opinion !  I  was  on  Tuesday  at  a  celebra 
tion  of  the  Whig  victory  at  Fredonia.  There  was  a  man  there 
who  fastened  himself  upon  me  for  the  whole  day,  and  the  bur 
den  of  his  discourse  was  the  presidential  nomination.  I  thought 
he  ought  to  be  satisfied  when  I  referred  the  whole  matter  to  his 
better  judgment.  But  he  insisted  upon  my  agreeing  with  him, 
and,  having  at  last  settled  national  politics,  he  proceeded  to  the 
state  ticket  for  next  year,  inflicting  upon  me  for  hours  his 
views,  hopes,  and  fears  in  relation  to  that  subject.  .  .  .  Your 
letter  admonishes  me  of  a  habit  of  action  that  I  cannot  conven 
iently  adopt.  I  love  to  write  what  I  think  and  feel  as  it  comes 
up.  Mrs.  Seward  read  your  letter  in  which  you  announce  your 
arrival  and  departure.  She  says  you  will  kill  yourself.  If  you 
do,  you  shall  have  a  glorious  burial." 

1  During  the  administration  of  Governor  Marcy,  under  an  act  passed  by 
the  legislature,  intended  to  provide  an  Executive  Mansion,  Mr.  Croswell's 
house  on  Elk  Street  was  purchased  in  behalf  of  the  State.  Subsequently  it 
came  to  Mr.  Weed's  knowledge  that  the  house,  which  stood  in  the  middle  of 
a  block,  had  but  three  walls.  Governor  Seward  refused  to  occupy  it  when 
he  went  to  Albany. 


1838.]  LETTER   FROM  MILLARD  FILLMORE.  63 

"  My  dear  Weed,"  wrote  Mr.  Seward  on  the  14th  of  Decem 
ber,  "  the  sweetness  of  his  temper  inclines  me  to  love  my  ty 
rant.  I  had  no  idea  that  dictators  were  such  amiable  creatures. 
I  am  reminded  of  old  Hassan's  expression,  '  My  dear,  terrible 
son-in-law,'  in  '  Blue  Beard.'  ...  I  would  like  to  go  forth 
with  to  Albany,  but  a  message  I  must  have  and  will  have  before 
I  leave  Auburn,  for  the  reason  that  if  I  were  let  alone  at  Al 
bany  I  could  not  get  my  books,  papers,  and  habits  fixed  before 
the  1st  of  January ;  and  as  to  being  left  alone,  how  could  I  ? 
I  devote  to-day  and  to-morrow  to  the  message,  and  Sunday  to 
church  for  the  last  time  here.  I  shall  reach  the  capital  next 
week." 

[MILLARD  FILLMORE  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  December  6,  1838. 

DEAR  WEED,  —  I  have  received  a  letter  from  Tracy.  He  declines 
being  a  candidate  for  Comptroller,  as  we  both  apprehended  he  would. 
But  he  manifests  a  desire  that  I  should  take  it,  and  says  if  I  will  he 
will  do  what  he  can  to  aid  my  success,  and  to  insure  it  would  with 
draw  any  application  on  his  part  for  the  senatorship. 

All  this  is  very  kind.  I  cannot,  however,  bring  my  mind  to  an  idea 
of  abandoning  my  profession,  and  subjecting  myself  to  the  caprice  of 
popular  favor  and  official  patronage  for  a  support.  In  other  words,  I 
cannot  wrell  afford  to  make  the  pecuniary  sacrifice  which  is  required. 
I  made  up  my  mind  when  I  entered  political  life  never  to  go  so  far  as 
to  feel  for  a  moment  that  I  depend  upon  any  office  or  popular  favor 
for  a  livelihood.  That  moment  I  should  lose  my  independence,  I  fear 
my  integrity.  He  is  miserable  whose  happiness  "  hangs  on  prince's 
favors."  But  he  is  not  only  wretched,  but  infinitely  degraded,  whose 
means  of  support  depend  on  the  wild  caprice  of  the  ever-changing 
multitude.  I  cannot  become  a  slave  to  such  a  master. 

But  enough  ;  I  will  give  the  subject  a  candid  consideration,  and 
whether  I  accept  or  decline  I  cannot  but  feel  flattered  that  I  am 
thought  worthy,  and  I  shall  ever  retain  a  grateful  recollection  of  those 
who  have  manifested  this  kindness.  There  is  no  man  with  whom  I 
should  be  more  willing  to  be  associated  politically  and  socially  than 
Mr.  Seward.  I  have  entire  confidence  in  his  competency  and  in 
tegrity  ;  and  if  the  other  state  officers  are  such  men  as  I  doubt  not  they 
will  be,  it  would  be  an  honor,  to  which  my  humble  ambition  has  never 
aspired,  to  mingle  in  the  councils  of  such  an  association. 

Truly  yours,  M.  FILLMORE. 


64  MEMOIR.  [1838 

WASHINGTON,  December  23,  1838. 

...  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  mention  reasons,  as  you  know  then 
all  and  can  explain  them  to  any  who  desire  to  hear  them  ;  but  I  may  bi 
pardoned  for  saying  to  you  that  I  am  very  diffident  of  my  ability  t< 
discharge  the  duties  of  this  delicate  and  difficult  trust.  I  fear  tha 
I  might  lack  the  requisite  financial  skill  and  the  high  unbending  firm 
ness  which  alone  can  guide  our  new  banking  craft  safely  through  tin 
breakers  and  quicksands.  I  fear  that  the  partiality  of  my  friends  ha; 
induced  them  to  look  with  too  favorable  an  eye  upon  my  qualification! 
for  this  station. 

But  if  I  were  ever  so  confident  of  my  ability,  I  find  it  utterly  im 
possible  to  break  up  all  my  professional  relations  and  business  withou 
doing  great  injustice  to  my  clients  and  sustaining  a  pecuniary  loss  t( 
myself,  which  I  am  utterly  helpless  to  bear.  Were  I  wealthy,  or  if  ] 
had  not  a  family  to  sustain,  I  would  not  mind  the  sacrifice.  .  .  . 

How  would  Bates  Cook  or  Abner  Hazeltine  answer  for  Comptrolle] 
or  Secretary  of  State  ?  You  must  give  one  of  these  important  offices 
to  the  West  and  to  the  old  anti-Masons,  or  our  folks  will  swear  thai 
this  administration  is  "  stuck  in  the  Clay,"  and  that  the  anti-Masons 
are  to  be  cast  off.  This  rock  must  be  avoided.  .  .  . 

Truly  yours,  M.  FILLMORE. 

1838.  —  Thus  for  the  first  time  the  Whig  party  carried  the 
State  of  New  York.  William  II.  Seward  was  chosen  Governor, 
and  a  new  set  of  state  officers  were  inducted  into  executive  posi 
tions,  with  the  duties  of  which  they  were  supposed  to  be  unfa 
miliar.  It  was  the  popular  conviction  that  Mr.  Weed's  political 
shrewdness  had  much  to  do  with  the  result,  and  the  Albany 
Regency  fell  back  upon  the  sarcastic  reflection  that  the  "  Dic 
tator  "  would  now  have  his  hands  full,  for  he  must  needs  drill 
all  the  state  officers,  so  as  to  fit  them  for  their  new  stations. 

The  feelings  of  the  Regency  were  voiced  by  the  Albany  "  Ar 
gus,"  a  few  days  after  the  election,  in  an  exceedingly  clever  pas 
quinade  written  by  ex-Governor  Marcy. 

THE   POLITICAL    DRILL    OF    THE    STATE    OFFICERS. 

To  THE  EDITOR  OF  THE  ARGUS  :  — 

I  do  not  accuse  you  of  intentional  misrepresentation,  but  you  occa 
sionally  misconceive  the  motives  of  action  of  the  new  state  adminis 
tration  by  not  being  fully  acquainted  with  the  facts  of  the  case.  The 
refusal  of  his  excellency  to  occupy  the  Executive  Mansion  has  beer 


1838.]         POLITICAL  DRILL   OF  STATE   OFFICERS.  65 

imputed  to  him  as  an  act  of  subserviency  to  the  designs  of  Weed,  and 
a  cooperation  in  his  scheme  to  become  state  printer. 

If  this  were  literally  true,  his  excellency  could  offer  an  apology 
which  generous  minds  would  think  of  considerable  weight.  He  owes 
all  he  is  to  the  "  Jolly  Drummer's  "  1  kind  partiality,  and  should  he 
not  be  grateful  ?  There  is  nothing  that  could  serve  him  that  Weed 
has  not  stooped  to,  and  he  should  not  refuse  to  stoop  to  anything 
which  will  be  of  service  to  Weed. 

I  have  lately  discovered  another  reason  for  the  preference  which 
the  Governor  has  given  for  his  present  residence  over  the  one  pro 
vided  by  the  State,  or  any  other  that  could  be  found  in  the  city.  You 
are  acquainted  with  the  locality  of  the  mansion  selected  for  him,  and 
will  recollect  that  there  are  spacious  grounds  about  it.  In  a  retired 
corner  of  the  purlieus  of  his  excellency's  present  residence,  I  discov 
ered,  in  an  accidental  manner,  what  may  be  properly  denominated  the 
administration  "parade  ground"  the  convenience  of  enjoying  which, 
I  am  disposed  to  believe,  must  have  influenced  him  in  declining  to  oc 
cupy  the  house  provided  for  him  by  the  State,  and  induced  Weed,  in 
justification  of  this  choice,  to  labor  as  lustily  as  he  has  to  batter  down 
one  of  its  walls,  and  convert,  as  suddenly  as  he  did  the  body  of  old 
Timothy  Munroe  into  a  "  good-enough  Morgan,"  what  he  represented 
as  a  splendid  "  marble  palace  "  into  a  miserable  "  three-walled  house," 
as  soon  as  it  was  purchased  for  an  "  Executive  Mansion." 

It  may  not  be  unacceptable  to  you  to  hear  something  more  of  this 
"parade  ground,"  and  the  "  training "  or  exercises  which  I  chanced 
to  witness  there  a  few  days  since.  Wandering  in  the  southwest  part 
of  the  city,  not  far  from  his  excellency's  abode,  I  heard  the  sound  of 
the  drum  and  the  voices  of  certain  persons.  My  curiosity  led  me  to 
ascertain  what  was  going  on.  I  espied  in  a  retired  spot,  sheltered 
from  public  view,  a  small  band  of  what  I  at  first  supposed  to  be  a 
company  of  boys  recreating  themselves  by  a  mock  training.  On  a 
nearer  view,  I  perceived  that  it  was  not  an  assemblage  of  idle  urchins, 
but  our  new  state  officers,  under  drill. 

The  first  and  most  conspicuous  figure  in  the  group  was  Weed,  with 
a  drum  hanging  by  a  broad  strap  about  his  neck,  —  each  hand  armed 
with  a  drumstick  under  rapid  motion,  —  making  more  noise  than 
music,  and  moving  off  with  long,  loping  strides. 

Close  hi  his  rear  followed  his  excellency,  making  a  painful  effort  to 

1  We  think  our  correspondent,  in  view  of  the  qualities  which  it  is  said 
characterized  the  "  Drummer's  "  frontier  campaigning,  should  have  applied 
the  epithet  valiant,  in  the  present  instance  ;  but  he  doubtless  had  in  his  eye 
the  old  ballad,  — 

"  Jack,  the  jolly  drummer, 
Went  to  do  his  duty,"  etc.  —  ED. 


66  MEMOIR.  [1838. 

keep  regular  pace  with  his  file  leader.  So  intent  was  he  to  conform 
to  the  movements  of  the  "  Jolly  Drummer  "  that  he  not  only  trod  ex 
actly  in  his  footsteps,  but  with  his  arms  imitated  sometimes  the  mo 
tions  of  those  which  wielded  the  drumsticks.  There  was  a  general 
conformity  in  his  step,  motion,  and  bearing  with  those  of  the  musician, 
except  his  excellency  carried  his  head  much  higher  and  seemed,  liis 
stature  considered,  much  more  expanded  with  conscious  self-impor 
tance.  His  excellency's  immediate  rear  was  brought  up  by  the  Ad 
jutant-General  1  in  complete  uniform. 

The  next  in  the  marching  train  was  the  Secretary  of  State.2  His 
movements  were  much  more  irregular,  and  his  apparent  anxiety  to 
imitate  much  less  than  his  immediate  predecessor  and  his  valiant  ap 
pendage.  Occasionally  his  imitations  were  very  servile,  but  at  the 
same  time  quite  awkward.  He  would  sometimes  lose  the  step  and  get 
the  left  foot  forward  ;  now  he  crowded  hard  upon  the  Governor,  then 
he  would  lag  far  behind.  He  appeared  sometimes  much  diverted  with 
the  manner  in  which  the  Drummer  handled  the  sticks ;  but  for  the 
most  of  the  time  he  seemed  to  perform  his  duty  reluctantly,  with  in 
dications  of  dislike  towards  the  music  and  him  that  made  it ;  nor  did 
he  seem  well  pleased  by  the  devotedness  with  which  the  Governor  re 
garded  and  imitated  the  action  of  the  Drummer.  Now  and  then  he 
threw  himself  wholly  out  of  gear,  folded  his  arms,  tossed  up  his  head, 
and  strutted  along  in  a  sort  of  sovereign  contempt  of  not  only  his  as 
sociates,  but  the  whole  affair  of  the  drill.  As  the  corps  passed  near 
the  concealed  position  I  occupied,  the  Drummer  threw  round  his  eye, 
and,  observing  the  Secretary  in  one  of  his  inattentive  moods,  —  out  of 
time,  and  loitering  behind,  —  he  cried  out  to  him,  "  Jack  Factotum, 
change  your  step  —  right  foot  forward  —  close  up  to  your  file  leader." 
The  Governor  seemed  alarmed  at  this  rude  salutation  and  the  magis 
terial  tone  in  which  it  was  uttered,  and  said  in  a  low,  soothing  voice, 
"  Friend  Weed,  don't  speak  so  peremptory.  Remember  the  unfortu 
nate  temper  of  Jack  :  he  can  be  coaxed  and  cajoled,  but  don't  attempt 
to  drive  him  ;  if  you  do  you  will  rouse  his  anger."  To  this  the  Drum 
mer  replied,  "  He  must  submit  to  discipline  ;  if  he  will  not,  he  will  be 
worse  than  useless  to  us.  You  may  attempt  to  tame  the  tiger,  but  you 
will  feel  his  claws  by  and  by,"  and  thereupon  fell  to  beating  his  drum 
most  furiously. 

Closely  behind  the  Secretary  followed  a  large,  phlegmatic-looking 
personage,  whose  attention  was  absorbingly  fixed  on  the  Secretary, 
and  he  moved  after  him  like  his  shadow.  When  the  Secretary  lost 

1  General  Rufus  King,  afterwards  Minister  to  Rome. 

2  John  C.  Spencer,  afterwards  Secretary  of  War. 


1838.]  GOV.   MARCY'S  PASQUINADE.  67 

his  step,  or  stumbled,  or  lagged  behind,  his  pursuer  did  the  same.  I 
was  for  a  time  at  a  loss  to  discover  what  this  strange  conjunction 
meant,  and  who  it  was  that  seemed  to  derive  all  his  motions  and  his 
very  ability  to  move  from  the  Secretary ;  but,  at  length,  as  they  passed 
me,  I  perceived  it  was  the  "  quondam  President  of  the  Suspension 
Bridge  Company,"  who  now  holds,  by  the  grace  and  favor  of  the 
Drummer,  the  office  of  Comptroller.1 

I  also  discovered,  across  the  area  of  the  parade  ground,  a  portly- 
looking  man,  who  seemed  to  have  become  fatigued  with  the  drill,  and 
had  seated  himself  on  a  large  stone  to  recover  his  breath  and  strength. 
From  some  remarks  I  heard,  I  learned  that  this  man  was  the  Treas 
urer,  who  had  a  peculiar  inaptitude  for  active  life,  and  had  become 
quickly  exhausted  in  his  efforts  to  keep  up  with  the  motions  of  the 
Drummer.2 

Looking  around,  I  perceived  at  a  short  distance  from  me  a  full- 
faced  man,  with  slightly  blanched  locks,  apparently  about  fifty  years 
of  age,  sitting  under  a  large  tree,  with  a  book  in  his  hand,  as  busily 
engaged  in  his  study  as  an  ambitious  schoolboy.  The  Secretary  left 
the  marching  trail,  and  approaching  the  student  addressed  him  as  fol 
lows  :  "  Well,  Attorney-General,3  have  you  got  your  lesson  ?  "  "  I 
believe  I  have,  sir,"  was  the  reply. 

Secretary.     What  is  the  first  grand  division  of  law  ? 

Student.     Law  is  divided  into  real  and  personal. 

Sec.     I  did  not  ask  you  how  property  was  divided  ! 

Stu.  I  beg  your  pardon.  I  mistook  the  question.  Law  —  law  is 
divided  into  principles  and  practice. 

Sec.     What  book  have  you  there  ? 

Stu.  Blackstone's  Commentaries,  and'  I  find  it  a  very  hard  book  to 
understand.  It  divides  and  subdivides  law  into  so  many  little  par 
cels  that  T  cannot  comprehend  any  of  them.  It  tells  in  one  place  here 
about  scripta  and  non  scripta,  but  I  don't  know  where  to  find  the  non 
scripta  laws.  They  are  not  in  your  Revised  Statutes,  for  I  have 
looked  them  through  and  did  not  find  them.  If  they  are  there,  they 
are  not  referred  to  in  your  index.  You  told  me  that  the  index  would 
show  me  anything  I  wanted  to  know  about  the  laws. 

Sec.  I  am  sorry  to  say,  sir,  you  are  not  so  well  founded  in  the 
principles  as  you  ought  to  be. 

Stu.  I  may  not  know  as  much  about  all  the  courts  as  you  do,  for 
I  have  had  no  great  acquaintance  with  any  but  justices'  courts  and  the 
marine  courts ;  but  as  to  principles,  sir,  mine  are  as  good  as  yours.  I 
may  not  know  as  much  about  the  principles  of  anti-Masonry  or  Aboli 
tionism  as  yourself,  Weed,  or  the  Governor.  The  result  of  the  elec- 
1  Bates  Cook.  2  Jacob  Haight.  »  Willis  Hall. 


68  MEMOIR.  [1838. 

tion  in  the  city  of  New  York  shows  you  that  I  was  right  when  I  told 
the  Cabinet  there  was  no  principle  or  use  in  setting  the  Governor  to 
courting  the  Irish.  They  know  when  people  are  talking  blarney  to 
them.  Did  I  not  tell  you  that  it  would  displease  the  old  Federalists 
and  Native  Americans,  —  our  real  friends,  —  and  that  the  Governor's 
chaff  would  catch  no  birds  ? 

Here  the  Secretary  interrupted  him  by  saying,  "  Pshaw,  you  don't 
comprehend  my  meaning  ;  "  and  he  began  to  explain  as  the  Drummer 
led  round  his  train  near  us,  and  with  his  rubba-dub-rubba-dub-dub 
prevented  me  from  hearing  what  was  the  nature  of  the  explanation. 

After  standing  at  ease  a  short  time,  the  line  was  formed  again,  with 
a  view,  as  I  understood,  to  practice  the  old  Federal  Grand  March. 
The  Governor  observed  that  it  was  Friend  Weed's  opinion  that  we 
must  perfect  ourselves  to  that  march,  and  in  this,  he  said,  "  I  concur, 
as  I  always  do  in  his  ideas  of  popular  measures.  If  we  don't  get  so  as 
to  practice  this  movement  pretty  well,  we  shall  march  into  a  minority 
next  fall."  The  Adjutant-General  volunteered  to  act  as  Fugleman  ;  the 
Governor  approved  of  the  suggestion,  and  the  Drummer  gave  his  con 
sent.  In  giving  his  directions  for  executing  the  manoeuvres,  the  Ad 
jutant-General  made  frequent  mention  of  what  his  father  and  grand 
father  had  taught  him.  He  had  been  instructed,  he  said,  to  avoid 
direct  movements  as  much  as  possible ;  and  to  practice  certain  coun 
termarches  to  guard  against  foreigners,  and  a  variety  of  echelon  move 
ments  to  counteract  and  overcome  Democratic  tendencies.  Weed  told 
him  that  he  thought  skill  and  celerity  in  the  practice  of  changing 
front  was  "  all  important  in  the  day  of  battle."  "  Our  little-bill  ma 
noeuvre,"  said  he,  "gained  us  the  last  grand  victory."  The  Governor 
hastily  replied  that  he  did  not  like  that  term,  "  Little  Bill ;  "  but  when 
he  rightly  apprehended  the  Drummer's  remark,  and  found  that  it  was 
not  used  in  an  offensive  sense,  he  said  that  was  a  capital  ruse,  and 
Friend  Weed  was  entitled  to  much  credit  for  it.  He  was  anxious  that 
they  should  teach  him  the  evolution  of  passing  defiles.  The  Secre 
tary,  who  had  not  apparently  listened  with  much  complacency  to  these 
various  suggestions,  observed  to  them,  with  a  sardonic  smile,  that  it 
would  be  well,  perhaps,  to  know  how  to  make  a  graceful  retreat.  At 
this  point  of  time  the  Surveyor-General J  made  his  appearance.  The 
Drummer  said  to  him,  "You  come  as  usual,  Joseph  Surface,  after  the 
exercises  are  nearly  over.  Your  pieces  are  always  handed  in,  if  they 
come  at  all,  after  the  paper  has  gone  to  press ;  you  might  learn  a 
profitable  lesson  in  regard  to  promptness  from  the  Secretary.  This  is 
not  the  first  time  you  have  been  pricked  for  absence  at  roll-call."  The 
Surveyor  replied,  "  Stick  your  pin,  Whiskerando,  when  and  where 

i  Orville  L.  Holley. 


I 


. 


1838.]  J.  E.  FREEMAN'S   CARICATURE.  69 

you  will,  I  shall  not  forego  my  dinner,  nor  the  pleasure  of  taking  a 
few  social  glasses  of  wine  with  my  friends,  in  order  to  attend  your 
summons.  Besides,  what  use  in  my  earlier  attendance  ?  Have  you 
not  met  to  perfect  yourselves  in  Federal  tactics  ?  I  already  know  them 
well.  Though  like  the  rest  of  you,  I  have  occasionally  practiced 
others,  I  have  not  lost  a  whit  of  what  I  learned  in  my  youth.  I  need 
no  instruction  to  teach  me  my  vernacular  tongue."  Weed  said  some 
thing  about  lazy  men  always  having  a  ready  excuse  for  their  indolence. 
"  They  are  generally,"  said  he,  "  on  the  spot  in  season  when  the  mat 
ter  in  hand  is  the  division  of  spoils." 

These  remarks  seemed  to  nettle  the  Surveyor,  who  muttered  some 
thing  about  his  right  to  promotion,  with  a  reproof  to  his  friends  for 
his  failure  ;  and  he  concluded  by  observing  that  some  men's  intermed 
dling  activity  was  more  mischievous  than  another's  idleness  could  be. 
44  If  a  man  assumes,"  said  he,  "  to  be  the  organ  of  a  party,  and  has 
not  character  enough  to  authenticate  its  official  edicts,  he  has  very  lit 
tle  cause  to  plume  himself  upon  his  industry  or  usefulness."  This  last 
remark  was  accompanied  with  a  significant  look  towards  the  Governor 
and  Secretary.  The  Governor  said,  "  Come,  come,  that  matter  has 
been  explained,  and  I  hope  satisfactorily."  The  Surveyor-General  re 
marked,  with  evident  bitterness,  there  was  one  movement  he  should 
wish  to  be  excused  from  practicing  ;  and  when  asked  to  specify,  he 
said  it  was  the  Jolly  Drummer's  retreat  from  the  U.  S.  service.  Weed 
then  said  that  when  a  man  was  all  show  and  no  substance,  when  he 
had  no  practical  talent  to  cut  his  own  fodder,  and  the  whole  of  his 
ability  lay  in  cracking  a  joke  and  perpetrating  a  pun,  his  desertion 
would  never  be  regarded  as  a  loss  to  any  cause  or  party.  The  Gov 
ernor  began  to  exhibit  symptoms  of  alarm  at  the  rising  spirit  of 
mutiny  among  his  troops,  and  gave  a  signal  to  the  Fugleman  to  re 
commence  the  drill.  The  gentleman  with  epaulets  promptly  ordered 
the  men  to  their  posts,  the  Drummer  to  play  the  tune  of  the  Black 
Cockade,  and  the  exercises  were  resumed.  The  Surveyor-General  re 
fused  to  fall  into  line,  and  said  he  would  take  a  seat  "  with  that  same 
learned  Theban"  (pointing  to  the  Attorney-General),  and  smoke  a 
cigar.  After  going  through  several  Federal  manreuvres,  all  of  which 
required  the  dexterous  use  of  the  oblique  step,  the  band  was  ordered  to 
halt,  received  a  compliment  from  the  Fugleman,  and  was  dismissed. 
The  Drummer  beat  the  tattoo,  and  they  retired  in  an  orderly  manner 
to  their  several  quarters.  A  LOOKER-ON. 

On  the  evening  of  the  day  on  which  this  article  appeared  Mr. 
J.  E.  Freeman,  the  artist,  then  a  young  man  of  much  promise, 
happened  to  be  visiting  at  the  residence  of  Comptroller  Flagg. 
Miss  Flagg  read  the  "  Argus  "  diatribe  to  a  little  circle  of  inti- 


70  MEMOIR.  [1838. 

mates  assembled  in  the  drawing-room.  After  she  had  finished 
it,  finding  pen,  ink,  and  paper  by  his  side,  Mr.  Freeman  tried 
to  embody,  in  a  hasty,  boyish  way,  some  of  the  most  impressive 
points  in  the  picture  so  well  outlined  by  ex-Governor  Marcy. 

While  thus  amusing  himself,  as  well  as  the  young  ladies, 
who  were  watching  every  scratch  of  his  pen,  the  ex-Governor 
entered  the  room,  and,  approaching  Mr.  Freeman,  bent  his 
head  over  the  artist's  shoulder  to  see  what  was  provoking  so 
much  merriment.  "  Do  you  not  know,  young  man,"  he  ex 
claimed,  "that  what  you  are  doing  is  libelous?"  "  Possibly  it 
is,  Governor,"  replied  the  youth  ;  "  but  what  do  you  think  of 
the  villain  who  wrote  the  article  from  which  the  sketch  is 
taken  ?  "  The  Governor  laughed  heartily,  and  forgave  the  im 
pertinence. 

Some  of  the  visitors  present  at  the  Flaggs'  when  this  incident 
occurred  purloined  the  rude  sketch,  and  shortly  afterwards  a 
lithographic  print  of  it  appeared  in  New  York. 

Many  years  afterwards,  when  Mr.  Weed  was  in  Kome,  Mr. 
Freeman  left  his  studio  to  pay  his  respects  to  the  traveler. 
During  the  visit,  the  artist  indirectly  alluded  to  the  caricature, 
and  Mr.  Weed  said  that  he  had  preserved  a  copy,  which  he 
treasured  highly.  "  Do  you  know,"  asked  Mr.  Freeman,  "  who 
perpetrated  that  likeness  of  you  ? "  "  No,"  said  Mr.  Weed, 
"  I  do  not.  I  should  like  to  know  very  much.  It  has  afforded 
immense  amusement."  "  Would  you  treasure  any  resentment 
against  the  author  of  it,  if  I  should  tell  you  who  he  was  ?  " 
Mr.  Freeman  asked.  "  Certainly  not,"  said  Mr.  Weed.  "  I 
might  like  him  all  the  better  for  it."  "  Well,  then,"  the  artist 
pursued,  "  it  was  myself  who  did  it."  Mr.  Weed  was  true  to 
his  word.  He  shook  Mr.  Freeman  warmly  by  the  hand,  saying 
he  could  have  no  idea  of  the  enjoyment  which  his  sketch  had 
caused  to  Whigs  as  well  as  Democrats. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

1839-1840. 

WHIGS  AND  DEMOCRATS.  —  WILLIAM  KENT  TO  MR.  WEED.  —  "  THE  BEST 
MAN  IN  THE  DISTRICT."  —  A  TRACY-SEWARD  INCIDENT.  —  MR.  WEB 
STER  AND  THE  PRESIDENCY.  —  MAGNANIMITY  OF  HENRY  CLAY.— 
GENERAL  HARRISON  NOMINATED.  —  SPIRIT  OF  THE  CANVASS.  —  "  IN 
SIGHT  OF  LAND."  —  "A  KNOCK-DOWN  FOR  THE  Locos."  —  LETTERS 
TO  FRANCIS  GRANGER. 

IN  1839  Mr.  Van  Biiren  entered  upon  the  third  year  of  his 
presidency,  and  William  H.  Seward  began  his  administration 
as  first  Whig  Governor  of  New  York.  The  country  still  suf 
fered  from  financial  disorders,  and  the  federal  government  con 
stantly  lost  popularity-  Warned  of  approaching  danger  by 
continuous  Whig  successes  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  the 
great  men  of  the  Democratic  organization  redoubled  their  vigi 
lance  and  activity.  Their  forces  were  disciplined  and  compact, 
and  it  was  plain  that  they  would  wage  a  stubborn  contest.  The 
Whigs  were  unused  to  power.  Called  to  the  control  of  New 
York  as  a  rebuke  to  Democratic  government,  no  sooner  had  Mr. 
Seward  taken  his  seat  than  disintegrating  elements  in  his  own 
political  household  set  on  foot  impracticable  and  mischievous 
agitations. 

[MR.    GRKELEY   TO    MR.    WEED.] 

NEW  YORK,  March  15,  1839. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  received  a  line  from  you  last  Sunday  morning,  and 
meant  to  have  thanked  you  for  your  attention  to  my  wishes  and  inter 
ests  at  once,  but  the  hurry  of  business,  which  occupies  me  every  minute, 
has  hindered. 

I  trust  that,  with  your  good  aid,  everything  will  go  just  right  as 
regards  the  u  Jeffersonian."  The  fact  is  that  the  work  will  be  more 
efficient  and  useful  if  a  suspension  shall  have  demonstrated  its  neces 
sity.  The  "  Weekly  Journal "  is  all  sufficient,  so  far  as  our  own  tried 
soldiers  are  concerned.  The  "  Jeff."  is  only  needed  to  carry  war  into 
the  enemy's  camp  and  the  doubtful.  If  started  again,  there  should  be 


72  MEMOIR.  *  [1839. 

the  right  sort  of  preparation  to  make  it  effectual.  A  right  man  should 
be  employed  in  every  county  or  region,  with  a  bound  volume  of  last 
year's  as  a  specimen,  quietly  picking  up  the  names  of  all  who  will  take 
it,  —  especially  of  those  who  ought  to  take  it :  young  men  coining  of 
age,  laborers,  men  of  no  particular  or  settled  politics,  etc.  With  a 
proper  cooperation  on  the  part  of  our  active  friends  throughout  the 
State,  the  paper  might  be  made  a  most  efficient  auxiliary,  taking  just 
the  ground  which  the  *'  Journal "  cannot  so  well  occupy,  and,  withal, 
incurring  or  occasioning  little  or  no  expense,  except  of  exertion,  to  the 
Whig  party.  I  do  dread  and  battle  these  repeated  calls  for  money 
to  aid  political  operations.  They  drive  our  rich  men  out  of  politics, 
when  they  should,  and  naturally  would,  be  most  active  in  and  devoted 
to  the  good  cause.  Please  think  of  this  ;  and  let  our  friends  who  are 
so  anxious  to  start  soon  direct  their  attention  and  anxiety  to  the  point 
of  starting  right. 

I  mean  to  come  up  to  Albany  either  the  last  of  this  month  or  the 
first  of  next,  to  take  a  look  at  things.  I  shall  calculate  not  to  stay 
more  than  a  day  or  two,  for  I  have  my  hands  full  at  home. 

One  word  of  entreaty  to  the  Governor :  I  pray  that  there  be  no 
premature  committals  on  the  subject  of  these  cursed  medical  offices, 
which  make  so  much  trouble  in  this  city.  I  wish  they  were  all  in  the 
bottom  of  the  Red  Sea.  As  they  are  to  be  filled,  however,  let  them 
remain  perfectly  open  till  after  the  fall  election,  and  that  will  be  some 
thing  gained.  Then  let  the  very  best  men,  as  medical  men,  be  selected. 
Any  other  course  will  expose  the  Whig  cause  to  popular  odium  here, 
as  the  incumbents  seem  to  be  men  of  good  medical  character.  I  have 
been  bored  by  several  on  the  subject  of  these  appointments,  and  I  do 
not  pretend  even  to  guess  who  ought  to  be  appointed.  But  I  know  on 
what  principles  the  appointments  should  be  made,  and  I  trust  will  be. 
In  that  confidence  I  am  content.  Yours  truly,  H.  GREELEY. 

P.  S.  Mrs.  Greeley,  now  on  a  sick-bed,  would  be  kindly  remem 
bered  to  Mrs.  Weed  and  family.  May  we  not  hope  to  see  Mrs.  Weed 
here  before  we  break  up  in  the  spring  ? 

[WILLIAM  KENT  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

NEW  YORK,  July  28,  1839. 

How  I  should  like  to  see  you  now,  Mr.  Dictator !  The  whole  State 
is  on  your  shoulders. 

You  must  remember  that  you  are  acting  what  will  be  a  page  of 
history.  I  take  it,  some  future  chronicler,  in  reciting  the  annals  of 
New  York  during  this  period,  in  every  respect  equal  to  England  in  the 
time  of  Elizabeth,  will  devote  his  brightest  colors  to  "  the  celebrated 
Thurlow  Weed,  who  so  long  filled  the  office  of  Governor  Seward 


1839.J  WILLIAM  KENT   TO  MR.  WEED.  73 

during  his  lengthened  and  prosperous  administration."  It  behooves 
you,  therefore,  to  act  circumspectly,  and  particularly  in  the  advice  you 
give  the  Governor  as  to  appointments  to  office. 

And  this  leads  me,  very  naturally,  and  of  course  without  the  least 
previous  intention,  to  speak  of  the  appointment  of  Surrogate.  You 
are,  it  seems,  holding  up  both  hands  for  David  B.  Ogden.  Do  you 
remember  writing  me  a  letter,  when  David  was  nominated  for  the 
Assembly,  earnestly  recommending  our  big  friend  to  stay  at  home  ?  I 
recollect  striving  to  overcome  your  repugnance,  and  to  induce  esteemed 
friendship,  but  I  really  never  meant  that  you  should  look  on  David  in 
this  way.  You  will  call  to  mind  the  old  fable  of  the  shepherd  who 
prayed  for  water,  and  the  Ganges  was  turned  upon  him. 

Now,  Dictator,  Administrator,  or  whatever  other  title  is  agreeable, 
David  B.  is  unchanged,  save  in  your  estimation.  He  is  still  the  same 
good,  pompous  kind  of  a  man  that  he  ever  was,  and  your  appetite  for 
him  is  not  justified  by  his  qualities.  To  speak  seriously,  .  .  .  perhaps 
in  the  outset  the  nomination  of  Ogden  would  be  the  best.  His  name 
is  distinguished,  and  the  other  competitors  will  yield  to  him  better 
than  to  another.  But  here  ends  his  superiority.  Johnson  would  be 
a  better  officer,  and,  what  is  more,  would  give  his  whole  time  to  the 
work.  He  is  young  and  indefatigable.  Depend  upon  it,  the  same 
chronicler  we  spoke  of  will  say,  "  The  fatal  fault  of  Governor  Se  ward's 
policy  was  his  neglecting  vigorous,  enterprising,  industrious  young 
men,"  etc.  Now,  Cardinal  Richelieu,  Prince  Metternich,  Talleyrand, 
—  I  am  trying  different  titles  to  hit  upon  the  right  one,  —  ponder  on 
all  this  before  you  advise  his  excellency.1 

One  word  more.  I  hear  there  is  great  opposition  to  Willis  Hall, 
and  I  am  sorry  for  it.  He  has  a  great  heart,  and  a  great  head,  too. 
It  has  been  his  misfortune,  but  our  good  fortune,  that  his  time  and 
talents  have  been  devoted  to  advancing  the  Whig  party,  while  those 
who  oppose  him  were  taxing  costs  and  filing  demurrers.  How  can 

there  be  any  hesitation  between  him  and ?     Shades  of  Dodson 

and  Fogg,  what  a  question  !  Why,  you  might  as  well  dig  up  General 
Ten  Broeck  or  Judge  Benson.  The  extreme  Webster  men  in  New 
York  have  formed  a  combination  against  Willis.  It  is  dog  in  the 
manger,  too,  for  no  man  from  New  York  is  a  candidate. 

But  let  us  return  to  private  life.  Do  you  read  novels  ?  Have  you 
any  pleasure  in  Nicholas  Nickleby,  Smike,  and  Kate  ?  If  you  have 
not,  there  is  no  pleasure  in  ambition  to  compensate  for  the  deprivation. 
I  suppose  you  never  go  to  the  theatre,  are  fierce  upon  a  funny  joke, 
and  thirst  not  for  sherry  cobblers.  Fatal  preeminence  !  How  you 
will,  when  it  is  too  late,  regret  the  happy  old  valley  you  have  left  for 
1  Mr.  Ogden  was  appointed. 


74  MEMOIR.  [1839. 

the  keen  blasts  of  the  hill-top  and  the  mountain !  Shall  I  ever  see  you 
again?  As  for  Seward,  I  give  him  up  entirely.  The  iron  has  en 
tered  his  soul.  But  give  my  love  to  Seward  ;  tell  him  my  nightly 
prayer  is  that  his  shoulders  may  be  broad  enough  for  his  task. 

Yours  ever,  W.  KENT. 

P.  S.  I  have  resumed  smoking  cigars  especially  to  qualify  myself 
for  your  company.  I  have  no  office  to  ask  for  ;  I  desire  nothing  but 
the  privilege  of  hearing  you  talk.  You  give  a  turkey  on  Thanksgiv 
ing  Day  to  every  "  devil "  in  your  office ;  I  am  something  of  a  devil 
myself,  and  only  ask  to  give  you  a  turkey.  Is  that  unreasonable  ? 
Why  is  Sim.  Draper,  grand  and  tall  fellow  though  he  be,  the  only  re 
cipient  of  your  smiles  ? 

Is  your  head  turned  by  the  idea  of  being  Lord  Mayor  of  Albany  ? 

There  was  a  vacancy  in  the  vice-chancellorship  in  April,  and 
while  Governor  Seward  was  considering  the  question  of  an  ap 
pointment  to  the  place,  Mr.  Fillmore  took  pains  to  explain  his 
position. 

[MR.    FILLMORE    TO    MR.    WEED.] 

BUFFALO,  April  10,  1839. 

DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  There  is  a  mystery  about  this  appointment 
that  is  to  me  perfectly  inexplicable.  The  responsibility  of  the  execu 
tive  forbids  that  I  should  embarrass  him  by  urging  any  claims  for  my 
self  or  Buffalo ;  indeed,  I  have  no  claims  to  proffer  anywhere.  It  was 
with  unfeigned  resistance  that  I  consented  to  become  a  candidate  ;  but 
having  consented,  I  must  confess  that  I  have  felt  a  little  mortified  at 
the  cavalier  manner  in  which  I  have  been  treated. 

I  am  first  informed  that  when  the  Governor  was  notified  that  the 
Erie  County  bar  would  present  my  name  he  said  he  had  concluded  to 
nominate  Mr.  Whittlesey,  and  no  papers  could  change  that  determi 
nation.  It  is  now  rumored  here  that  the  Governor  has  said  that  if 
the  Senate  do  not  confirm  Mr.  W.  he  shall  not  nominate  me  ;  that  he 
does  not  admit  that  Buffalo  has  any  peculiar  claims  to  the  office,  but 
he  means  to  take  "  the  best  man  in  the  district."  That  is  all  very 
well.  I  certainly  do  not  aspire  to  the  office.  I  have  not  the  vanity  to 
suppose  that  I  am  the  "  best  man  in  the  district,"  and  certainly  shall  be 
the  last  one  to  complain  if  I  am  passed  over  for  the  sake  of  arriving  at 
so  desirable  and  praiseworthy  a  result.  All  should  desire  that  the 
"  best  man  in  the  district  "  should  be  appointed,  whether  recommended 
or  not.  I  am  only  curious  to  know  if  you  can  inform  me  wrho  will  be 
likely  to  receive  the  nomination,  if  Mr.  Whittlesey  is  not  confirmed. 

I  trust  the  intimacy  of  our  relations,  and  the  frankness  due  to  it 


1839. J     NATIONAL    CONVENTION  AT  HARRISBURG.         75 

will  justify  me  in  soliciting  from  you  —  if  you  know  it  —  the  reason  of 
so  determined  a  hostility  to  my  nomination.  It  strikes  me  there  is 
something  about  this  matter  that  I  do  not  know,  that  it  would  he  satis 
factory  to  understand.  It  may  he  all  right,  or  I  may  have  been  mis 
informed.  But  please  to  let  me  know  the  length  and  breadth  of  this 
matter.  .  .  . 

Yours  truly,  MILLAKD  FILLMOKE. 

BUFFALO,  April  23,  1839. 

Yours  came  to  hand  while  I  was  attending  the  circuit  at  Rochester. 
The  question  of  the  vice-chancellorship  is  ended.  Personally  I  rejoice 
at  the  result.  I  can  say  truly  I  did  not  desire  the  office,  and  I  doubt 
not  Mr.  Whittlesey  will  discharge  the  duties  in  a  manner  creditable 
to  himself  and  satisfactory  to  the  community.  But  in  saying  this  I 
should  disguise  my  own  feelings  and  give  a  false  impression  to  others 
if  I  did  not  add  that  there  was  a  strong  desire  to  have  the  office 
located  here.  It  is  a  mortifying  reflection  that  we  must  yet  continue 
to  pay  tribute  to  Rochester  in  all  our  professional  and  judicial  busi 
ness.  It  is  peculiarly  humiliating  that  this  county,  for  the  last  fifteen 
years,  during  all  the  mutations  of  political  parties,  has  never  been 
able  to  furnish  an  acceptable  candidate  for  this  office,  while  Rochester 
and  Lockport  have  each  furnished  two.  It  is  calculated  to  make  us 
think  that  we  are  but  a  province  of  the  powers  at  Albany,  courted  and 
flattered  for  a  moment  (when  our  votes  are  wanted),  and  then  treated 
with  the  utmost  indignity  and  contempt.  .  .  . 

I  shall  be  happy  to  hear  from  you,  and,  regardless  of  whether  the 
political  wheel,  in  its  revolutions,  carries  me  up  or  down,  I  am  ever 
most  sincerely  and  truly, 

Your  friend,  MILLAKD  FILLMORE. 

The  Whigs  were  first  in  the  field  for  the  presidential  canvass 
of  1840.  They  held  a  national  convention  at  Harrisburg  on  the 
4th  of  December,  1839.  Mr.  Clay,  who  had  already  been  twice 
defeated  for  the  presidency,  was  the  favorite  candidate,  but  Mr. 
Weed  did  not  believe  that  Mr.  Clay  could  carry  New  York,  or 
be  elected  if  nominated.  Reference  has  been  made  to  the  inti 
mate  social  relations  which  existed  between  Mr.  Weed,  Mr. 
Seward,  Mr.  Granger,  Mr.  Tracy,  and  other  prominent  Whigs. 
When  the  gubernatorial  nomination  went  to  Mr.  Seward  in 
1838,  Mr.  Tracy  was  one  of  those  who  felt  a  certain  degree 
of  chagrin.  Not  long  afterwards  Mr.  Seward  discovered  that 
Mr.  Tracy  had  spoken  slightingly  of  his  candidacy,  and,  in  a 
letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  expressed  himself  as  greatly  disappointed 


76  MEMOIR  [1839. 

at  "  Tracy's  pettishness,"  adding  a  paragraph  or  two  not  com 
plimentary  in  their  nature.  A  few  evenings  later,  Mr.  Weed 
was  visited  by  Mr.  Tracy,  who  said,  in  the  course  of  conversa 
tion,  "  Is  there  anything  new  going  on  ? "  Forgetting  the 
reference  to  Mr.  Tracy,  Mr.  Weed  tossed  Mr.  Seward's  letter 
across  the  table,  saying,  "  Very  little ;  there  is  a  letter  from 
Seward  which  came  this  afternoon."  After  reading  it  Mr. 
Tracy's  temper  was  by  no  means  improved.  He  had  grown 
into  an  ugly  political  factor  by  1839,  when  Mr.  Weed  feared 
he  would  lead  a  bolt  of  old  anti-Masons  in  case  Mr.  Clay  was 
nominated.  And  thus  a  cherished  personal  friendship  —  for 
such  was  that  between  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Weed  —  was  severely 
tested.  Their  conversation  at  Saratoga,  while  matters  stood  in 
this  shape,  was  something  of  an  ordeal. 

Few  people  are  aware  how  near  Daniel  Webster  came  to  the 
presidency  on  two  separate  occasions.  Had  he  not  twice  rejected 
Mr.  Weed's  suggestions,  he  would,  without  a  doubt,  have  reached 
the  summit  of  his  political  ambition.  In  the  spring  of  1839 
Mr.  Weed  went  to  Washington,  and  called  Mr.  Webster  into 
the  cloak-room  at  the  Capitol.  "  I  think  I  shall  be  the  Whig 
candidate,"  Mr.  Webster  said.  Mr.  Weed  expressed  doubt. 
"  Who,  then,  will  be  ?  "  asked  the  Senator.  "  It  looks  to  me 
like  Harrison,"  said  Mr.  Weed.  Mr.  Webster  declared  that 
Harrison  stood  no  chance.  "You  are  misinformed,"  he  said. 
"  The  party  \vill  choose  a  man  with  longer  civic  experience, 
who  is  better  adapted  to  the  place."  "  The  question  is,"  said 
Mr.  Weed,  "  who  will  poll  the  most  votes  ?  "  "  Well,"  said  Mr. 
Webster,  "  very  well ;  but  what  does  this  mean  ?  You  are  going 
to  choose  a  Scott  delegation  in  New  York."  That,  Mr.  Weed 
explained,  was  to  keep  New  York  away  from  Mr.  Clay.  Then 
he  went  on  :  "  You  do  not  see  me  here  to  argue  about  that. 
What  I  came  for  and  what  I  want  is  for  you  to  be  willing  to 
accept  the  support  of  New  York  for  the  vice-presidency  in  case 
my  prediction  about  General  Harrison  is  verified."  As  Mr. 
Webster  would*  not  listen  to  this,  Mr.  Weed's  thoughts  turned 
upon  Mr.  Clayton,  of  Delaware,  as  a  candidate  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent,  and  Mr.  Clayton  would  have  been  nominated  had  not  his 
name  been  withdrawn  at  the  last  moment.  When  the  conven 
tion  was  about  to  be  held,  and  Mr.  Webster's  friends  saw  that 
he  stood  no  chance  for  the  first  place,  they  were  free  to  support 


1839.]  GENERAL   HARRISON  NOMINATED.  77 

either  General  Harrison  or  Mr.  Clay.  Two  years  later,  when 
General  Harrison  was  dead  and  Mr.  Tyler  was  President,  Mr. 
Webster,  as  Secretary  of  State  under  the  late  Vice-President, 
had  abundant  leisure  to  reflect  upon  his  conversation  in  the 
cloak-room  at  the  Capitol. 

Just  before  the  assembling  of  the  national  convention  of  1839, 
Mr.  Fillmore,  in  letters  to  Mr.  Weed,  described  the  feeling  at 
Washington.  "  An  informal  meeting  of  our  delegation  was 
held  yesterday,"  he  wrote  on  the  2d  of  December,  u  and  each 
individual,  upon  being  called  upon  for  his  opinion,  gave  it  that 
Mr.  Clay  could  not  carry  the  State  of  New  York,  and  that  it 
could  not  be  carried  for  him.  Mr.  Mitchell  said  he  communi 
cated  the  fact  to  him,  and  he  received  it  in  kindness,  and  said 
he  would  make  a  communication  to  the  Kentucky  delegates, 
expressive  of  his  desire  that  the  strongest  man  should  be  nomi 
nated,  and  promising  cordial  and  hearty  support.  This  is  mag 
nanimous  ;  it  is  worthy  of  Henry  Clay." 

Hoping  that  its  selection  would  appease  all  elements,  the 
Whig  Convention  nominated  William  H.  Harrison,  of  Ohio,  for 
the  presidency.  To  pacify  a  dissatisfied  minority,  John  Tyler, 
of  Virginia,  was  named  for  Vice-President.  "  The  nomination 
of  General  Harrison,"  once  wrote  Mr.  Weed,  "  so  offended  the 
friends  of  Mr.  Clay  that  the  convention  was  thrown  entirely  in 
the  dark  on  the  question  of  Vice-President.  Several  delegates 
devoted  a  whole  night  to  the  adjustment  of  that  question.  The 
Kentucky  delegation  was  asked  to  present  a  candidate,  but  they 
declined.  Then  Mr.  Clayton  was  fixed  upon,  but  lieverdy 
Johnson  withdrew  his  name.  Watkins  Leigh,  of  Virginia,  and 

O      "  O 

Governor  Dudley,  of  North  Carolina,  were  successively  desig 
nated,  but  they  declined.  .  .  .  While  this  was  passing,  the 
vice-presidency  was  repeatedly  offered  to  New  York,  but  we 
had  no  candidate.  If  Mr.  Tracy  had  not  previously  left  us,  he 
would  have  been  nominated.  Mr.  Tyler  was  finally  taken  be 
cause  we  could  get  nobody  else  to  accept.  .  .  .  Mr.  Tracy  was 
eminently  qualified  for  usefulness  in  public  life.  He  entertained 
a  high  and  strict  sense  of  official  responsibility,  and  but  for 
causes  which  need  not  be  dwelt  upon,  his  career  would  have 
been  a  brilliant  success." 

1839.  — "  Political  signs,  indications,  and  demonstrations  are 
all  auspicious,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed,  upon  his  return  to  Albany, 


78  MEMOIR.  [1839. 

after  the  Harrison  ticket  had  been  placed  in  nomination.  "  Ev 
erything  promises  success.  We  have  never  opened  a  presiden 
tial  canvass  with  such  assured  convictions  of  a  triumphant  re 
sult.  Indeed,  since  1825,  we  have  never  entertained  any  hope 
of  success.  The  Whig  party,  for  three  successive  presidential 
contests,  has  been  in  a  false  position.  We  have  been  forced 
into  the  fight  upon  wrong  issues.  Nor  have  we  in  our  past  cam 
paigns  presented  a  solid  front.  Not  until  recently  have  the 
delusions  of  Jacksonism  been  dispelled. 

"  All  is  right  now.  The  great  and  powerful  Whig  party  is 
at  last  united.  Every  incumbrance  has  been  thrown  off.  There 
is  no  United  States  Bank  upon  our  shoulders.  That  incubus, 
thank  fortune,  has  passed  into  Van  Buren's  hands. 

"  Our  candidate  stands  upon  elevated  and  enviable  ground. 
He  has  been  embroiled  in  none  of  the  vexing  questions  which 
Van  Burenism  has  generated.  Up  to  the  period  of  Jackson's 
election,  General  Harrison  had  continued  in  the  public  service, 
discharging  high  civil  and  military  duties  with  honor  to  him 
self  and  usefulness  to  his  country.  Pie  then  fell  under  the  ban 
of  proscription ;  and  having  failed  to  act  upon  the  modern 
'  spoils  '  principle,  by  stealing  a  portion  of  the  immense  treas 
ure  which  he  disbursed,  the  old  hero  has  been  for  twelve  years 
obtaining  a  living  from  his  farm  in  North  Bend,  on  the  Ohio 
River. 

"  In  1836,  when  General  Harrison  was  a  candidate,  there 
was  no  reasonable  hope  of  success.  His  nomination  then  ema 
nated  from  the  people,  and  in  many  portions  of  the  Union  never 
received  even  the  assent,  and  much  less  the  support,  of  leading 
politicians.  But  the  people  then  gave  him,  spontaneously,  a 
support  which  showed  how  emphatically  he  was  their  candidate. 

"  Now  we  unfurl  his  banner  with  higher  and  brighter  hopes. 
He  was  nominated,  with  the  most  gratifying  unanimity,  by  a 
national  convention  distinguished  for  its  wisdom  and  patriotism. 
The  entire  Whig  party,  throughout  the  Union,  is  giving  itself, 
hand  and  heart,  to  his  support.  His  competitor,  the  presiden 
tial  incumbent,  after  a  three  years'  war  upon  the  people,  is 
reeling  in  his  seat.  The  country  is  sick  of  Mr.  Van  Buren. 
There  is  a  pervading  conviction  that  he  is  as  unworthy  of  as 
he  is  unfit  for  the  high  place  which  he  has  desecrated.  His 
four  years  of  misrule  approach  their  close,  and  William  Henry 


1839.]  THE   ONE-TERM  PRINCIPLE.  79 

Harrison,  as  his  successor,  will  proceed  to  Washington  amid  the 
acclamations  of  disenthralled  freemen.  .  .  . 

"  The  reelection  of  John  Quincy  Adams  was  opposed  by  the 
present  Van  Buren  party,  on  the  ground  that  the  purity  of  elec 
tions  and  the  welfare  of  the  country  required  that  a  President 
should  serve  only  one  term.  General  Jackson  was  elected  with 
the  universal  expectation  that  he  would  set  this  example.  But 
he  proved  false  to  that  as  to  all  his  professions. 

"  Mr.  Van  Buren  is  equally  false  to  the  professions  of  his 
friends.  The  moment  he  was  seated  in  the  Executive  Mansion, 
the  campaign  for  a  reelection  \vas  opened,  and  it  has  been 
pushed  thus  far  with  an  unscrupulousness  and  profligacy  hereto 
fore  unknown.  Every  duty  to  the  people  has  been  disregarded. 
All  the  interests  of  the  country  have  been  sacrificed,  and  all  the 
powers  of  the  government  prostituted.  The  President  himself, 
lost  to  all  that  gave  dignity  and  conferred  renown  upon  his  sta 
tion,  has  devoted  an  entire  summer  to  a  degrading  personal 
electioneering  tour. 

"The  public  welfare,  the  integrity  of  our  government,  and 
the  safety  of  its  institutions,  equally  demand  that  a  President 
should  serve  but  one  term.  If  such  an  amendment  of  the  Con 
stitution  cannot  be  effected,  let  public  opinion,  the  paramount 
law  of  a  free  people,  accomplish  the  object.  While  two  terms 
of  service  are  allowed,  to  use  the  language  upon  which  Gen 
eral  Jackson  refused  to  act,  '  corruption  will  be  the  order  of 
the  day.'  The  moment  a  President  is  chosen,  he  begins  to  in 
trigue  for  a  reelection.  The  power  and  patronage  of  the  gov 
ernment  are  employed,  not  to  protect  the  rights  and  interests 
of  the  people,  or  to  advance  the  prosperity  of  the  country,  but 
to  secure  a  reelection.  These  scenes  of  corruption  are  sapping 
the  foundations  of  the  Republic.  Unless  the  one-term  princi 
ple  shall  be  sustained,  they  will  overthrow  the  government." 

Mr.  Weed  went  to  Quincy  during  the  summer  to  invite  ex- 
President  Adams  to  take  the  stump  in  favor  of  Harrison.  He 
arrived  there  on  Saturday,  and  enjoyed  for  dinner  a  large  fresh 
codfish,  supplemented  by  baked  pork  and  beans.  An  old  gen 
tleman  who  came  in  before  the  meal  was  announced,  and  who 
remained  to  dinner,  was  introduced  to  Mr.  Weed  as  "  my  neigh 
bor."  Who  the  guest  was  Mr.  Weed  had  no  idea,  but  it  was 
soon  apparent  from  his  language  and  manner  that  his  mind  was 


80  MEMOIR.  [1839. 

stored  with  all  kinds  of  useful,  knowledge.  After  dinner  the 
stranger  withdrew,  and  Mr.  Weed  asked  Mr.  Adams  who  his 
"  neighbor  "  was.  "  Why,"  said  he,  "  I  supposed  you  knew  it 
was  Quincy.  We  dine  together  often."  Mr.  Weed  had  been 
listening  for  more  than  an  hour  to  the  elder  Josiah  Quincy. 

The  Democrats  met  at  Baltimore  in  May,  1840,  and  renomi- 
nated  President  Van  Buren.  A  few  months  before,  a  little 
band  of  anti-slavery  men  began  to  discuss  the  desirability  of 
naming  a  third  national  candidate,  on  the  simple  "  Abolition  " 
issue.  Of  course  it  was  not  supposed  that  such  a  candidate 
could  be  elected.  There  was,  indeed,  no  reason  to  believe  that 
such  a  candidate  could  secure  a  single  electoral  vote.  It  was 
equally  plain  that  if  Abolitionists  made  an  independent  nomi 
nation,  the  only  actual  effect  would  be  in  adding  to  Mr.  Van 
Buren's  strength.  Ignoring  these  considerations,  or  boasting 
disregard  of  them,  anti-slavery  men  nominated  Mr.  Birney,  of 
Ohio,  for  President,  and  thus  for  the  first  time  there  was  drawn 
a  distinct  line  between  ultra  and  conservative  friends  of  negro 
enfranchisement  in  the  United  States.  Not  tmfrequently  in  his 
life  Mr.  Weed  was  denounced  as  a  radical,  and  with  reason ; 
but  he  never  was  one  of  the  sort  which,  through  Mr.  Birney, 
supported  a  pro-slavery  candidate  for  President. 

The  taunt  in  a  Virginia  newspaper  :  that  General  Harrison 
would  be  contented  in  a  log-cabin,  with  plenty  of  hard  cider, 
was  a  god-send  to  the  Whigs  of  1840.  They  made  it  their 
watch- word.  They  put  the  question  to  the  voters  whether  a 
man  was  to  be  ostracized  because  he  lived  in  an  unpretentious 
house.  In  every  city  cabins  were  built  of  rough  logs,  to  serve 
as  Whig  head-quarters,  and  hard  cider  was  to  be  had  for  the 
asking.  The  country  has  never  seen  another  such  contest.  Po 
litical  activity  was  universal.  Ringing  songs  and  soul-stirring 
speeches  electrified  popular  meetings,  which  were  attended  by 
thousands.  The  Whig  state  convention  was  held  at  Utica,  and 
after  Mr.  Seward  had  been  nominated  for  Governor  the  as 
semblage  broke  out  in  a  rollicking  Harrison  song.  Even  Mr. 
Weed,  carried  away  by  the  enthusiasm  of  the  moment,  joined 
lustily  in  the  chorus.  On  no  other  occasion  after  he  had  reached 
mature  years  was  he  known  to  sing.  His  editorials  caught  the 
1  The  Richmond  Enquirer,  edited  by  Thomas  Ritchie. 


1839.]  SPIRIT  OF   THE   CANVASS.  81 

spirit  of  the  canvass.  They  were  hopeful,  pungent,  clean-cut, 
convincing. 

"  The  language  in  which  the  common  mind  of  the  nation  is 
beginning  to  express  its  sentiments,"'  he  wrote,  "  is  unintelligible 
to  Croswell  and  his  coadjutors.  Accustomed  for  years  to  manu 
facture  public  opinion,  they  are  disposed  to  look  upon  it  as  the 
mere  production  of  political  contrivance.  They  mistake  the  free 
and  impetuous  mountain  torrent  for  the  ripple  of  an  artificial 
cascade.  They  sneer  at  '  log  cabin  enthusiasm  '  because  they 
cannot  comprehend  it.  The  log  cabin  is  a  symbol  of  nothing 
that  Van  Burenism  knows,  or  feels,  or  can  appreciate.  It  tells 
of  virtues  that  dwell  in  obscurity,  of  the  hopes  of  the  humble, 
of  the  privations  of  the  poor,  of  toil  and  danger,  of  perseverance 
and  patient  endurance,  of  hospitality  and  charity  and  frugality. 
It  is  the  emblem  of  rights  that  the  vain  and  insolent  aristocracy 
of  federal  office-holders  have  lost  sight  of,  or  crushed  and  tram 
pled  on.  It  is  an  emblem  of  the  simplicity  that  should  charac 
terize  republican  institutions,  and  which  the  people  have  deter 
mined  to  bring  back  to  the  administration  of  their  affairs.  Let 
our  opponents  scoff  at  the  device  which  the  untutored  sagacity 
of  the  masses  is  painting  upon  their  banners.  It  will  be  found 
ere  long  that  there  is  a  meaning  in  it  that  will  convey  to  them  a 
salutary  lesson.  .  .  . 

"  A  Democratic  paper  says  that  we  have  recently  made  a  visit 
through  the  western  part  of  the  State,  and  returned  '  dissatisfied 
with  political  prospects.'  That  we  have  just  returned  from  a 
delightful  western  excursion  is  true,  but  that  we  saw  or  heard 
aught  that  is  inauspicious  to  our  cause,  we  deny.  On  the  con 
trary,  the  Whig  party,  in  '  that  portion  of  our  State  more  decid 
edly  Democratic  than  any  other,'  was  never  so  strong  in  num 
bers,  zeal,  and  confidence.  It  is  refreshing  to  sojourn  among  a 
people  imbued,  as  they  are,  with  the  pure  sentiments  of  Whig 
democracy.  It  quickens  and  etherealizes  the  spirit  that  has 
been  enervated  by  Loco-Foco  associations.  No  man  can  cross 
Cayuga  Lake  without  feeling  the  grateful  influences  of  a  more 
benign  atmosphere.  There  is  an  agricultural,  physical,  and  in 
tellectual  improvement  in  all  one  sees.  Human  nature  seems 
to  lift  itself  up  in  a  region  which  the  '  blessed  spirit '  purified. 
In  passing  through  that  highly-favored  country,  where  the  soil, 
in  the  palmiest  state  of  cultivation,  yields  its  teeming  abundance 


82  MEMOIR.  [1839. 

of  every  conceivable  luxury,  one  no  longer  wonders  that  the 
political  sentiments  of  its  cultivators  are  pure  and  chastened. 
There  is  industry,  intelligence,  and  patriotism  in  the  West. 
Her  people  are  enlightened  and  independent.  And  this  explains 
their  political  condition.  Such  men  are  always  Whigs.  .  .  . 

"  In  the  counties  of  Seneca,  Wayne,  and  Yates  the  contest 
will  be  close,  and  the  result  is  doubtful.  The  Whigs  are,  how 
ever,  doing  their  whole  duty  in  each  of  these  counties.  Nor  are 
they  doing  battle  alone.  Their  efforts  are  seconded  by  a  strong 
conservative  sentiment.  In  the  Whig  counties  of  Cortland  and 
Tompkins  our  majorities  will  be  handsomely  increased.  On 
tario  will  give  a  majority  worthy  of  her  freemen  in  their  best 
days.  Livingston,  always  true  as  steel,  will  push  its  majority 
to  the  highest  point.  Allegany  and  Cattaraugus  are  good  and 
sure  for  1,200  majority.  .  .  . 

"And  this  takes  us  into  the  Eighth  District,  —  the  free,  un- 
collared,  indomitable,  glorious  Eighth  District.  There  the 
watch-fires  of  Freedom  burn  bright  and  high.  There  the  eyes 
of  the  nation  turn.  There  the  hopes  of  freemen  rest.  And 
those  hopes  will  be  abundantly  realized.  The  Whigs  of  that 
section  will  make  one  concentrated,  mighty  effort  to  redeem  the 
Republic.  They  kept  their  own  soil  free  in  the  worst  of  times. 
To  their  fidelity  and  perseverance  the  State  is  indebted  for  its 
disenthrallment.  On  them  rest  now  the  hopes  of  the  Union. 
The  vote  of  that  District  will  determine  the  political  character 
of  the  Empire  State.  The  State  will  determine  the  presidential 
question.  This  is  a  high  and  sacred  trust.  But,  thank  Heaven, 
the  trust  is  in  safe  hands.  We  have  known  the  West  long  and 
intimately.  She  is  as  true  to  duty  as  the  needle  to  the  pole. 
Let  none  distrust  her  faith.  For  twelve  successive  years,  amid 
continued  defeats  and  disaster,  when  '  Freedom  shrieked  '  in 
every  other  part  of  the  Union,  the  Eighth  District  stood  proudly 
out  from  the  political  canvas  relieving  a  picture  otherwise  dark 
and  cheerless.  The  Whigs  of  the  West  are  now  in  sight  of  land. 
They  discern  the  presidential  harbor.  One  strong,  noble  effort 
brings  them  safely  into  port.  That  effort  will  be  made  —  tri 
umphantly  made.  We  speak  confidently  of  the  West.  Under 
a  conviction  that  the  official  canvass  will  verify  our  opinion,  we 
unhesitatingly^estimate  General  Harrison's  majority,  in  the  six 
counties  of  Chautaucjua,  Erie,  Genesee,  Monroe,  Niagara,  and 


1840.]  PROGRESS   OF   THE   CANVASS.  83 

Orleans,  which  compose  the  Eighth  District,  at  more  than  eleven 
thousand.  With  equal  confidence  we  predict  that  the  fifteen 
counties  west  of  Cayuga  Lake  will  give  a  Harrison  majority  of 
fifteen  thousand.  And  with  this  overwhelming  Whig  vote,  we 
leave  the  Loco-Focos  to  '  crow '  out  a  majority  for  Van  Buren  — 
if  they  can." 

[GOVERNOR  PATTERSON  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

•      GREIGSVILLE,  May  21,  1840. 

DEAR  WEED,  —  Saturday  evening  found  me  at  home  with  my  "  wife 
and  bairns,"  and  a  happy  place  it  seems  after  my  Albany  life.  What 
is  there  about  a  political  career  that  should  induce  a  man  to  leave  all 
that  is  worth  living  for,  to  meet  and  mingle  with  such  scamps  as  some 
times  find  their  way  into  our  legislative  halls  ?  Strange  as  it  may 
seem,  there  are  those  among  us  who  are  guilty  of  just  such  folly. 

I  rejoice  that  we  have  got  through  the  session  without  committing 
any  blunders.  I  do  not  now  think  of  an  act  that  has  been  passed  that 
will  injure  us  politically  ;  but  I  do  know  of  very  many,  which,  if  they 
had  been,  would  have  used  us  up.  We  now  stand  well,  and,  with  good 
management,  can  carry  the  State.  .  .  . 

Our  friends  are  in  good  spirits,  and  say  that  they  will  give  a  major 
ity  for  "  Old  Tip  "  in  November.  Ever  yours, 

GEO.  W.  PATTERSON. 

[MR.    FILLMORE    TO    MR.    WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  June  1,  1840. 

DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  Unearthly  efforts  are  now  making  by  the 
administration  party  to  turn  the  current  in  their  favor.  They  have 
constantly  prophesied  that  the  enthusiasm  which  showed  itself  in  favor 
of  Harrison  was  evanescent  and  ephemeral,  and  that  it  would  be  suc 
ceeded  by  deadly  apathy. 

Is  there  not  much  reason  to  fear  this  may  be  the  case  ?  My  in 
formation  is  that  they  are  much  better  organized  and  more  active  in 
our  State  than  the  Whigs.  Many  of  our  folks  seem  to  think  the 
work  already  accomplished.  This  is  a  great  mistake.  The  foe  is 
vigilant  and  unprincipled  beyond  all  former  example.  .  .  .  Try  to 
arouse  our  folks  to  a  sense  of  their  danger.  Let  every  country  town 
and  school  district  be  organized,  and  see  that  they  are  supplied  with 
proper  intelligence  to  counteract  all  the  fabrications  with  which  the 
administration  press  now  teems.  It  is  our  only  security;  it  is  the 
only  security  of  the  country.  .  .  . 

I  am  happy  to  know  that  my  confidence  in  and  frankness  to  you  are 
duly  appreciated.  The  former  has  had  its  growth  in  a  long  and  well- 


84  MEMOIR.  [1840. 

tried  friendship,  —  a  source  of  gratification  and  pride  to  me,  —  and 
the  latter  is  its  natural  fruit.      Yours,  etc.,       MILLAKD  FILLMORE. 

[MR.    GREELEY    TO    MR.    WEED.] 

NEW  YORK,  July  27,  1840. 

FRIEND  WEED,  —  I  am  glad  to  hear  of  your  return,  and  shall  prob 
ably  come  up  on  Saturday,  if  you  are  to  be  at  home.  I  feel  sure 
everything  is  going  right  in  this  quarter,  so  far  as  the  general  prog 
ress  of  the  cause  is  concerned,  though  there  are  a  good  many  dirty 
little  intrigues  and  eddies  in  this  city  not  worth  talking  about. 

I  attended  a  meeting  of  the  Tippecanoe  Club  of  Sing  Sing  on  Friday 
evening.  All  is  activity  and  enthusiasm  there.  I  saw  Wells  among 
others.  Every  man  believes  that  they  will  carry  the  county  this  fall, 
except  the  members  of  the  legislature.  Three  hundred  for  Harrison 
electors  is  their  estimate. 

Kings,  Queens,  and  Richmond  will  give  us  a  small  majority.  You 
have  seen  the  Rockland  paper  ;  one  will  appear  in  Richmond  next 
week.  The  printer  went  down  with  his  materials  on  Saturday. 

'I  am  sending  more  "  Log  Cabins  "  into  Suffolk  than  were  ever  cir 
culated  there  before  of  all  Whig  papers  put  together.  I  think  fully 
three  hundred  now,  and  increasing  almost  daily.  They  cannot  have 
one  thousand  majority  there  this  fall  —  our  friends  say  not  eight 
hundred. , 

There  is  some  feeling  here  for  and  against  putting  R.  C.  Wetmore 
on  the  electoral  ticket.  I  understand  his  friends  are  pushing  it  hard. 
I  should  like  to  see  some  vvorkingman  —  like  John  C.  Brout,  for 
instance  —  on  that  ticket,  but  am  not  tenacious.  I  suppose  two  old 
men  like  Bogardus  and  Robert  Smith,  or  Robert  C.  Cornell,  must 
go  on. 

Do  see  that  Hoffman  and  White  get  out  Ogle's l  speech  [criticising 
the  Van  Buren  administration]  as  soon  as  possible.  I  have  calls  for 
it  daily,  having  advertised  it  before  I  heard  that  it  was  not  yet  printed. 
They  must  not  wait  for  a  perfect  copy,  —  it  would  fill  a  Bible,  and 
could  not  be  afforded  at  the  price  advertised.  What  you  have  pub 
lished  is  all  that  is  contained  in  the  pamphlet  copy  published  at  Wash 
ington,  and  is  enough.  I  shall  give  a  further  dose  of  it  this  week, 
with  comments  and  illustrations. 

I  wish  you  would  do  me  the  favor  to  see  Benedict  and  Henry,  and 
say  to  them  that  the  extra  "  Log  Cabins  "  ordered  by  them  respectively 
will  almost  certainly  go  up  by  to-morrow's  boat.  I  have  had  bad  luck 

1  Charles  Ogle,  of  Pennsylvania.  He  was  in  Congress  from  1837  to 
1841. 


1840.]  A   KNOCK-DOWN  FOR    THE  LOCOS.  85 

with  my  form,  having  broken  a  plate,  etc.,  etc.,  and  have  had  almost 
constant  calls  for  them  to  supply  new  subscribers,  and  for  sale,  but 
I  shall  get  off  a  new  edition  to-night.  They  take  well  as  a  reply  to 
Duncan's  speech,  though  Giddings's  ought  to  have  been  printed.  I 
published  only  half  of  it;  mean  to  publish  the  rest  if  I  ever  get 
room. 

^J  now  print  sixty-two  thousand  regular  of  the  "  Log,"  and  mean  to 
have  them  all  taken  up  by  Saturday.  I  printed  five  thousand  extra 
last  week  for  Clay's  speech.  We  have  some  complaints  yet  of  failure, 
but  nothing  to  what  we  have  had.)  Yours,  H.  GKEELEY. 

[GOVERNOR  PATTERSON  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

GREIGSVILLE,  September  28,  1840. 

DEAR  WEED,  —  The  news  from  Maine  is  a  perfect  knock-down 
for  the  Locos,  but  joy  beams  in  every  Whig  countenance.  It  is  glori 
ous  news. 

I  met  Mr.  Barnard  at  Nunda  Valley  on  Thursday  and  heard  him 
make  a  most  classical  speech.  We  went  to  see  the  Genesee  Tunnel  on 
Friday  and  came  to  Mount  Morris  at  two  o'clock.  He  spoke  about 
two  hours  and  a  half,  when  Bissell,  of  this  town,  told  him  that  the 
Locos  wished  to  reply.  Barnard  soon  wound  off,  and  the  Locos  set  a 
man  from  Angelica  to  reply  to  him.  He  was  so  coarse  and  vulgar 
that  Barnard  would  not  condescend  to  notice  him.  Fitzhugh  spoke  on 
our  side,  and  Stevens,  of  New  York,  formerly  a  horse-racer  atBatavia, 
but  in  his  deportment  and  discussion  a  gentleman,  spoke  till  after 
eleven  o'clock,  when  I  obtained  the  floor  and  felt  in  better  trim  for 
talk  than  I  ever  did  in  my  life.  I  did  not  forget  or  neglect  to  say  a 
single  thing  I  wanted  to  say,  and  at  half-past  one  o'clock  wound  off. 

The  Locos  are  welcome  to  all  they  made  out  of  the  meeting. 

Yours,  etc.,  GEO!  W.  PATTERSON. 


[MR.    FILLMORE    TO   MR.    WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  December  27,  1840. 

DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  I  may  as  well  say  that  I  find  a  very  general 
opinion  prevailing  here  that  none  of  our  old  anti-Masonic  friends, 
especially  of  the  West,  with  the  exception  of  Mr.  Whittlesey,  have 
the  confidence  of  the  state  administration. 

This  jealousy,  whether  well  or  ill  founded,  is  working  an  alienation 
in  that  hitherto  fruitful  portion  of  the  political  vineyard,  which,  if  not 
attended  to,  will  produce  bitter  fruits  another  year.  I  know  you  are 
right.  I  know  you  can  appreciate  the  importance  of  allaying  these 
suspicions  by  a  just  and  generous  confidence  towards  some  men  in  the 


86  MEMOIR.  [1840. 

West.  I  do  not  ask  it  myself.  I  saw  that  I  committed  the  unpardon 
able  sin  when  I  consented  to  stand  as  a  candidate  for  the  office  of 
Vice-Chancellor  against  Mr.  Whittlesey.  But  no  person  has  less  rea 
son  to  complain  of  that  result  than  myself. 

Yours,  etc.,  MILLARD  FILLMORE. 

[MR.    WEED   TO    FRANCIS   GRANGER.] 

ALBANY,  February  20,  1840. 

DEAR  GRANGER,  —  Clay  is  truly  a  noble  fellow.  If  Webster  comes 
cordially  up  to  the  work,  we  shall  carry  Massachusetts,  Vermont, 
Connecticut,  Rhode  Island  and,  I  believe,  New  Jersey.  Things  look 
better  than  at  any  former  period. 

March  15,  1840. 

Things  are  getting  easier  here,  but  there  are  a  great  many  dis 
appointed,  disheartened  friends.  Times  are  so  sadly  out  of  joint,  that 
hundreds  of  men,  who,  as  you  say,  would  have  rejected  office  three 
years  ago,  are  now  compelled  to  ask  public  employment.  It  has  been 
a  tremendous  winter.  The  distribution  of  patronage,  but  for  the 
presidential  question,  would  have  greatly  distracted  and  weakened  us. 
As  it  is,  old  Tip  will  carry  us  safely  through  the  woods. 

March  24,  1840. 

But  for  the  presidential  question,  which  will  absorb  all  other  things, 
the  appointments  would  tear  us  to  pieces.  The  State  is  sound,  and 
if  the  legislature  leaves  things  wisely,  there  is  not  a  shadow  of 
doubt  about  the  result.  There  is  far  more  virtue  and  vim  in  log 
cabins  and  hard  cider  than  there  ever  was  in  hickory  poles.  I 
dread  the  registry  question.  It  is  a  Federal  measure,  and  will  be 
regarded  as  a  restriction  of  the  elective  franchise.  Still  the  bill  con 
tains  many  wholesome  and  popular  provisions.  Small  election  dis 
tricts  and  one  day l  would  give  voters  a  fair  chance.  Tell  me  in 
sacred  confidence  how  it  would  do  for  Seward  to  veto  the  registry 
feature,  and  recommend  the  passage  of  the  bill  with  its  acceptable 
provisions.  The  Whig  party  in  the  State  is  almost  unanimously  for 
the  registry.  They  know  it  is  just,  and  think  it  will  be  useful.  The 
veto  would  raise  a  thousand  devils,  but  when  the  smoke  cleared  away, 
what  would  be  the  sober  second  thought  ? 

April  1,  1840. 

Seward  signed  the  Registry  Law  not  only  against  every  sentiment 
of  his  heart,  but  against  his  convictions  as  to  what  was  wise  and  safe. 
I  was  against  the  bill,  but  on  Sunday  saw  a  condition  of  things  which 
1  Until  1842  state  elections  iu  New  York  occupied  tkree  days. 


1840.]  MR.    WEED'S  LETTERS.  87 

assured  me  of  the  immediate  breaking  up  of  the  Whig  party  in  New 
York,  and  of  fatal  dissensions  in  the  legislature.  I  then  urged  him 
to  sign.  Spencer  recommended  a  qualified  veto,  which  would  have 
destroyed  the  bill  without  reason,  and  sent  Seward  to  the  people  de 
fenseless.  The  middle  course  was  as  fatal  as  the  dead  veto.  The 
Whig  Senators  sent  a  committee  to  Seward  Sunday  night.  He  would 
not  abandon  his  ground.  The  Whigs  sent  others  here  Monday  morn 
ing.  He  satisfied  them  that  he  was  right.  Monday  evening  we  had  a 
long  sitting.  I  urged  earnestly  the  precise  reasons  which  I  was  so 
rejoiced  to  find  in  your  letter.  This  morning  they  prevailed,  but 
Seward  was  miserable  all  day.  I  showed  him  your  letter  as  he  was 
going  to  the  Capitol  this  morning.  That  satisfied  liiin  that  he  had 
done  right.  .  .  . 

This  is  all,  as  you  sometimes  say,  "  within  four  walls." 

November  10,  1840. 

The  North  has  done  nobly.  But  the  glorious  West!  .  .  .  The 
"  blessed  spirit "  has  finally  redeemed  the  Republic.  ...  By  the 
redemption  of  this  State  first,  courage  was  given  to  the  Whigs  of 
other  states,  who  have  gone  to  work  and  saved  the  country.  Seward 
will  be  4,000  behind  old  Tip  .  .  .  1,500  on  account  of  Abolition, 
Catholic,  and  Fee  Bill  voters,  and  2,500  because  Van  Buren  was  so 

much  behind  his  ticket I  think  of   going  to  Washington  by 

your  train.     It  is  the  first  time  that  I  ever  wanted  to  see  the  Capitol. 

December  11,  1840. 

I  have  this  moment  read  your  long,  kind  letter,  and  will  not  rise 
from  my  chair  until  I  render  you  the  thanks  of  a  grateful  heart, 
after  which  I  shall  go  home,  read  it  to  my  family,  and  be  guided  by 
your  counsel.  The  years  of  miserable  old  age  and  poverty  endured 
by  Southwick  shall  admonish  me. 

I  have  had,  the  first  time  in  two  years,  a  few  quiet  days,  which 
have  been  delightfully  passed  in  reading  Perry's  Life,  "  Two  Years 
Before  the  Mast,"  and  "  Master  Humphrey's  Clock." 

I  have  an  instinct  which  leads  me  to  expect  that  you  will  receive  a 
call  from  General  Harrison.  Webster  expects  to  take  the  State  De 
partment.  There  is  a  custom  which  seeks  Secretaries  of  the  Navy 
from  New  York  and  New  Jersey.  I  think  it  will  be  followed  as  re 
spects  New  York  now,  and  I  hope  it  will  not  be  declined. 

Yours  faithfully,  THUBLOW  WEED. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
1841-1843. 

CHEERFUL  PROSPECTS.  —  LETTERS  TO  THE  POSTMASTER  GENERAL.  — 
HENRY  CLAY  FOR  PRESIDENT. — MR.  GREELEY'S  PROGRESS.  —  His 
OPINIONS  ON  SEVERAL  QUESTIONS.  —  THE  RURAL  PRESS.  —  PENN 
SYLVANIA  POLITICIANS.  —  DEATH  OF  GENERAL  HARRISON.  —  "  THESE 
VIOLENT  PROCP:EDINGS."  —  WHIG  DEFEATS.  —  CLOSE  OF  MR.  SEWARD'S 
SECOND  TERM  —  AN  OLD  STORY  HETOLD. 

1841.  — There  was  every  prospect  that  President  Harrison's 
administration  would  prove  beneficial  to  the  country.  He  re 
ceived  nearly  four  times  as  many  electoral  votes  as  Mr.  Van 
Buren  ;  he  carried  nearly  all  the  states,  and  the  entire  Whig 
party,  as  well  as  many  Democrats,  were  ready  to  confide  in  his 
motives  and  policy.  After  supporting  Mr.  Van  Buren  for  Gov 
ernor  in  1828,  for  Vice-President  in  1832,  and  for  President 
in  1836,  the  State  of  New  York  now  gave  an  emphatic  Whig 
majority.  It  was  Mr.  Van  Buren's  first  defeat  on  his  own 
soil.  The  vote  polled  for  Mr.  Birney  was  so  trifling  that  it  at 
tracted  no  particular  attention.  In  letters  to  Mr.  Weed,  Gov 
ernor  Patterson  expressed  the  hope  that  Gerrit  Smith,  who,  by 
running  as  a  "  one  idea"  candidate  for  Governor  in  1840,  drew 
some  two  thousand  votes  away  from  Mr.  Seward,  would  try  the 
experiment  again,  or  else  be  brought  forward  as  the  Democratic 
candidate.  "  Had  the  Regency  taken  up  Smith  this  year," 
Governor  Patterson  wrote,  "we  should  have  beaten  them  15,000 
or  20,000."  Mr.  Weed's  friends  were  everywhere  hopeful  and 
jubilant.  There  was  good  ground  for  the  belief  that,  with  wise 
guidance,  the  Whig  party  might  now  enter  upon  a  long  lease 
of  power.  "  Rejoice  with  us,"  wrote  R.  M.  Blatchford  to  Mr. 
Weed.  "We  are  all  crazy  in  New  York.  Such  a  prospect  re 
wards  us  for  all  our  sleepless  and  untiring  efforts." 

[MR.    AVEED    TO    FRANCIS    GRANGER.] 

ALBANY,  February  8,  1841. 

DEAR  GRANGER,  —  I  never  wanted  to  see  you  half  so  intensely  as 
now.  There  are  a  dozen  things  I  want  to  talk  about.  .  .  . 


1841.]    LETTERS   TO   THE  POSTMASTER   GENERAL.         89 

Bloodgood  has  been  here  frequently  and  has  told  me  many  things. 
He  is  as  queer  as  I  have  always  supposed  him.  In  a  few  days  he 
goes  to  Washington,  and  if  not  taken  into  the  fullest  confidence,  will 
be  disappointed.  If  you  should  find  out  that  he  is  opposed  to  your 
going  into  the  Cabinet,  remember  I  did  not  tell  you  so.  ...  I  "  guess  " 
that  efforts  have  been  made  to  induce  a  belief  that  you  were  not  in 
favor  of  General  Harrison's  nomination. 

So  we  must  go  to  the  extra  session.  What  is  to  become  of  us,  if  it 
fails  to  bring  us  relief  ...  if  the  party  is  unable  to  carry  out  its 

measures  ? 

ALBANY,  February  19,  1841. 

So  you  are  to  turn  your  attention  from  the  marine  to  the  mail  de 
partment  ?  Well,  except  that  it  smacks  of  "  low  descent,"  it  is  as  it 
should  be.  If  you  are  as  well  satisfied  as  the  people  with  the  arrange 
ment,  all  is  right.  Our  State  is  deeply  interested  in  the  Post  Office, 
and  your  administration  of  the  affairs  of  that  department  will  be  sure 
to  give  satisfaction.  .  .  .  But  you  will  experience  upon  a  broad  scale 
the  miseries  which  have  been  endured  here  in  a  small  way  for  two 
years. 

February  22,  1841. 

Now  that  you  are  to  be  more  than  ever  a  man  of  letters,  pardon  me 
for  inflicting  a  brief  one  upon  you.  .  .  . 

We  are  exceedingly  delighted  here  to  know  that  General  Harrison's 
Cabinet  will  neither  distract  the  harmony  nor  impair  the  usefulness  of 
his  administration  by  struggles  for  the  succession.  We  have  been 
happy  in  the  prospect  of  uniting  our  energies  at  once  in  favor  of  Mr. 
Clay,  by  the  general  consent  of  the  party.  But  it  has  been  appre 
hended  for  some  time  that  Curtis  would  encounter  the  determined  op 
position  of  Mr.  Clay.  In  talking  with  General  Porter  and  other 
friends,  I  was  induced  to  hope  that  this  apprehension  was  un 
founded.  Curtis  assures  me  that,  although  Clay  expresses  himself 
warmly  against  him,  magnanimity  and  wisdom  will  prevail.  Curtis  is 
the  right  man  for  Collector. 

If  some  other  good  man  is  appointed  for  reasons  different  from 
those  which  excite  MF.  Clay's  hostility,  it  would  do  little  harm,  but 
should  Curtis  fail,  it  will  be  because  he  opposed  Clay's  nomination.  I 
need  not  say  to  you  that  such  a  condition  of  things  would  destroy  us. 
You  know  New  York  Whigs.  You  know  that  in  the  West,  where  our 
strength  lies,  Clay's  nomination  was  opposed,  not  that  the  party  did 
not  want  to  see  him  President,  but  from  an  honest  conviction  that 
causes  over  which  they  had  no  control  would  make  his  election  im 
possible.  And  they  were  right.  With  any  other  man  than  Harrison 
for  our  candidate  last  year,  Van  Buren  would  have  been  reflected.  .  .  . 


90  MEMOIR.  [1841. 

For  fifteen  years  I  have  most  ardently  hoped  to  see  Mr.  Clay  Presi 
dent.  I  as  ardently,  and  with  much  more  confidence,  still  hope  to  see 
him  in  the  executive  chair ;  but  if  he  unwisely  exerts  his  power  to 
punish  a  Whig  who  opposed  his  nomination  in  1839,  but  who  I  know 
has  been  efficiently  engaged  in  clearing  the  course  for  1844,  Mr.  Clay 
must  not  look  for  aid  to  the  Empire  State.  The  Whigs  who  thought 
and  acted  with  Curtis  in  the  campaign  which  has  terminated  so  glori 
ously  will  say  and  know  that  the  blow  which  strikes  him  down  will  not 
spare  them.  I  have  implored  Mitchell  to  warn  Clay  of  the  evil  which 
there  is  danger  he  may  inflict  upon  us  and  upon  himself.  If  the  man 
who  is  most  interested  in  preserving  the  harmony  of  the  party  gratui 
tously  distracts  it,  he  must  take  the  consequences.  .  .  . 

I  trust  in  Providence  that  the  inaugural  is  not  to  breathe  sentiments 
which  will  kindle  opposition.  The  President  should  avoid  shoals  and 
rocks.  It  is  enough  to  characterize  the  measures  of  the  last  adminis 
tration,  and  to  promise  reform.  .  .  .  There  is  a  world  of  anti-slavery 
feeling  to  be  aroused  by  gratuitous  provocation.  For  God's  sake, 
don't  incense  such  an  element. 

I  am  beset  for  letters  to  you.  Will  they  embarrass  you  ?  Shall  I 
write  for  everybody,  or  for  nobody  ? 

March  7,  1841. 

Well,  Granger.  I  have  read  the  inaugural  carefully.  I  know  not 
how  it  will  be  received  by  the  people,  for  I  have  not  ventured  out 
to-day.  There  are  excellent  things  in  it.  All  is  honestly  intended. 

But  there  is  at  least  one  dangerous  paragraph  in  it.  I  refer  to  the 
defense  of  aristocracy.  To  throw  our  political  shield  around  "  wealth 
and  aristocracy,"  to  say  nothing  of  the  bad  taste  of  dragging  "  false 
Christs  "  into  such  an  address,  is  giving  too  great  an  advantage  to  our 
enemy.  .  .  . 

But  enough  of  this.  It  is  to  you  only  that  I  give  words  to  thoughts 
wMch  cost  me  a  sleepless  night.  It  may  be  that  I  am  nervous  and 
that  my  judgment  is  distempered.  If  so,  all  is  well.  I  shall  endeavor 
to  do  my  duty  in  any  case. 

Van  Buren  and  his  gang  are  beaten.  There  is  joy  in  that.  .  .  . 
It  was  done  by  the  honest  uprising  of  an  injured  people.  The  Presi 
dent  is  honest  and  patriotic.  He  has  misjudged  in  not  submitting  this 
document  to  the  correction  of  his  Cabinet.  It  required  the  supervision 
of  men  who  belong  to  the  present  generation,  and  who  would  have 
adapted  it  to  the  occasion.  .  .  .  This  error  can  be  retrieved.  The 
President  has  wise  men  in  his  counsels.  If  he  inclines  to  their  advice, 
all  can  be  redeemed.  .  .  .  The  question  of  non-interference  with  the 
domestic  institutions  of  the  respective  states  is  admirably  discussed. 


1841.]  MR.  GREELETS  PROGRESS.  91 

March  9,  1841. 

The  inaugural  does  not  meet  expectations.  It  is  not  what  was 
needed.  It  gives  the  administration  no  strength.  We  can  lean  on 
it  a  few  weeks,  but  there  must  be  action  then,  or  we  sink.  There 
must  be  something  accomplished  on  which  the  people  can  fasten  their 
hopes.  .  ,  . 

If  Congress  is  called  and  does  not  carry  out  measures  required,  we 
are  dished.  If  that  is  to  be  our  fate  any  how,  why  not  take  the  plunge 
at  once  ?  The  hemlock  will  be  as  palatable  in  May  as  in  December. 
Congress  impracticable  early  will  not  be  less  so  lute.  We  cannot 
stand  eight  months.  The  government  must  move  forward  or  it  will 
fall  back. 

The  Troy  appointment  could  be  made  easier  now  than  at  any  future 
time.  ...  A  wrong  appointment  now  would  go  down  better  than  the 
best  a  month  hence.  You  know  I  think  Clowes  the  best  man.  If  it 
is  not  to  him,  let  the  other  be  appointed,  but  push  ahead.  While  one 
fever  rages  so  hotly  another  cannot  be  got  up.  Derrick  Sibley  tells 
me  he  wants  to  travel.  He  is  efficient  and  intelligent,  as  well  as  right 
politically.  ...  I  inclose  a  line  from  General  King  in  relation  to  one 
of  your  travelers.  I  am  of  opinion  that  the  chap  ought  to  travel  on 
his  own  hook,  or  at  the  expense  of  the  gentleman  from  Kinder-hook. 
Yours  faithfully,  THURLOW  WEED. 

Under  Mr.  Greeley  the  "  Log  Cabin  "  was  a  great  success  as 
a  campaign  organ.  While  the  excitement  lasted  it  was,  indeed, 
even  more  popular  than  Mr.  Weed's  paper,  as  it  was  intended 
that  it  should  be.  Mr.  Greeley  won  a  good  deal  of  deserved 
reputation  for  his  connection  with  the  enterprise,  and,  for  the 
first  time  in  his  life  with  cash  in  bank,  now  began  "  to  feel  quite 
snug  and  comfortable." 

[MB.    GREELEY  TO    MR.    WEED.] 

NEW  YORK,  January  27,  1841. 

DEAR  WEED,  —  I  am  doing  better  now.  In  fact,  I  begin  to  feel 
quite  snug  and  comfortable,  and  am  able  to  look  bank  cashiers  full  in 
the  face.  If  I  mind  my  business  pretty  thoroughly  hereafter,  I  think 
I  shall  get  along. 

I  suppose  you  and  Benedict,  with  others  at  Albany,  thought  it 
wrong  that  I  went  on  with  the  "  Cabin,"  but  I  wanted  to  print  the 
paper  a  single  year  for  my  own  sake.  I  feel  that  my  honor  and  char 
acter —  what  there  are  of  them  —  are  pledged  to  this  thing:  that  the 
Whigs  will  act  in  power  as  they  have  talked  out  of  power ;  that  they 
will  honestly  reform  abuses,  abolish  useless  offices,  retrench  exorbitant 
salaries,  and  show  by  their  whole  conduct  that  they  are  not  Tories.  .  .  . 


92  MEMOIR.  [1841. 

As  for  the  country  press,  two  thirds  of  it  is  a  nuisance  and  a  posi 
tive  curse,  —  a  mere  mouthpiece  for  demagogues,  who  are  ravenous 
for  spoils.  This  is  a  sad  truth,  but  it  is  a  truth  none  the  less.  What 

good  have  such  papers  as ,  —  — ,  — - — ,  and  many  more  of  that 

stamp  done  us  ?  IS' one  at  all,  unless  it  be  an  advantage  to  be  reduced 
to  a  level  with  the  lowest  of  our  opponents.  I  do  believe  they  are  all 
a  positive  injury,  —  that  any  paper  in  bad  or  injudicious  hands  is  so. 
I  know  this  is  not  the  common  opinion,  but  I  have  not  hastily  adopted 
it.  The  jealousy  about  the  "  Log  Cabin  "  is  not  so  much  induced  by 
its  circulation  as  its  character ;  it  is  in  that  respect  that  comparisons 
are  most  "  odorous."  These  same  jealous  gentlemen  all  aid  to  flood 
our  State  with  medleys  of  murder,  rape,  and  rascality,  all  much  lower 
than  the  "  Cabin  "  at  its  lowest  price  ($1  by  the  quantity),  of  which 
ten  times  as  many  are  taken  in  this  State  as  of  the  "  Cabin."  Every 
one  of  these  not  only  does  us  no  good  politically,  but  is  morally  un 
sound,  and  tends  to  unfit  its  readers  for  earnest  consideration  of  pub 
lic  affairs. 

I  received  this  morning  a  flattering  letter  from  Mr.  Sterritt,  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Senate,  saying  that  he  believed  a  bill  could  readily  be 
passed,  creating  the  office  of  state  printer  for  that  State,  and  that  I 
could  be  made  such  printer,  if  I  would  consent,  —  which  he  urged  me 
to  do.  I  have  declined  his  offer,  or  rather  the  prospect  held  out  to 
me.  I  know  some  of  the  Pennsylvania  politicians  too  well.  They 
are  more  rapacious  and  unprincipled,  if  possible,  than  politicians  in 
general. 

I  wish  Seward  could  begin  his  life  as  Governor  once  more.  I  think 
with  his  present  experience  he  would  start  just  right :  inquire  who  was 
most  deserving  of  office,  instead  of  who  was  most  importunate  ;  deal 
frankly  with  all  men,  and  never  give  a  promise  or  encouragement  of 
office  until  he  had  resolved  to  fulfill  the  expectation.  I  am  more  and 
more  convinced  that  this  is  the  only  policy,  however  hard  to  abide  by. 
...  I  did  not  know  that  the  "  Cabin  "  was  not  regularly  sent  to  you, 
until  I  received  yours  this  morning.  I  did  think  you  had  forgotten 
me,  but  that  I  do  not  cry  about.  I  send  on  the  "  Cabin,"  as  I  had  or 
dered  it  sent  from  the  beginning. 

NEW  YORK,  February  19,  1841. 

I  assure  you  that  the  doctrines  of  Fourier  —  I  mean  his  fundamen 
tal  position  with  regard  to  the  Economics  of  Association  —  have  re 
ceived  the  assent  of  some  of  the  strongest  and  most  practical  minds  of 
this  city  and  elsewhere.  Clerk  Garland  of  the  U.  S.  House,  General 
Keim,  M.  C.  from  Berks,  G.  A.  Worth,  cashier  of  City  Bank,  Alder 
man  Phoenix,  and  many  other  sound  men,  are  favorably  impressed 
with  it. 


1841.]  DEATH  OF  GENERAL  HARRISON.  93 

I  think  you  take  the  wrong  view  of  the  political  bearing  of  this  mat 
ter,  though  I  act  without  reference  to  that.  Hitherto  all  the  devotees 
of  social  reform  of  any  kind,  all  the  advocates  of  a  higher  destiny  for 
labor,  all  the  combatants  against  unjust  and  false  social  principles,  in 
short,  all  the  social  discontent  of  the  country  has  been  regularly  re 
pelled  from  the  Whig  party  and  attracted  to  its  opposite.  This  forms 
a  heavy  dead-weight  against  us.  It  strikes  me  that  it  is  unwise  to  per 
sist  in  this  course,  unless  we  are  ambitious  to  be  considered  the  ene 
mies  of  improvement  and  the  bulwarks  of  an  outgrown  aristocracy  in 
the  country.  But  I  will  not  ask  you  to  think  as  I  do.  I  only  want  a 
chance  to  think  for  myself. 

We  have  nothing  new  here  in  politics,  but  large  and  numerous 
swarms  of  office-hunting  locusts  sweeping  on  to  Washington  daily. 
All  the  rotten  land  speculators,  broken  bank  directors,  swindling  cash 
iers,  etc.,  etc.,  are  in  full  cry  for  office,  office,  and  even  so  humble  a 
man  as  I  am  is  run  down  for  letters,  letters.  "  None  of  your  half 
way  things.  Write  strong."  Curse  their  nauseous  impudence  !  Some 
of  them  I  give  such  a  blessing  as  will  stick  in  their  crops  these  many 
days  ;  some  of  them,  God  knows  most  reluctantly,  I  give  letters,  be 
cause  I  can't  help  it.  I  've  a  good  mind  to  advertise  in  the  "  National 
Intelligencer  ""that  all  persons  are  forbid  harboring  or  trusting  office- 
seekers  on  my  account  after  this  date.  Shall  we  never  be  rid  of  this 
infernal  rush  for  spoils  ?  My  soul  is  sick  of  it. 

Yours,  H.  GREELEY. 

Immediately  after  his  election  General  Harrison  sent  for  Mr. 
Weed  to  discuss  the  formation  of  the  Cabinet  and  the  advisa 
bility  of  an  extra  session,  at  which  measures  might  be  framed  to 
meet  existing  problems.  On  the  4th  of  March,  1841,  General 
Harrison  began  his  presidential  term.  One  month  later,  on  the 
4th  of  April,  he  died,  and  Mr.  Tyler  became  his  successor. 

The  death  of  General  Harrison  was  a  blow  from  which  the 
Whig  party  might  have  rallied  easily,  had  Mr.  Tyler  accepted 
the  presidency  as  a  trust  to  be  administered  in  conformity  with 
the  policy  of  his  predecessor.  The  country  had  no  doubt  at 
first  but  that  such  would  be  Mr.  Tyler's  inflexible  determina 
tion.  Congress  met  in  special  session  in  May,  under  a  call  is 
sued  by  President  Harrison  in  March.  The  Whigs,  who  were 
in  a  majority,  sought  at  once  to  carry  into  operation  relief  meas 
ures  proposed  in  their  platform  and  demanded  by  the  people. 
The  first  of  these  was  signed  by  the  President.  The  second  he 
vetoed. 


94  MEMOIR.  [1841. 

[MR.  GREELEY  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

NEW  YORK,  May  10,  1841. 

FRIEND  WEED,  —  I  am  getting  ahead  very  well,  but  thus  far  I 
have  not  had  thirty  dollars'  worth  of  advertising  from  Whigs,  as  such, 
though  I  had  expected  to  have. 

I  do  think  I  ought  to  have,  especially,  their  patronage.  I  don't 
want  to  beg  any  of  it  and  shall  not,  but  it  might  do  to  keep  me 
alive  till  the  best  kind  comes.  I  think  you  might  be  willing  to  ask 
Granger  to  give  me  some  of  his  printing  for  this  city,  if  no  one  has  a 
stronger  claim.  He  might  give  me  his  blanks.  I  would  do  them  as 
cheap  as  anybody  else.  I  won't  ask  him  for  this,  and  I  hate  to  have 
anybody  else,  but  I  shall  have  a  hard  fight  to  live  through  the  summer 
without  some  help  of  the  kind.  I  ought  to  have  the  lists  of  letters 
and  trust  I  may  yet. 

I  was  offered  fifty  dollars  if  I  would  move  into  Wall  St.  It  would 
give  me  advantages,  but  probably  not  increased  popularity  for  my 
paper.  I  think  I  shall  not  try  it. 

Between  us,  Webster  can't  hold  on  till  December  ;  mark  my  words. 
You  have  heard  of  his  appointment  of  a  Mr.  -  as  ^inspector  here, 
and  possibly  of  his  making  -  forwarder  of  dispatches,  and  rais 
ing  the  salary  from  $800  to  $1,200.  He  owes  $100,000  to  the  U.  S. 
Bank  and  has  overdrawn  his  account  $28,000. 


YORK,  June  20,  1841. 
...  I  am  getting  on  as  well  as  I  know  how  with  the  "  Trib 
une,"  though  not  so  well  as  I  expected  or  wished.  Stone's  paper  had 
the  lists  of  letters  yesterday.  That  is  the  unkindest  cut  of  all.  It  is 
worth  $1,000  a  year,  and  would  be  a  clear  advantage  of  so  much.  I 
shall  try  hard  to  get  it  when  we  have  a  Whig  Postmaster.  Who 
has  a  better  claim  ? 

Yours,  H.  GREELEY. 

The  Whigs  were  now  beginning  to  realize  what  a  costly  mis 
take  they  made  when  Mr.  Tyler  was  nominated.  It  seemed 
impossible  for  the  President  to  shake  off  his  factional  affilia 
tions  at  the  South  and  act  for  a  party,  narrow  and  timid  in  cer 
tain  ways,  it  must  be  granted,  but  still  embodying  a  great  share 
of  the  liberality  and  enlightenment  of  the  nation.  Preliminary 
outcroppings  of  his  political  tendencies  caused  grave  anxiety. 
Conservative  Whigs  called  011  Mr.  Tyler  and  suggested  that  it 
might  be  well  for  him  to  outline  a  financial  measure  which 
would  receive  his  approval.  He  outlined  such  an  act,  it  was 


1841.]  "  THESE    VIOLENT  PROCEEDINGS:1  95 

passed  by  the  Whig  majority  in  Congress,  and  then  it  was  ve 
toed.  Thus  things  went  on  from  bad  to  worse,  until,  finally, 
the  President  openly  abandoned  principles  which  he  had  been 
elected  to  advance  and  typify.  All  the  members  of  the  Cabinet, 
except  Mr.  Webster,  resigned,  and  Mr.  Tyler  was  indignantly 
repudiated,  first  by  Whigs  and  then  by  Democrats.  "  Some  of 
our  friends,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed  to  the  Postmaster  General,  "  are 
hopeful  that  things  will  come  out  all  right,  but  I  am  forced  to 
contemplate  the  other  alternative.  Pray  close  up  department 
business  as  far  as  is  proper.  Give  Calhoun  of  Oswego  his 
place.  Arrange  Hudson,  Troy,  Utica,  Syracuse,  Oswego,  Au 
burn,  Ithaca,  Rochester,  and  Buffalo.  Do  this  without  fail  and 
soon.  There  is  much  and  increased  irritation,  to  allay  which  we 
must  have  time  before  the  election."  So  long  as  there  was  a 
living  chance  of  saving  the  administration  and  the  party,  it  was 
embraced  by  Mr.  Weed  and  by  those  with  whom  he  acted.  But 
when  it  became  plain  that  the  President  had  ceased  to  be  a 
Whig,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  Mr.  Weed  attacked  the  ad 
ministration  savagely. 

[MR.    GREELEY    TO    MR.    WEED.] 

NEW  YORK,  September  15,  1841. 

DEAR  WEED,  —  I  am  distressed  at  the  sight  of  your  paper.  Ev 
ery  number  seems  to  proclaim  that  we  are  lost.  I  pray  you  give  us 
a  good,  rousing  leader,  calling  on  the  Whigs  of  doubtful  counties 
to  rally  desperately  for  the  saving  of  the  State.  .  .  .  Ulster  is  not 
lost.  $200  well  applied  might  save  it.  Richmond  and  Kings  are  se 
cure.  .  .  . 

Do  look  over  one  of  your  old  files  of  1837,  1838,  or  1839,  and  give 
us  something  in  the  same  spirit.  The  Assembly  may  even  yet  be 
saved.  I  have  great  hopes  of  six  members  here,  if  the  Irish  are  true. 
In  haste,  yours,  H.  GREELEY. 

[THE  SECRETARY  OF  STATE  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  September  20,  1841. 
DEAR  SIR,  —  Blatchford  has  sent  me  your  letter. 
These  violent  proceedings  will  ruin  us  —  ruin  us  most  unmercifully. 
Two  days  ago  your  letter  to  Lyman  was  read  to  the  President  and 
highly  approved.     And  now  —  your  Paper  ! 

Well,  we  shall  stand  steady  here,  let  the  storm  beat  ever  so  hard. 
All  was  going  well,  as  you  will  see  by  appointments  announced  to- 


96  MEMOIR.  [1842. 

morrow.     Other  things  were  in  the  same  train.     I  fear  now  all  are 
thrown  back. 

What  do  you  mean  by  Barker's  appointment  ?  He  is  appointed  to 
nothing  and  nominated  to  nothing  nor  intended  to  be  nominated  to 
anything. 

Pray,  have  people  all  lost  their  senses  ? 

Yours  truly,  D.  WEBSTER. 

1 842.  —  Thus  the  triumph  of  the  Whigs  was  short  lived. 
After  sweeping  the  country  like  a  whirlwind  in  1840,  they 
found  themselves  in  1841  under  a  President  whose  power  for 
harm  was  far  greater  than  that  ever  possessed  by  Andrew  Jack 
son  or  Martin  Van  Bur  en. 

"  We  are  in  a  bad  fix  "  wrote  Mr.  Fillmore  to  Mr.  Weed, 
in  January.  "  I  fear  the  party  must  break  up  from  its  very 
foundations.  There  is  no  cohesive  principle,  —  no  common 
head.  Tyler  and  the  Locos  have  been  coquetting  for  a  long 
time.  They  do  not  want  him  yet,  but  simply  keep  up  the 
breach  between  him  and  the  Whigs.  I  think  they  will  suc 
ceed."  In  June  Mr.  Fillmore  continued  :  "  Captain  l  Tyler,  in 
his  recent  unnecessary  and  fool-hardy  veto,  has  broken  the  last 
link  that  bound  him  to  the  Whigs,  and  has  gone  over  soul  and 
body  to  the  Locos.  ...  I  have  just  received  the  two  inclosed 
slips  in  which  I  am  very  unexpectedly  named  for  the  vice-presi 
dency.  Of  course  I  regard  them  only  as  a  passing  compliment 
from  an  unknown  hand." 

Mr.  Weed  watched  as  with  a  parent's  solicitude  the  develop 
ment  of  the  young  editor  whose  capacity  for  usefulness  he  had 
been  first  to  appreciate.  Through  these  years  Mr.  Greeley  was 
engrossed  in  building  up  the  New  York  "  Tribune,"  founded  by 
him  in  the  spring  of  1841.  His  industry  was  marvelous  ;  but 
he  lacked  judgment.  Mr.  Weed  labored  with  all  his  power  to 
counteract  some  of  the  unfortunate  tendencies  in  his  friend. 
He  exposed  the  folly  of  "  table-rapping,"  "  Brook  Farms,"  and 
various  "  isms,"  by  which  Mr.  Greeley  was  from  time  to  time 
misled.  Sometimes  their  interviews  led  to  happy  results,  but 
oftener  Mr.  Greeley  declined  to  be  "  controlled."  In  one  of  his 
letters  he  says  :  "Coming  from  you,  this  seems  like  the  correc- 

1  For  a  long  time  this  was  the  derisive  title  applied  to  the  President  by 
his  opponents  in  the  Whig  party. 


1842.]  A   PATHETIC  LETTER.  97 

tion  of  a  school-boy  by  his  master.  Coming-  from  another,  I 
would  think  it  insufferable  impudence."  His  letters  are  earnest 
and  pathetic.  It  seems  to  have  given  him  real  pain  to  feel  that 
he  and  Mr.  Weed  were  so  differently  constituted. 

[MR.    GKEELEY   TO  ME.  WEED.] 

NEW  YORK,  September  10,  1842. 

FRIEND  WEED,  —  I  rise  early  from  a  bed  of  sleepless  thought  to  ex 
plain  my  position  to  you.  I  trust  it  is  now  understood,  as  I  thought  it 
had  been  before,  that  we  differ  radically  on  the  Bank  question,  and  I 
begin  to  fear  we  do  on  the  general  policy  and  objects  of  political  con 
troversy. 

But  this  is  not  the  main  point  on  which  I  am  moved  to  address  you. 
You  have  pleased  on  several  occasions  to  take  me  to  task  for  differing 
from  you,  however  reluctantly  and  temperately,  as  though  such  condi 
tions  were  an  evidence,  not  merely  of  weakness  on  my  part,  but  of 
some  black  ingratitude,  or  heartless  treachery.  I  cannot  realize  that 
there  have  been  any  series  of  obligations  between  us  which  render  it 
proper  in  you  to  assume  so  complete  a  mastery  over  my  opinions  and 
actions.  I  believe  there  never  were  any  pecuniary  transactions  between 
us,  and  that  you  have  never  suffered  by  me  in  any  way.  I  have  surely 
never  desired  offices  of  distinction,  avenues  to  fortune,  at  your  hands. 

You  sought  me  out  for  our  first  interview,  and  if  I  have  not  since 
been  as  useful  to^you  as  you  to  me,  the  fault  has  been  through  my  want 
of  ability.  I  have  given,  I  have  ever  been  ready  to  give  you  any  ser 
vice  within  my  power ;  but  my  understanding,  my  judgment,  my  con 
sciousness  of  convictions,  of  duty  and  public  good,  these  I  can  surren 
der  to  no  man.  You  wrong  yourself  in  asking  them,  and  in  taking  me 
to  task  like  a  school-boy,  for  expressing  my  sentiments  respectfully 
when  they  differ  from  yours.  However  deep  my  obligations,  I  cannot 
pay  in  these.  I  am  ever  ready  to  defer  to  your  superior  experience 
and  judgment,  —  only  convince  me  that  I  am  wrong  on  any  point,  but 
do  not  assume  to  dictate  or  lecture  me.  Do  not  ask  me  to  forget  that 
I,  too,  am  a  man  ;  that  I  must  breathe  free  air,  or  be  stifled. 

Let  me  now  hope  that  for  the  future  we  understand  each  other  bet 
ter.  I  would  hope,  also,  that  we  may  be  still  friends,  in  spite  of  the 
significant  intimation  you  gave  me,  at  the  close  of  our  conversation ; 
but  if  I  can  only  enjoy  your  friendship  on  terms  of  humiliation,  let  us 
be  strangers  henceforth.  I  trust  we  can  never  be  enemies,  but  better 
anything  than  I  should  feel  the  weight  of  chains  about  my  neck,  that 
I  should  write  and  act  with  an  eye  to  any  man's  pleasure,  rather  than 
to  the  highest  good. 

I  am  weary  enough  of  my  excited  life.  I  long  for  rest  and  a  kind- 
7 


98  MEMOIR.  [1842. 

lier  atmosphere,  but  while  I  remain  where  I  am,  I  cannot  afford  to  de 
spise  myself.  Besides,  I  owe  what  little  chances  for  usefulness  I  may 
have  to  the  impression  that  I  do  no  man's  bidding,  but  speak  out  my 
own  honest  thoughts. 

Henceforth,  I  pray  you,  differ  from  me  when  you  see  occasion,  favor 
me  in  nothing,  treat  me  as  you  do  others. 

Frankly,  sadly  yours,  H.  GREELEY. 

[MR.  CLAY    TO    MR.    WEED.] 

ASHLAND,  September  12,  1842. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  am  sorry  that  I  cannot  accept  the  invitation 
which  you  did  me  the  favor  to  transmit,  and  to  which  the  inclosed  is 
an  answer. 

My  friends  in  Indiana  would  take  no  denial  to  their  demand  that  I 
would  fulfill  an  old  engagement  to  visit  the  capital  of  their  State,  to 
which  I  go  on  the  5th  of  October.  And  in  the  mean  time  the  Whigs 
of  Ohio  have  fixed  one  of  the  two  days  of  your  fair  for  a  barbecue  to 
the  Whigs  of  Kentucky,  at  Dayton,  which  I  have  promised  to  attend,  as 
an  humble  citizen  of  the  latter  State. 

They  are  very  confident  of  success  in  Ohio  in  October,  and  I  think 
with  much  ground  of  hope.  Should  the  Whigs  achieve  a  triumph 
there,  and  your  anticipations  are  realized  in  New  York,  the  victory  of 
1844  will  eclipse  that  of  '40. 

Do  me  the  favor  to  present  my  respects  to  Governor  Seward. 

With  constant  regard  and  esteem,  H.  CLAY. 

Demoralized  and  distracted  by  Mr.  Tyler's  mismanagement, 
the  Whig  party  was  easily  overcome  in  the  fall  elections  of  1842. 
In  New  York  William  C.  Bouck,  Democrat,  became  Mr.  Sew- 
ard's  successor. 

[MR.    SEWARD    TO    MR.    WEED.] 

ALBANY,  December  31,  1842. 

MY  DEAR  WEED,  —  The  end  has  come  at  last.  My  successor  and 
the  new  year  are  here  together.  He  has  the  keys  and  the  seal,  and 
I  have  recollections  and  reflections.  Those  which  crowd  upon  me  are 
different  from  what  I  anticipated.  I  looked  for  ennui,  if  not  for  regret, 
but  there  is  nothing  of  this.  The  thousand  perils  through  which  I 
have  passed,  the  thousand  enemies  by  whom  I  have  been  opposed,  the 
hundreds  by  whom  I  have  been  hated,  and  the  men  whom  I  have 
unavoidably  or  imprudently  offended  rise  up  before  me  ;  and  yet,  if 
friends  who  never  flattered  when  I  had  power  are  not  false  now  when 
I  am  powerless,  I  am  more  than  safe.  My  public  career  is  honorably 


1843.]      CLOSE    OF  MR.    SEWARD'S  SECOND   TERM.  99 

closed,  and  I  am  yet  young  enough,  if  a  reasonable  age  is  allotted  me, 
to  repair  all  the  waste  of  private  fortune  it  has  cost.  Gratitude  to 
God,  and  gratitude  and  affection  toward  my  friends,  and  most  of  all 
to  you,  my  first  and  most  efficient  and  most  devoted  friend,  oppresses 
me. 

"What  am  I  to  deserve  such  friendship  and  affection  ?  Without  your 
aid  how  hopeless  would  have  been  my  prospect  of  reaching  the  eleva 
tion  from  which  I  am  descending.  How  could  I  have  sustained  my 
self  there  ;  how  could  I  have  avoided  the'  assaults  to  which  I  have 
been  exposed  ;  how  could  I  have  secured  the  joyous  reflections  of  this 
hour,  what  would  have  been  my  prospect  of  future  life,  but  for  the 
confidence  I  so  undenyingly  reposed  on  your  affection  ? 

I  have  need  of  many  things.  Yet  it  is  not  in  my  heart  to  ask  for 
anything  but  blessings  on  you  and  yours,  and  for  myself  that  I  may 
be  saved  from  the  crime  of  ingratitude. 

Yours  faithfully,  WILLIAM  H.   SEWARD. 

Shortly  after  the  close  of  his  second  term,  Governor  Seward 
wrote :  — 

AUBURN,  January  13,  1843. 

MY  DEAR  WEED,  —  All  excesses  leave  a  train  of  penances.  Those 
Rathbone  notes  fall  due  about  this  time.  I  am  ashamed  to  confess 
that  as  to  one  of  them  I  don't  know  when  or  where,  any  more  than  I 
can  tell  how,  it  is  to  be  paid.  If  you  will  arrange  the  matter,  and  ad 
vise  me  of  the  manner  in  which  the  blanks,  etc.,  are  filled,  I  will  en 
deavor  hereafter  to  relieve  your  slate  of  the  charge.  Sad  as  the  times 
are  and  huge  the  undertaking,  I  will  try  to  pay  them  all  off,  with  as 
long  a  time  to  work  in  as  Walter  Scott  had  to  pay  his  creditors. 

Faithfully  yours,  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 

How  significant  these  few  lines,  sent  in  private  to  a  friend, 
just  after  the  writer  had  been  Governor  of  the  State  for  four 
years  ! 

In  connection  with  Mr.  Seward's  executive  service  there  used 
to  be  told  a  good  story,  which  had  wide  circulation,  and  which 
was  enjoyed  by  no  one  more  than  by  the  Governor  himself. 

While  journeying  about  the  State  Mr.  Seward  was  fond  of 
accosting  all  sorts  of  people,  with  whom  he  discussed  public 
measures,  without  disclosing  his  own  identity.  It  was  safe  to 
resort  to  this  in  districts  removed  from  the  ordinary  route  of 
travel. 

On  one  of  his  trips  the  Governor  was  passing  through  a  far 


\ 


100  MEMOIR.  [1843. 

western  county,  and,  as  was  his  custom,  rode  on  top  of  the 
stage,  by  the  side  of  the  driver.  He  took  a  lively  interest  in  all 
that  was  passing,  and  constantly  plied  his  companion  with  ques 
tions.  He  wanted  to  know  about  the  crops,  facilities  of  trans 
portation,  the  population  of  each  hamlet,  who  kept  the  taverns, 
who  were  the  leading  politicians,  what  was  the  condition  of 
churches,  schools,  poor-houses,  etc. 

Finally  it  came  the  driver's  turn  to  ask  questions,  and,  in 
flamed  with  curiosity  to  know  who  this  inquisitive  passenger 
was,  he  began  :  — 

"  You  are  a  merchant,  I  suppose  ?  " 

"  No,  sir,"  said  the  Governor,  "  I  am  not  a  merchant." 

"  A  lecturer,  then  ?  " 

"  No,  sir,  I  am  not  a  lecturer." 

"  A  minister  ?  "  t 

"  No,  sir." 

After  a  few  minutes,  the  driver  said,  "  You  must  be  a  big 
grain  buyer." 

"  No,  sir,  I  am  not." 

"  Then  I  know  what  you  are  ;  you  must  be  a  lawyer,  or  you 
would  n't  ask  so  many  questions." 

"  That  is  not  my  business  at  present." 

"  Who  are  you,  then  ?  "  finally  exclaimed  the  driver,  unable 
longer  to  restrain  the  direct  inquiry. 

"  I  am  Governor  of  this  State." 

It  was  asking  a  good  deal  of  the  driver  to  expect  him  to  be 
lieve  that.  He  showed  his  incredulity. 

"  Well,"  said  Mr.  Seward,  "  suppose  you  wait  until  the  stage 
gets  to  the  next  town.  I  know  the  landlord  there,  and  he  can 
identify  me." 

"  He  won't  say  you  're  the  Governor,  I  '11  bet  a  dollar." 

Soon  afterwards  the  stage  drew  up  in  front  of  the  next  tav 
ern,  and  walking  up  to  the  landlord,  who  stood  among  a  crowd 
of  loungers  on  the  steps,  Mr.  Seward  said  :  — 

"  See  here,  Mr.  Tompkins,  you  know  me,  do  you  not  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,  I  do." 

"  Well  then,  this  driver  is  not  willing  to  believe  that  I  am 
Governor  of  New  York." 

"  Stick  to  it,  John,"  said  the  tavern-keeper.  "  I  don't  be 
lieve  it  either." 


1843.]  AN  OLD  STORY  RETOLD.  101 

"  What !  "  exclaimed  Mr.  Seward,  in  astonishment.     "  Then 
who  is  Governor  ?  " 
"  Thurlow  Weed  !  "  1 

1  Though  this  incident  never  occurred,  the  story  was  so  accordant  with 
his  habit  of  riding  outside  to  smoke,  and  with  the  popular  understanding 
of  his  relations  with  Mr.  Weed,  that  it  was  generally  accepted  as  true. 
Seward  himself  used  laughingly  to  relate  it,  and  say  that,  though  it  was  not 
quite  true,  it  ought  to  be.  —  F.  W.  Seward's  Life  of  Wm.  H.  Seward,  p.  395. 


I 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

1843. 

SCENES  IN  EUROPE.  —  BISHOP  HUGHES.  —  MR.  SCHOOLCRAFT.  —  FATHER 
MATHEW.  —  POVERTY  IN  IRELAND.  —  DANIEL  O'CONNELL.  —  A  MASS 
MEETING  ON  DONNYBROOK  GREEN.  —  SIGHTS  IN  LONDON.  —  ST.  PAUL'S. 
—  FIRST  GLIMPSE  OF  ROYALTY.  —  FRANKLIN'S  BOARDING-HOUSE.  — 
SCOTLAND.  —  ABBOTSFORD.  —  MELROSE.  —  PARIS.  —  THE  TOMB  OF  LA 
FAYETTE.  —  LETTERS  TO  WIFE  AND  DAUGHTER. 

WEARIED  by  twenty-five  years  of  incessant  political  activity 
and  thoroughly  disheartened  by  the  demoralization  of  his  party, 
Mr.  Weed  determined,  early  in  1843,  to  gratify  his  love  for 
travel  by  making  a  visit  to  Europe. 

He  wrote  to  his  friend  Alvah  Hunt,  afterwards  State  Senator, 
asking  him  to  join  in  the  project.  Mr.  Hunt  replied  that  he 
was  unable  to  go,  adding,  "  but  this  invitation  from  you  is 
worth  more  to  me  than  a  seat  in  Congress." 

After  engaging  passage,  Mr.  Weed  called  upon  his  friend 
Bishop  Hughes 1  for  letters  of  introduction.  Learning  the  name 
of  the  vessel  in  which  rooms  had  been  engaged  and  the  day  of 
sailing,  the  Bishop  replied  that  such  letters  as  he  had  to  give 
would  be  sent  to  the  ship.  On  the  7th  of  June,  when  Mr.  Weed 
stepped  upon  the  deck,  he  was  both  surprised  and  delighted  to 
find  the  Bishop  among  the  passengers.  Father  De  Smet,  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  the  late  Archbishop  Purcell,  and  Mr.  John  L. 
Schoolcraft,2  completed  the  party. 

1  Mr.  Weed  has  told  how  his  intimacy  with  Bishop  Hughes  began.     It 
remains  only  to  add  that  the  school  bill,  in  support  of  which  they  united 
with  Governor  Seward,  has  been  in  salutary  operation  for  forty-three  years, 
conferring  the  blessings  of  education  upon  thousands  of  destitute  and  neg 
lected  children,  who  have  grown  to  be  useful  citizens,  instead  of  becoming 
inmates  of  almshouses  and  penitentiaries. 

2  Mr.  Schoolcraft  was  a  leading  merchant  in  Albany,  and  for  many  years 
president  of  the  Commercial  Bank.     Somewhat  younger  than  Mr.  Weed,  he 
was  always  a  close  political  follower  and  a  warm  personal  friend.     In  1848 
he  was  elected  to  Congress,  and  reflected  in  1850.     His  good  sense,  sound 


1843.]  SCENES  IN  EUROPE.  103 

Toward  evening,  on  the  28th  of  June,  as  the  packet  lay-to  off 
the  Irish  coast,  a  row-boat  came  alongside,  and  Mr.  Weed  left 
the  ship  with  his  friends,  reaching  Courtrnacsherry  at  sunset. 
Of  course  the  arrival  in  this  obscure  town  of  so  many  strangers, 
with  a  formidable  array  of  luggage,  created  quite  a  stir.  When 
it  was  known  that  bishops  from  America  were  among  the  vis 
itors,  local  agitators  gathered  about  the  group,  and  the  constab 
ulary  were  highly  excited.  But,  after  an  examination,  no  con 
cealed  weapons  were  discovered,  and  the  tourists  were  permitted 
to  go  to  supper.  The  night  was  spent  by  the  bishops  with  the 
resident  priest ;  Mr.  Weed  and  Mr.  Schoolcraft  accepted  the 
invitation  of  the  commandant  of  the  coast-guard  to  occupy  a 
bed  in  his  house. 

Early  in  the  morning  the  party  set  out  in  a  jaunting  car  for 
Cork,  which  was  reached  after  driving  thirty  miles.  Thence 
Mr.  Weed  went  to  Dublin,  where  he  met  Daniel  O'Connell, 
whom  he  accompanied  to  a  great  demonstration  at  Donnybrook 
Green.  He  then  went  to  England,  and  afterwards  visited  Scot 
land  and  France. 

"At  Cork,"  he  wrote,  "I  hastened  to  pay  my  respects  to  the 
Kev.  Theobald  Mathew.  There  were  a  large  number  of  peo 
ple  assembled  in  his  rooms,  waiting  to  take  the  pledge.  In 
about  ten  minutes  Father  Mathew  arrived.  When  introduced 
as  an  American  he  gave  me  both  hands  cordially  and  kindly. 
.  .  .  Both,  sexes,  old  and  young,  knelt  around  the  reformer, 
who  in  the  most  persuasive  and  affectionate  manner  enjoined 
upon  them  to  abstain  from  intoxicating  drinks.  They  rose,  joy 
and  gratitude  beaming  from  their  eyes,  received  their  certifi 
cates  and  medals,  and  went  their  way  rejoicing.  I  looked  upon 
this  scene  with  deep  emotion,  and  would  not  exchange  the  lux 
ury  of  feeling  it  inspired  for  a  view  of  the  proudest  pageant 
Europe  can  present.  After  the  people  were  dismissed,  Father 
Mathew  entered  warmly  into  conversation  about  the  United 
States.  When  informed  that  Bishop  Hughes  was  my  fellow- 
passenger,  he  took  my  arm,  and  started  immediately  for  the 
hotel,  where  he  remained  with  us  for  an  hour. 

judgment,  and  unswerving  fidelity  rendered  him  a  useful  member  of  the 
House  and  a  valued  adviser  in  party  councils.  Reserved  in  conversation, 
and  modest  even  to  diffidence,  only  his  intimate  friends  could  fully  appre 
ciate  his  many  estimable  traits  of  character. 


104  MEMOIR.  [1843. 

"  By  far  the  most  painful  scenes  I  have  witnessed  are  in  the 
crowds  of  wretched  poor  who  surround  and  beleaguer  strangers, 
imploring  charity  by  every  gesture  of  supplication.  Whenever 
our  coach  stops  it  is  beset  by  the  miserable  and  the  maimed, 
whose  piteous  appeals  for  relief  would  melt  adamant.  Nor  are 
these  cases  of  unreal  suffering.  The  distress  is  as  appalling  as 
the  supplications  are  eloquent ;  and  the  bestowal  of  a  penny  or 
even  a  half-penny  confers  so  much  happiness  that  it  is  a  luxury 
to  give.  At  one  place,  after  my  copper  coin  was  exhausted,  half 
a  dozen  women,  in  whose  faces  want  and  sickness  had  made 
deep  furrows,  were  so  importunate  that  I  told  them  I  could 
give  them  no  more  for  the  want  of  change.  In  reply  they  said : 
'  If  you  can  spare  sixpence  we  will  divide  it  among  ourselves.' 
One  of  them  received  the  bit,  got  it  changed,  and  as  the  coach 
was  starting  all  came  to  give  me  their  blessing.  If,  as  I  be 
lieve,  these  small  alms  go  to  feed  the  famishing  in  squalid 
hovels,  it  is  a  cheap  way  of  mitigating  human  misery." 

Mr.  Weed  reached  Dublin  on  the  22d  of  July.  Daniel 
O'Connell  arrived  in  the  city  the  next  day,  and  sent  word  that 
he  would  be  happy  to  see  Bishop  Hughes  and  friends  at  his 
residence  in  Merrion  Square.  This  invitation  was  promptly 
accepted. 

"  Our  interview  with  Mr.  O'Connell  closed  with  an  invitation 
to  dine  with  him  that  evening.  In  the  mean  time  he  was  to 
receive  the  trades  of  Dublin  in  review,  and  address  a  meeting 
on  Donnybrook  Green.  He  urged  us  to  join  him  in  these 
demonstrations.  .  .  .  We  therefore  returned  to  his  house,  and 
for  nearly  three  hours  watched  the  procession  from  his  bal 
cony.  .  .  .  Then  the  vast  multitude,  like  the  waving  of  a  wheat- 
field,  moved  forward  to  Donnybrook  Green,  filling  the  air  with 
its  shouts.  The  streets  through  which  we  passed  were  wedged 
full  of  human  beings.  In  the  doors  and  windows,  and  upon 
the  balconies  and  roofs,  bright  eyes  beamed  and  handkerchiefs 
waved.  When  the  way  narrowed,  it  seemed  impossible  that 
such  masses  could  be  squeezed  through,  but  by  care  and  for 
bearance  all  passed  011  without  the  slightest  injury.  ...  A 
staging,  with  seats  and  an  awning,  had  been  erected  in  the 
centre  of  the  Green,  around  which  an  immense  multitude  had 
assembled  before  we  arrived.  4  Make  way  for  the  Americans,' 
shouted  those  nearest  our  carriage,  and  immediately  a  passage 


1843.]  FIRST   GLIMPSE   OF  ROYALTY.  105 

was  opened  through  which  we  were  cheered  to  the  platform. 
.  .  .  Mr.  O'Connell  and  Father  Mathew  are  elevating  their 
countrymen  to  an  intellectual  and  moral  quality  that  will  prove 
far  more  effectual  in  the  great  work  to  be  accomplished  than 
physical  force.  Arguments  and  reason,  rather  than  flint  and 
bayonets,  are  the  weapons  which  Ireland  should  wield  in  the 
contest  for  her  restoration  to  nationality.  I  have  always  sym 
pathized  warmly  with  this  country,  but  never  knew,  nor  can 
any  one  know  without  coming  here,  how  grievously  oppressed 
her  people  are." 

After  spending  a  few  days  in  Liverpool,  Mr.  Weed  went  on 
to  London.  He  wrote  :  — 

"  At  half  past  ten  o'clock  I  visited  St.  Paul's  Church,  into 
the  gallery  of  which  we  were  ushered  by  a  sort  of  beadle  with 
a  black  gown  and  staff.  A  clergyman  was  drawling  out  the 
impressive  morning  service  of  the  Church  of  England,  in  a 
manner  and  tone  so  cold  and  unimpassioned  that  it  would  have 
thrown  an  American  congregation  into  an  ague  fit.  The  effec 
tive  devotional  chants  were  executed  by  two  lazy  choristers  and 
nine  boys,  without  animation,  harmony,  or  melody.  The  sermon 
of  twenty  minutes  was  as  inanimate  and  vapid  as  imbecility  and 
sloth  could  make  it.  ... 

"  I  have  seen  Queen  Victoria !  She  seems  to  be  a  nice  young 
woman,  of  whom  the  people  think  the  better  now  that  she  nurses 
her  own  baby.  The  Queen  was  in  deep  but  plain  mourning  for 
the  Duke  of  Sussex. 

"  We  went  yesterday  to  the  review  in  Hyde  Park,  which,  to 
us,  was  a  brilliant  affair.  The  Dukes  of  Wellington  and  Cam 
bridge  were  in  the  field.  I  posted  myself  early  nearly  opposite 
Hyde  Park  Gate,  through  which  the  Field  Marshal  was  to  pass. 
This  gave  me  a  good  view  of  the  hero  of  Waterloo.  The  Duke 
shows  that  old  age  has  no  respect  for  rank.  He  did  not  sit 
erect  in  his  saddle,  and  his  head  and  hands  were  both  tremu 
lous  ;  but  when  I  saw  him  afterwards  in  the  sham  fight  receiving 
and  dispatching  aids  to  different  divisions,  he  seemed  two  or 
three  inches  taller,  and  twenty  years  more  youthful.  .  .  . 

"  We  devoted  the  morning  to  searching  for  the  building  in 
which  Benjamin  Franklin  boarded,  while  at  work  in  London  as 
a  journeyman  printer,  and  I  had  the  satisfaction  of  standing 
under  the  roof  which  sheltered  that  illustrious  statesman,  patriot, 
philosopher,  and  philanthropist." 


106  MEMOIR.  [1843. 

"  Scotland,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed,  in  August,  "  the  birthplace  of 
Burns  and  Scott,  the  land  of  lake  and  mountain,  is  revealing 
her  beauties  to  my  admiring  eyes.  Nor  in  her  case  does  the 
expectation  surpass  reality.  Scotia's  bards  have  scarcely  taken 
a  poet's  license  in  their  descriptions  of  her  scenery."  After  a 
day  or  so  on  Loch  Lomond  and  Loch  Lochy,  his  letters  describe 
visits  to  Ayr,  Glasgow,  and  Edinburgh.  He  took  great  pleasure 
in  identifying  localities  with  which  close  reading  of  Scott  and 
Burns  had  made  him  familiar. 

"  We  followed  Sir  Walter  from  Abbotsford,  the  theatre  of 
his  glorious  achievements,  to  Dryburgh,  whose  ruined  abbey  is 
hallowed  by  his  dust.  How  appropriately  chosen  for  the  final 
repose  of  such  precious  remains  ! "  From  Melrose  he  wrote  : 
"No  brighter  sun  ever  rose  to  bless  and  beautify  the  earth  than 
that  which  dawns  upon  us  this  Sabbath  morning.  Nor  is  it 
possible  to  breathe  an  atmosphere  more  balmy  and  bracing  than 
that  which  refreshes  and  gladdens  our  spirits.  .  .  .  Every  ob 
ject  within  the  vision's  reach  has  been  made  classic  by  the  in 
spirations  of  poetry  and  romance.  Beyond  the  Tweed,  the  hills 
of  Ettrick  and  Yarrow  are  seen.  Upon  its  banks  the  ruined 
abbeys  of  Melrose  and  Dryburgh  lift  up  their  broken  towers 
and  crumbling  walls.  ...  In  every  direction  are  objects  with 
which  the  imagination  has  been  made  familiar  either  in  '  Mar- 
mion,'  '  The  Monastery,'  or  '  St.  Ronaii's  Well.'  " 

He  returned  to  England  in  August,  and  visited  York,  New 
castle,  Hampton,  Sheffield,  Newgate,  and  other  localities.  He 
then  crossed  the  Channel. 

"  I  strolled  out,"  he  wrote  from  Paris,  "  into  the  garden  of 
the  Tuilleries,  where  thousands  of  people  were  enjoying  the 
grateful  shade.  .  .  .  Children  in  joyous  groups  were  .at  their 
gambols  under  the  eyes  of  their  governesses ;  belles  were  prom 
enading  with  gallants  in  large  moustaches ;  young  women  in 
great  numbers  were  engaged  with  their  needle-work,  while  old 
ladies  without  number  were  fondling  their  lap-dogs.  ...  In 
other  parts  of  the  garden  numerous  families  of  the  humbler 
class  were  sitting  under  the  trees  and  cheerfully  partaking  of 
their  frugal  repast,  —  bread  and  wine.  .  .  .  Nothing  about 
Paris  so  strikes  a  stranger  as  the  quiet  manner  in  which  busi 
ness  is  conducted.  .  .  .  You  see  little  or  nothing  of  the  noise 
and  bustle  of  other  great  cities.  Neither  the  hum  of  commerce 


1843.]  AT  THE    TOMB   OF  LAFAYETTE.  107 

nor  the  din  of  manufactures  is  heard.  We  are  strangers  to  the 
rigid  economy  which  prevails  here.  New  York  throws  away 
enough  every  day  to  feed  a  hundred  thousand  Parisians.  .  .  . 

"  Near  Pere  La  Chaise,  in  a  humble,  sequestered  spot,  under 
a  simple  tomb,  hallowed  by  virtue  and  patriotism,  by  the  side 
of  his  wife  and  surrounded  by  his  children,  repose  the  precious 
remains  of  our  beloved  Lafayette.  What  a  world  of  grateful 
recollections  his  name  brings  back  !  Where  shall  we  look  for 
another  so  bright,  so  pure,  so  unsullied  ?  Who  else  lived  so 
long,  amid  convulsions  and  revolutions,  with  unstained  hands, 
uncontaminated  principles,  and  untarnished  fame  ?  Who  else 
resisted  all  the  temptations  of  ambition,  —  all  the  seductions  of 
power  ?.  What  soldier,  what  statesman,  what  other  mere  man, 
after  sacrificing  fortune  and  shedding  blood  in  the  cause  of  hu 
man  liberty,  steadily  refused  all  honors  and  rewards?  None. 
His  name  and  character  stand  out  upon  the  world's  canvas  alone 
in  their  own  perfections  and  sublimity.  Living,  he  won  scep 
tres  and  diadems,  but  he  would  not  wear  them.  Dead,  with  a 
consistency  which  jeweled  his  whole  life,  his  remains  were  de 
posited  in  a  humble,  secluded  vault,  where  no  footsteps  are 
heard  but  such  as  are  guided  thither  by  affection,  patriotism, 
and  gratitude." 

[MR.    WEED    TO    HIS    ELDEST    DAUGHTER.] 

EDINBORO',  August  9,  1843. 

MY  DEAR  HARRIET,  —  I  left  my  friends  at  Glasgow,  and  hurried 
up  here  for  letters,  where  I  had  the  happiness  to  find  those  that  came 
by  Dr.  Greason  and  by  the  Great  Western,  with  liberal  supplies  of 
newspapers,  for  all  of  which  I  had  a  keen  relish.  When  assured  that 
you  were  all  well,  I  sat  down  leisurely,  and  had  a  long,  delightful 
afternoon  and  evening,  and  left  off  at  twelve  o'clock  only  because  my 
eyes  gave  out.  It  is  a  source  of  inexpressible  enjoyment  thus  to  come 
near  to  family  and  friends  from  whom  I  am  separated  by  a  wide 
ocean. 

I  am  very  glad  that  the  mails  which  brought  information  of  your 
mother's  illness  relieved  all  anxieties  by  the  gratifying  assurance  that 
she  had  recovered.  Suspense  in  such  a  case  would  have  been  most 
painful. 

I  am  glad  you  write  me  long  letters,  and  hope  you  will  embrace 
every  opportunity  that  offers  to  continue  them.  Dreary  indeed  would 
be  my  wanderings  abroad  but  for  the  conviction  that  there  are  hearts 
at  home  whose  pulsations  are  in  sympathy  with  my  own. 


108  MEMOIR.  [1843. 

Amid  the  glare  and  gorgeousness  of  palaces  and  castles,  my  thoughts 
constantly  go  back  to  Albany,  where  only  there  is  any  abiding  enjoy 
ment  for  me.  There  are  many  occasions  when  I  wish  you  were  all 
with  me,  to  participate  in  the  view  of  particular  objects ;  but  the  diffi 
culties  and  obstacles  to  be  encountered  are  not  overrated.  Every 
pleasure  is  mixed  with  toil.  In  America  ladies  travel  much  more  than 
in  England.  Women  who  travel  in  second-rate  conveyances  and  on 
the  outside  of  coaches,  and  put  up  at  ordinary  inns,  are  accustomed  to 
rough  fare.  A  gentleman  cannot  travel  with  a  lady  in  England,  Ire 
land,  or  Scotland  without  adding  nearly  or  quite  double  the  amount 
that  it  costs  two  gentlemen.  If  you  have  a  lady,  you  must  take  a 
parlor  at  all  the  inns,  there  being  no  ordinary  tables  here,  and  no 
coffee-rooms  for  ladies.  A  parlor  costs  three  dollars,  and  at  some  of 
the  hotels  five  dollars,  per  day.  This  is  in  addition  to  the  charges  for 
meals  and  lodging. 

We  went  from  Dublin  to  Belfast,  from  which  latter  place  Watrous, 
Leitch,  and  Schoolcraft  wTent  to  the  Giants'  Causeway.  As  I  dared 
not  undertake  the  walking  that  would  be  necessary,  I  took  the  steamer 
from  Belfast  to  Greenock  (Scotland),  and  after  visiting  the  lakes,  high 
lands,  Burns's  birthplace,  etc.,  waited  for  them  at  Glasgow. 

August  11. 

I  have  been  all  the  morning  and  until  now  (two  P.  M.)  in  the  public 
libraries  here.  That  of  the  Advocates  is  second  only  to  the  library  of 
the  British  Museum.  Edinboro'  is  a  very  enlightened  city.  They 
think  a  great  deal  here  of  science  and  literature  and  of  the  refinements 
of  literary  society. 

I  hope  you  have  all  been  to  the  Mountain  House.  Such  a  retreat 
from  heat  and  dust  would  be  extremely  pleasant.  People  yesterday 
and  to-day  are  saying,  "  How  very  hot  it  is  !  "  and  yet  the  thermom 
eter  is  only  at  80  or  81,  and  it  seems  like  the  first  of  October. 

Emily's  ode  is  very  well.  Several  of  the  lines  could  not  be  im 
proved.  I  hope  she  will  continue  to  cultivate  and  discipline  her  mind. 
I  am  quite  anxious  to  know  about  her  examination. 

MELROSE,  August  13. 

We  came  here  yesterday,  and  visited  Abbotsford,  where  Sir  Walter 
Scott  lived,  and  Dryburgh  Abbey,  where  his  remains  repose.  To-day 
we  have  attended  church  in  the  ruined  Abbey  of  Melrose,  where, 
eight  hundred  years  ago,  a  splendid  monastery,  with  abbots,  monks, 
and  friars  were  worshiping  in  their  dark,  austere  way,  at  altars  now 
broken  and  crumbling. 

I  sent  by  Mr.  Newton  slips  from  two  rose-bushes  in  the  garden  of 
Abbotsford,  which  I  hope  you  can  make  germinate.  If  those  he  takes 


1843.]  LETTERS  HOME.  109 

for  his  sister  should  do  better  than  yours,  you  are  to  have  slips  of  hers 
and  vice  versa. 

LONDON,  August  17. 

We  arrived  here  late  last  evening.  This  morning  I  had  the  happi 
ness  of  hearing  that  you  were  all  well  at  home.  I  had  two  lono-  let 
ters  from  Mr.  Seward. 

I  hope  you  have  been  to  the  mountains,  and  that  your  mother  has 
gone  to  New  Berlin.  I  have  sent  a  box  of  one  thing  and  another  by 
Mr.  Newton,  who  sails  in  the  Patrick  Henry  from  Liverpool,  on 
the  25th  inst.,  and  who  will  bring  it  to  Albany.  I  send  by  him,  also, 
a  piece  of  linen  I  bought  at  Belfast  for  your  mother,  yourself,  Maria, 
and  Emily.  I  wish  I  were  with  you  to  see  all  there  is  in  and  about 
No.  100  Hudson  Street.  YOUR  FATHER. 

I  inclose  a  rose-leaf  from  the  garden  at  Abbotsford. 

[MR.    WEED    TO    HIS    WIFE.] 

PARIS,  September  1,  1843. 

MY  DEAR  CATHERINE,  —  Your  long,  affectionate  letter  was  the 
source  of  truest  happiness.  I  needed  the  support  it  gave  me.  I  have 
been  so  long  from  home,  and  there  is  such  a  wide  ocean  between  us, 
that  my  heart  is  often  weary  and  my  spirit  faint.  Should  a  kind 
Providence  restore  me  to  my  family,  the  Atlantic  will  not  again  sepa 
rate  me  from  them. 

I  have  now  been  more  than  a  week  in  Paris,  but  have  seen  little  of 
its  wonders.  I  have  used  my  leg  too  much,  and  dare  not  go  about 
as  I  want  to,  and  must,  if  I  see  anything  of  the  hundreds  of  objects  of 
interest  here.  Paris  differs  from  London  in  everything  as  much  as  it 
differs  in  the  language  spoken.  Those  who  do  not  speak  French  are 
most  awkwardly  situated  here.  I  am  embarrassed  and  mortified  every 
step  I  take. 

I  am  anxious  to  hear  from  Emily.  Should  her  illness  have  as 
sumed  an  unfavorable  aspect,  I  shall  return  immediately.  I  am  sorry 
you  did  not  know  she  had  such  unfavorable  symptoms  before  she  left 
home.  .  .  . 

.  .  .  We  dined  yesterday  with  the  American  Consul  (a  brother  of 
Mr.  Draper's),  and  are  invited  to  dine  with  the  American  Charge 
d' Affaires  (Governor  Cass's  son-in-law),  to-morrow.  I  have  a  fashion 
able  dress  coat  and  pantaloons,  in  which  I  feel  most  uncomfortable. 
I  shall  keep  quiet  to-day  until  six  o'clock,  when  we  go  out  to  dinner  at 
Mr.  Ledyard's. 

I  am  anxious  for  letters  by  the  steamers  which  ought  to  be  in  to 
day.  My  letters  will  be  forwarded  from  London.  My  thoughts  and 
anxieties  all  tend  homewards,  but  I  have  not  told  Schoolcraft  how 


110  MEMOIR.  [1843. 

strongly  I  am  inclined  to  set  my  face  towards  New  York.  I  can  im 
agine  how  much  you  have  improved  the  house,  garden,  barn,  etc.,  and 
you  can  imagine  how  anxious  I  am  to  see  those  improvements.  Har 
riet  writes  that  the  grapes  are  to  be  saved  for  me.  This  is  very  kind, 
but  it  must  not  be.  I  shall  be  happy  to  have  you  pick  and  eat  them 
yourselves.  Save  a  few  bunches,  that  I  may  compare  them  with  those 
I  get  here.  So  far  I  have  only  had  small  ones,  but  those  of  a  better 
quality  are  about  ripe.  They  have  large,  delicious-looking  peaches 
here  at  from  two  to  four  cents  each,  but  in  flavor  they  are  much  in 
ferior  to  the  American  peach.  We  have  very  sweet  strawberries  for 
dinner  every  day.  We  have  our  breakfast  for  a  franc  and  a  half,  and 
our  dinner  for  three  francs.  I  cannot  tell  more  than  half  the  time 
what  the  dishes  are,  but  so  long  as  there  are  plenty  of  tomatoes  I  get 
along  well  enough. 

Removed  as  I  am,  thousands  of  miles  from  the  society  of  friends 
and  the  accusations  of  enemies,  I  have  abundant  leisure  for  sweet  and 
bitter  fancies.  I  find  so  much  more  of  enjoyment  than  of  regret  in 
the  remembrance  of  the  past,  that  it  would  be  ungrateful  to  complain 
either  of  the  misapprehension  or  the  injustice  which  almost  necessarily 
attaches  to  those  who  have  been  connected  with  the  political  affairs  of 
our  country.  In  positions  of  responsibility  it  is  impossible  to  escape 
censure,  even  with  motives  purer  and  more  lofty  than  I  presume  to 
claim  as  my  rule  of  action.  And  yet  the  consciousness  of  a  sincere 
desire  to  promote  worthy  men  as  the  representatives  of  right  meas 
ures,  is  a  compensation  for  all  the  ill-will  my  efforts  have  caused. 
Conscious  of  an  unfitness  for  public  service,  I  have  ever  labored  to 
advance  others  rather  than  myself  ;  and  if  it  be  an  offense  to  have  ac 
cumulated,  as  the  result  of  more  than  thirty  years  of  toil,  a  moderate 
competency,  I  can  say  with  truth  that  it  came  unsolicited,  and  that  in 
stead  of  the  hundreds  I  possess,  it  might  easily  have  been  thousands. 
Affectionately  yours,  THUKLOW. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

1843-1844. 

EXTENDING  SLAVERY  INTO  TEXAS.  —  WASHINGTON  HUNT'S  SCHEMES  FOR 
UNITING  THE  PARTY.  —  THE  GOVERNORSHIP.  —  IRISH  REPEAL.  —  MR. 
WEED  TO  THE  SECRETARY  OF  WAR.  —  NATIONAL  CONVENTION  OF 
1844.  —  "  MY  OPINION  ON  THE  TEXAS  QUESTION."  —  EDITORIAL  FUSIL- 
LADES.  —  MR.  HUNT  ON  POLITICAL  PROSCRIPTION.  —  "  OLD  FATHER 
FILLMORE."  —  "  MISRULE  AND  MISERY." 

DURING  Mr.  Weed's  absence  in  Europe  there  was  a  temporary 
lull  in  American  politics.  "  The  cauldron  does  not  boil  in  your 
absence,  dear  Mr.  Dictator,"  wrote  General  Rufus  King,  who 
was  left  in  charge  of  the  Albany  paper.  "I  see  nothing  more 
promising  than  when  you  left.  In  the  street  to-day  a  gentleman 
asked  me  if  I  had  heard  from  Bishop  Weed  ?  So  you  see  the 
people  think  that  Hughes  has  already  converted  you  into  a 
Catholic.  Captain  Tyler's  friends  tried  to  get  up  a  reception 
for  him  in  New  York,  but  it  was  4  stale,  flat,  and  unprofitable.' 
The  truth  is,  Tyler  is  about  used  up.  He  means  to  '  cut '  Al 
bany,  as  our  common  council  refused  to  invite  him  hither.  But 
to  this  calamity  we  are  all  resigned."  In  another  letter  Gen 
eral  King  says,  ^  We  are  enjoying  the  most  beautiful  weather 
imaginable.  Even  Captain  Tyler  can't  cheat  us  out  of  that." 

"  I  think  Fillmore  is  our  man  for  Vice-President,"  wrote  Mr. 
Greeley.  "  I  feel  our  embarrassment  on  account  of  Talmadge, 
but  why  should  we  throw  away  a  chance  for  a  mere  matter  of 
delicacy?  We  must  be  slow  and  cautious  about  Governor. 
Nott  will  say  that  I  spoke  to  him  favorably  of  Stevens,  but  not 
so.  I  told  him  we  would  consider,  and  that  I  would  just  as 
soon  support  him  as  anybody,  if  I  thought  he  would  poll  as 
many  votes.  I  wish  Mark  Sibley  had  not  botched  somehow  on 
the  railroad  question,  for  he  is  a  superb  demagogue,  and  would 
help  greatly  on  the  stump.  I  think  the  Locos  will  make  a  dead 
set  on  the  tariff,  and  give  us  a  pretty  fair  issue.  How  can  we 
fail  on  that  in  New  York  ?  " 


112  MEMOIR.  [1843. 

It  was  plain  when  Mr.  Weed  returned  to  Albany,  in  Decem 
ber,  1843,  that  "  the  Locos  "  would  give  the  country  "  a  pretty 
fair  issue,"  but  not  by  "  making  a  dead  set  on  the  tariff."  The 
question  of  admitting  Texas  to  the  Union  was  the  controlling 
topic  in  the  elections  of  1844.  True  to  his  new  affiliations,  Mr. 
Tyler  labored  zealously  for  the  extension  of  slavery  in  the 
Southwest.  lie  was  opposed  in  Congress  by  "VVliigs  and  sup 
ported  by  Democrats.  One  of  his  most  unrelenting  critics  was 
Washington  Hunt,  of  New  York,  then  in  the  House,  who  be 
came  noted  for  opposition  to  slavery  and  all  forms  of  political 
proscription.  Mr.  Hunt  remained  in  Congress  until  1850,  when 
he  was  called  to  a  still  more  distinguished  position.  For  many 
years  he  and  Mr.  Weed  were  intimate  friends. 

[WASHINGTON  HUNT  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  December  19,  1843. 

DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  Allow  me  to  congratulate  you  on  your  safe 
return.  I  also  congratulate  your  friends  and  your  country.  I  hope 
you  come  fully  invigorated  and  prepared  for  another  great  political 
struggle. 

It  is  now  settled  that  Mr.  Van  Buren  is  to  be  the  candidate  against 
Mr.  Clay  in  1844,  and  whilst  I  consider  it  fortunate  for  us  that  our 
opponents  are  to  be  led  by  a  defeated  General,  who  cannot  excite  the 
enthusiasm  of  his  own  forces,  yet  we  must  not  expect  too  easy  a  vic 
tory.  We  can  hope  to  gain  the  field  only  by  a  great  and  well-di 
rected  effort. 

Since  coming  here  I  have  reflected  much  on  the  posture  of  affairs 
in  our  own  State.  It  is  very  obvious  in  my  mind  that  we  have  no 
time  to  lose  in  laying  out  the  ground  and  commencing  a  well  di 
gested  plan  of  operations.  It  appears  to  me  very  important  that  ef 
ficient  steps  be  taken  to  scatter  tracts  and  other  useful  reading  amongst 
the  people  now,  whilst  the  winter  is  passing.  A  thousand  dollars  ju 
diciously  laid  out  at  the  present  time  will  produce  larger  results  than 
many  thousands  a  few  months  hence.  I  consider  the  Junius  tracts  * 
well  calculated  for  effect,  and  I  want  to  see  them  liberally  scattered. 
I  have  done  something  in  our  county  from  my  own  purse,  and  I  am 
ready  to  contribute  something  more  for  the  State  at  large,  if  neces 
sary.  In  addition  to  this  we  need  more  thorough  organization  and  bet 
ter  concert  through  the  State.  I  believe  it  is  our  true  policy  to  take 
Fillmore  for  the  vice-presidency  ;  it  will  give  satisfaction  to  other 
states  besides  our  own.  At  the  same  time  it  will  produce  some  sore- 
1  Written  by  Colton,  author  of  a  Campaign  Life  of  Clay. 


1843.]  MR.  WEED  NOT  A    CANDIDATE.  113 

ness  on  the  part  of  Talmadge  and  his  friends,  and  we  must  take 
timely  and  judicious  steps  to  conciliate  him  and  secure  his  coopera 
tion.1 

I  make  these  suggestions  in  confidence,  and  with  a  desire  to  unite 
and  harmonize  every  portion  of  our  party.  I  can  say  nothing  of  in 
terest  about  matters  here,  which  you  do  not  already  know.  In  the 
House  we  have  an  all-powerful,  and,  I  may  add,  an  overbearing  ma 
jority  against  us.2  But,  though  weak  in  numbers,  the  Whigs  are 
strong  in  purpose  and  fearless  in  spirit.  I  never  met  a  more  noble 
band,  and  I  am  proud  to  belong  to  such  a  minority.  I  would  be  glad 
to  hear  from  you,  and  still  more  happy  to  see  you  here.  When  are 
you  coming  ?  When  you  come  we  must  have  a  full  and  free  consulta 
tion  as  to  the  best  means  of  defending  the  country  and  Constitution 
from  the  ravages  of  Loco-Focoism. 

Sincerely  yours,  WASHINGTON  HUNT. 

While  Mr.  Weed  was  away,  several  of  his  active  friends  set 
on  foot  a  movement  to  nominate  him  in  the  spring  of  1844  for 
Mayor  of  Albany,  and  in  the  fall  for  Governor  of  the  State. 
Friendly  papers  greeted  him  on  his  return,  by  "raising  a 
ticket"  for  the  next  campaign,  composed  of  Henry  Clay  for 
President,  John  Sargeant  of  Pennsylvania,  for  Vice-President, 
and  Thurlow  Weed  for  Governor  of  New  York.  The  latter 
nomination  would  have  met  the  wishes  of  a  large  number  of 
Whigs.  "Mr.  Weed,"  said  one  of  the  journals  which  urged 
his  name,  "  has  for  many  years  been  among  the  most  prominent 
advocates  of  our  party's  principles,  and  his  talents  have  been  of 
invaluable  service  to  our  cause.  We  should  rejoice  to  see  him 
occupying  the  seat  so  ably  filled  by  Tompkins,  Clinton,  and 
Sewarcl."  And  another  paper  said  :  "  We  are  free  to  admit  that 
we  do  not  believe  a  better  choice  could  be  made.  If  there  is 
a  man  in  this  State  to  whom  the  party  is  indebted,  that  man  is 
Mr.  Weed.  To  him  more  than  to  any  other  leader  we  owe  the 
turn  of  the  tide  in  1838." 

By  these  flattering  suggestions  Mr.  Weed  was  not  beguiled. 
"We  are  not,"  he  wrote,  "and  never  shall  be,  a  candidate  for 
Governor,  or  for  any  other  office.  Though  not  insensible,  as 
the  Searcher  of  Hearts  knows,  to  the  kindness  of  friends,  we 
ask  nothing  of  them  but  their  cooperation  in  electing  others." 

1  New  York  could  not  be  carried  for  Clay  without  this  adjunct. 

2  House,  142  Democrats,  81  Whigs.     Senate,  24  Democrats,  28  Whigs. 


114  MEMOIR.  [1844. 

1843-1844. — During  this  period  evidences  were  frequently 
furnished  of  the  sympathy  felt  by  the  American  people  with  the 
cause  of  Irish  nationality.  The  desire  to  cooperate  with  Daniel 
O'Connell  was  strong,  but  when  he  began  to  make  anti-slavery 
speeches  the  repeal  movement  received  a  serious  check.  Forth 
with  auxiliary  associations  in  the  South  were  broken  up,  and 
their  funds  distributed  among  various  charitable  societies. 

On  his  return  to  Albany  Mr.  Weed  was  the  recipient  of  com 
plimentary  messages  from  local  "  Repealers,"  in  acknowledging 
whose  courtesy  he  wrote  :  — 

[MR.  WEED   ON  IRISH   REPEAL.] 

ALBANY,  January  15,  1844. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  The  very  flattering  resolution  which  the  Albany  Irish 
Repeal  Association  did  me  the  honor  to  adopt,  and  a  copy  of  which 
you  have  kindly  transmitted  to  me,  demanded  an  earlier  acknowledg 
ment.  My  answer  has  been  delayed  with  the  hope  that  I  should  find 
leisure  to  indulge  at  length  the  impulses  of  my  heart,  in  free,  frank 
communion  with  you  about  Ireland. 

I  was  fortunate  in  my  recent  visit  to  the  Old  World,  in  seeing  much 
of  your  native  country.  I  was  most  fortunate  in  having  for  my  trav 
eling  companions,  two  of  Ireland's  gifted  and  estimable  sons  (Bishop 
Hughes,  of  New  York,  and  Bishop  Purcell,  of  Cincinnati)  whose 
names  were  a  key  to  unlock  all  doors,  and  a  passport  to  all  hearts.  I 
was  made  acquainted  with  Daniel  O'Connell  and  Father  Mathew,  and 
shall  cherish  through  life  a  grateful  remembrance  of  the  attentions  re 
ceived  from  a  Liberator  and  Philanthropist,  whose  patriotism  and  vir 
tues  command  the  world's  admiration. 

Nor  was  I  less  fortunate,  or  scarcely  less  happy,  in  making  the  ac 
quaintance  of  very  many  of  Ireland's  yeomanry  —  her  sons  and  daugh 
ters  of  severe  toil  and  yet  more  severe  suffering.  I  conversed  with 
them  upon  the  corners  of  the  streets  and  by  the  road-side.  I  visited 
their  deserted  work-shops  and  wretched  cabins.  I  saw  husbands  and 
fathers  unemployed,  whose  wives  and  children  suffer  for  raiment  and 
languish  for  food  ;  and  saw,  too,  what  is  apparent  to  every  observer, 
and  what  no  man  with  manly  feelings  or  human  sympathies  can  witness 
without  indignant  emotion,  that  these  wide-spread  and  accumulating 
miseries  were  the  certain  results  —  the  forced,  hot-house  fruits  of  their 
government. 

Ireland  was  intended  by  nature  and  designed  by  Providence  to  take 
rank  among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  It  is  impossible  to  view  her  po 
sition  and  advantages,  to  contemplate  the  number  and  character  of  her 


1844.]  IRISH  REPEAL.  115 

people,  or  to  review  her  history,  and  resist  the  conclusion,  that,  though 
she  unfortunately  is  not,  she  "  of  right  ought  to  be,  free,  sovereign,  and 
independent." 

America  dissolved  the  union  with  England  and  raised  the  standard 
of  rebellion  to  redress  but  a  tithe  of  the  wrongs  which  have  been  in 
flicted  upon  Ireland,  And  yet  Ireland,  though  "  crushed  to  earth  " 
for  nearly  half  a  century,  does  not  rebel !  She  asks  only  the  repeal  of 
a  corrupt  and  fatal  union.  Her  statesmen  and  clergy  labor,  and  her 
monster  meetings  assemble, 

"  Not  to  break  peace,  or  any  branch  of  it ; 
But  to  establish  here  a  peace  instead, 
Concurring  both  iii  name  and  quality." 

And  may  not  an  oppressed,  down-trodden,  starving  people  rightfully 
and  lawfully  endeavor  to  obtain  the  blessings  of  good  government  ? 
Why  were  governments  instituted  but  to  protect  the  rights,  redress  the 
wrongs,  and  promote  the  welfare  of  the  governed  ?  And  what  is  a 
government  worth  that  refuses  or  neglects  or  fails  to  accomplish  these 
objects?  England  has  withheld  all  these  enjoyments  from  Ireland. 
In  her  case,  therefore,  government  has  proved  a  curse  rather  than  a 
blessing. 

But  this  much-wronged  people,  imbued  with  the  peaceful  spirit  of 
the  age,  calmly  and  patiently  appeal  to  that  sense  of  justice  which 
ought  to  distinguish  the  British  Government.  In  this  appeal  they  in 
voke  our  cooperation.  They  seek  the  approval  and  sympathy  of  lib 
eral,  generous,  Christian  "  men  and  brethren  "  throughout  the  civilized 
world.  Nor  will  they  appeal,  here  and  elsewhere,  in  vain.  A  wave 
of  free,  enlightened  opinion  is  now  rolling  onward,  which  in  its  resist 
less  course  will  either  subdue  or  overwhelm  their  oppressors. 

I  am  rejoiced,  in  returning  to  our  own  eminently  favored  Republic, 
to  find  so  many  sound  heads  and  warm  hearts  engaged  in  the  cause  of 
Repeal.  I  became  an  "  Associate  "  of  Repealers  at  the  Corn-Exchange 
in  Dublin,  and  hope  to  prove  myself  neither  unfaithful  to  the  duties 
imposed,  nor  unworthy  of  the  distinction  conferred  upon  me. 

In  conveying,  as  I  beg  you  will,  my  grateful  thanks  to  the  members 
of  the  Association  for  their  kind  and  cordial  greetings,  pray  assure 
them  of  my  readiness  and  desire  to  act  with  them,  on  all  occasions,  and 
in  every  mode  that  tends  to  strengthen  Ireland  or  promises  to  benefit 
her  people. 

Accept,  also,  for  yourself,  assurances  of  the  respect  and  regard  of 
Your  obedient  servant,  THURLOW  WEED. 

To  Matthew  Jordan,  Esq.,  Secretary  of  the  Albany  Repeal  Associ 
ation. 


116  MEMOIR.  [1844. 

1844.  —  As  the  time  for  holding  national  conventions  ap 
proached,  Mr.  Tyler  adopted  every  means  in  his  power  to  dis 
tract  the  Whig  party  and  secure  his  own  nomination  by  the 
Democrats.  While  denouncing  this  apostasy,  Mr.  Weed  sought 
to  prevent  its  duplication.  "  It  ought  to  be  understood,"  he 
wrote,  "  that  the  presidency  for  one  term  is  the  c  be  all  and  end 
all '  of  official  ambition  in  America,  and  we  should  soon  experi 
ence  the  good  effects  of  such  a  change.  Men  would  continue  to 
struggle  for  the  presidency,  stratagems  would  still  be  resorted 
to  during  the  canvass,  but  when  elections  were  over  and  the 
prize  obtained  one  great  motive  for  misrule  would  be  obliter 
ated.  A  President,  knowing  that  he  could  have  but  one  term  of 
service,  instead  of  perverting  his  power  and  patronage  to  gain 
a  reelection,  would  seek  to  administer  the  government  honestly ; 
that  in  his  retirement  he  might  live  respected,  and  leave  his 
name  untarnished  to  posterity.  .  .  .  Even  John  Tyler,  poor, 
miserable  imbecile  that  he  is,  but  for  his  profligate  and  disgrace- 
'ful,  though  impotent,  efforts  for  a  reelection,  would  have  passed 
at  least  decently  through  his  official  term,  instead  of  going  from 
the  presidential  chair,  as  he  does,  the  scorned  of  all  parties." 

Of  course  Mr.  Weed  had  no  wish  to  visit  Washington  while 
Mr.  Tyler  was  President.  The  administration  might  have  saved 
itself  the  trouble  of  informing  him,  as  it  did,  through  Chris 
topher  Morgan,  that  he  would  not  be  a  welcome  guest  at  the 
seat  of  government.  As  Secretary  of  War,  and  supporter  of  the 
President,  Mr.  Weed's  old  friend,  John  C.  Spencer,  felt  called 
upon  to  go  further.  While  in  office  at  Albany,  Mr.  Spencer 
had  been  on  very  cordial  terms  with  Mr.  Weed,  to  whom  he 
confided  more  information  about  his  affairs  than  to  any  other 
person,  not  excepting  his  own  family  ;  but  political  differences 
enforced  a  readjustment  of  personal  relations. 

[THE  SECRETARY  OF  WAR  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  February  13,  1844. 

SIR,  —  In  consequence  of  seeing  a  preamble  to  certain  resolutions 
introduced  at  a  Whig  county  convention  held  in  Albany,  by  Mr.  Rufus 
King,  in  which  he  had  charged  me  with  having  given  a  pledge  before 
I  left  Albany  to  assume  charge  of  the  War  Department  "  to  endeavor 
to  win  the  infatuated  incumbent  of  the  executive  chair  back  to  his 
duty,"  and  that  on  taking  my  place  in  the  Cabinet  I  "  violated  that 
pledge,  abandoned  my  [his]  party  and  principles,  and  became  and  con- 


1844.]     THE  SECRETARY  OF   WAR    TO  MR.    WEED.        117 

tinned  false  to  both,"  I  addressed  General  King  a  letter  requesting 
him  to  state  to  whom  and  on  what  occasion  such  pledge  was  given. 

In  his  answer  he  stated  that  "  the  pledge  to  which  the  preamble  al 
ludes  was  given  by  you,  in  terms  as  well  as  in  spirit,  in  the  course  of  a 
full  and  frank  conversation  held  in  this  city  [Albany]  with  members 
of  the  late  Whig  state  administration,  just  previous  to  your  departure 
to  assume  the  post  which  had  been  tendered  to  you  in  the  Cabinet  of 
John  Tyler." 

In  my  reply  I  remarked  that  his  answer  was  not  specific,  and 
among  other  things  requested  him  to  state  what  members  of  the  late 
Whig  state  administration  were  present  at  the  conversation  referred 
to,  and  at  whose  house  it  took  place. 

In  General  King's  answer  to  this  request,  just  received,  he  says, 
"  As  to  the  conversation  to  which  I  have  referred,  I  understand  that 
it  commenced  at  the  house  of  Governor  Sewarct  and  was  resumed  at 
the  house  of  Mr.  Thurlow  Weed  ;  that  these  two  gentlemen  were  pres 
ent,  and  if  I  am  correctly  informed,  Mr.  Willis  Hall,  Mr.  J.  A.  Collier, 
and  Mr.  0.  L.  Holley  also."  General  King  then  adds  a  new  item, 
thus  :  "  In  the  course  of  this  conversation  I  understood  you  to  have 
made  the  strongest  avowals  of  your  intention  to  use  whatever  influ 
ence  you  might  secure  at  Washington,  to  promote  the  views  and  ad 
vance  the  interests  of  the  Whig  party."  Although  this  last  statement 
is  entirely  distinct  from  the  original  charge,  I  give  it  to  avoid  any  im 
putation  of  unfairness. 

As  this  is  a  matter  involving  more  than  political  consistency,  I  claim 
the  right  to  call  for  your  statement  on  the  subject,  and  I  am  persuaded 
you  will  recognize  the  justice  of  an  answer.  Will  you  then  answer 
these  questions  :  — 

1st.  Were  you  present  at  a  conversation  on  the  subject  referred  to 
by  General  King,  at  which  the  persons  named  by  him  were  also  pres 
ent  ? 

2d.  Was  any  conversation  on  that  subject  had  between  you  and  me 
in  the  presence  of  either  of  the  other  persons  named  by  General  King, 
and  if  so,  please  to  name  that  person  ? 

3d.  Was. there  any  conversation  whatever  on  the  subject,  ever  com 
menced  or  had  at  Governor  Seward's  house  ? 

4th.  Was  there  any  conversation  whatever  on  the  subject,  resumed 
or  had  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Thurlow  Weed  ? 

5th.  Was,  or  was  not,  Mr.  Thurlow  Weed  absent  from  the  city  of 
Albany  on  my  return  from  Washington,  and  did  he  or  did  he  not  ar 
rive  at  Albany  the  day  preceding  my  final  departure  for  Washington  ? 
And  did  Mr.  Weed  see  me  at  all  on  the  subject,  or  did  he  pass  through 
Albany  to  Syracuse,  without  even  an  interview  with  me  ?  or  if  he  had 


118  MEMOIR.  [1844. 

such  an  interview,  was  it  not  a  slight  and  hurried  one  ?  In  that  inter 
view,  or  in  any  other,  did  I  make  to  him  such  a  pledge  as  is  above 
quoted  from  the  preamble  of  General  King's  resolution  ? 

As  my  only  object  in  these  inquiries  is  the  vindication  of  myself 
from  a  false  charge  affecting  me  personally,  I  trust  you  will  excuse 
my  addressing  you  questions  with  so  much  precision,  and  will  furnish 
your  answer  as  soon  as  may  be  convenient. 

Your  obedient  servant,  J.  C.  SPENCER. 

[MB.    WEED   TO   THE    SECRETARY    OF    WAR.] 

ALBANY,  February  19,  1844. 

SIR,  —  You  cannot  have  forgotten  the  personal  and  political  rela 
tions  established  between  us  when  you  left  Albany  for  Washington. 
It  was  understood  that,  though  our  duties  might  in  some  respects  con 
flict,  yet,  governed  by  the  same  general  principles,  each  was  left  at  lib 
erty  to  pursue  his  course  without  disturbing  the  friendship  and  confi 
dence  that  existed. 

You  found  it  necessary,  or  expedient,  upon  your  arrival  at  Washing 
ton,  to  change  your  principles  and  friends.  You  thought  proper,  also, 
not  only  to  terminate  our  intercourse,  but  to  manifest  your  personal 
ill-will  and  unkindness.  This  was  done  to  appease  dignitaries  whose 
service  required  the  sacrifice.  But  while  you  have  wantonly  sundered 
the  ties  that  then  bound  me  to  you,  the  remembrance  of  those  days, 
and  respect  for  mutual  friends,  has  restrained  me  from  making  any 
public  revelation  of  our  differences. 

If,  however,  as  I  apprehend  from  your  letter  of  the  13th  February, 
you  contemplate  an  "  Appeal  to  the  Public,"  I  must  forego  the  honor 
of  figuring  in  the  appendix,  with  a  response  to  your  categorical  in 
terrogatories.  There  is  no  occasion  for  so  much  circumlocution  be 
tween  us.  Our  conversations  in  relation  to  the  views  and  purposes 
with  which  you  went  into  the  Cabinet  were  free,  unrestrained,  and 
unambiguous.  My  recollection  of  those  conversations,  and  of  those 
views  and  purposes,  does  not  exempt  you  from  the  charge  of  having, 
after  taking  your  seat  in  the  Cabinet,  "  abandoned  your  party  and 
principles,"  and  "  becoming  and  continuing  false  to  both." 

It  remains  for  you  to  determine  whether  those  conversations,  and 
the  recollection  of  them,  belong  to  the  public. 

Your  obedient  servant,  THURLOW  WEED. 

In  April  Mr.  Weed  wrote  to  John  White,  of  Kentucky, 
Speaker  in  Congress  from  1841  to  1843,  saying,  "The  time 
has  come  when  a  President  is  to  be  nominated.  The  outlook 
for  Mr.  Clay  is  as  propitious  as  his  most  sanguine  friend  could 


1844.]  MR.   CLAY  TO  MR.   WEED.  119 

wish.  The  party  is  practically  united.  Were  it  not  that  we 
have  to  select  a  Vice-President,  there  would  be  no  need  of  a 
convention.  Mr.  Clay,  after  he  has  been  presented  to  the  peo 
ple,  will  be  written  to  for  his  opinion  on  all  sorts  of  subjects  by 
various  people.  Designing  men  will  use  simple-minded  men  to 
get  something  to  misrepresent  him.  Mr.  Clay  has  been  forty 
years  before  the  public.  His  views  and  principles  are  suffi 
ciently  well  understood.  Intelligent  men  know  perfectly  what 
they  are.  The  only  new  question  since  he  retired  from  the 
Senate  is  that  [the  Texas  question]  upon  which  he  has  already 
expressed  convictions  satisfactory  to  the  people.  I  see  that  he 
is  to  be  in  Washington  in  a  few  days,  and,  if  the  suggestion 
meets  your  views,  show  him  this  letter." 

A  week  after  receiving  Mr.  Weed's  letter  Mr.  White  replied, 
"  I  have  shown  your  letter  to  Mr.  Clay.  After  reading  it  with 
great  care  he  said,  '  Mr.  Weed  is  right.  You  may  say  to  him 
that  I  shall  write  no  letters.'  " 

The  Whig  national  convention  met  at  Baltimore  on  the  1st 
of  May,  1844,  and  nominated  Henry  Clay  for  President.  Two 
years  before,  at  the  Whig  state  convention  in  New  York,  Mr. 
Weed  suggested  the  passage  of  a  resolution  calling  for  a  na 
tional  convention  to  name  a  Vice-President  and  frame  a  plat 
form,  and  such  a  resolution  was  adopted.  The  idea  of  nomi 
nating  anybody  but  Mr.  Clay  for  President  was  not  for  a 
moment  entertained.  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  of  New  Jersey, 
became  the  nominee  for  Vice-President,  and  the  Baltimore  con 
vention  adjourned.  On  the  27th  of  May  the  Democrats  nomi 
nated  James  K.  Polk  and  Silas  Wright.  Mr.  Wright  declined, 
and  Mr.  Dallas,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  substituted  as  a  candi 
date  for  Vice-President. 

[MR.    CLAY   TO   MR.    WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  May  6, 1844. 

DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  Your  letter  has  been  duly  received  by  me 
since  my  arrival  at  this  place,  and  hence  the  delay  in  my  transmis 
sion  of  an  answer.  I  dp  not  now  recollect  the  purport  of  the  letter, 
from  Mr.  Dickinson,  to  which  you  refer;  but  you  may  be  assured 
that  it  made  no  unfavorable  impression  on  my  mind  toward  any 
body,  least  of  all  towards  Governor  Seward,  whose  determination  to 
give  cordial  and  efficient  support  to  the  Whig  cause  I  have  never 
doubted. 


120  MEMOIR.  [1844. 

The  nomination  of  Mr.  Frelinghuysen  was  no  doubt  unexpected  by 
you,  as  it  certainly  was  by  me.  I  think,  nevertheless,  it  is  a  most 
judicious  selection,  and,  if  he  does  not  add  any  strength  —  which, 
however,  I  think  he  will  do  —  he  will  take  away  none  from  the  ticket. 
The  only  regret  about  it  is  that  the  friends  of  so  many  able  and  good 
men  should  have  been  disappointed  in  regard  to  the  selection  of  their 
favorites. 

I  do  not  think  I  ever  witnessed  such  a  state  of  utter  disorder,  con 
fusion,  and  decomposition  as  that  which  the  Democratic  party  now 
presents.  Many  believe  that  their  convention  will  abandon  Mr.  Van 
Buren  and  take  up  some  one  else.  That  is  not  my  opinion,  unless  he 
chooses  voluntarily  to  withdraw.  I  think  he  is  really  the  strongest 
man  in  their  party. 

I  am  sure  you  will  be  pleased  to  hear  from  me  that  I  am  firmly 
convinced  that  my  opinion  on  the  Texas  question  will  do  me  no 
prejudice  at  the  South.  I  remain,  with  great  respect, 

Your  friend  and  obedient  servant,  H.  CLAY. 

There  is  no  history  so  unerring  as  a  bundle  of  old  letters. 
No  amount  of  biographical  dissection  .could  bring  the  reader 
so  close  to  Henry  Clay  as  he  does  here  by  his  own  hand.  He 
was  now  about  to  stand  for  the  highest .  office  in  the  gift  of  the 
Republic  for  the  third  and  last  time.  The  election  was  to  turn 
on  the  question  of  admitting  Texas  as  a  slave  state.  To  that 
proposition  the  Democrats  were  publicly  committed ;  it  was 
evident  that  they  would  receive  the  entire  pro-slavery  vote. 
There  was  no  reason  to  doubt  Mr.  Clay's  success,  if  his  canvass 
was  wisely  guided.  It  was  clear  that  he  had  nothing  to  gain  by 
courting  the  South,  and  everything  to  lose  by  alienating  the  free 
spirit  of  the  North.  How  this  great  man  was  self -deceived !  In 
regard  to  Mr.  Frelinghuysen,  he  was  seriously  in  error.  That 
nomination  by  alienating  a  certain  foreign  element  was  a  direct 
loss  to  the  Whig  ticket.  He  was  equally  at  fault  in  predicting 
the  nomination  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  and  again  in  rating  him  the 
strongest  man  in  the  Democratic  party.  His  "  opinion  on  the 
Texas  question,"  as  expressed  by  Mr.  Clay  in  his  Alabama 
letter,  may  not  have  done  him  "  prejudice  at  the  South,"  but  by 
needlessly  inflaming  opposition  at  the  ftbrth,  it  destroyed  for 
all  time  "Royal  Harry's"  brilliant  presidential  prospects.  The 
canvass  opened  early,  and  the  Whigs  began  work  with  zeal  and 
confidence.  On  the  adjournment  of  the  New  York  legisla 
ture  an  address,  signed  by  the  Whig  members,  written  by  Mr. 


1844.]  TALMADGE  MADE  GOVERNOR.  121 

Weed,  was  submitted  to  the  people.  In  his  paper  he  gave  the 
Democrats  "  Annexation  and  Slavery,"  "  British  Free  Trade," 
and  a  "Forty  Million  Dollar  D*ebt  to  Pay,"  every  time  the 
office-boy  called  for  copy. 

"  I  am  reading  your  editorials  every  day,"  wrote  Washington 
Hunt,  "  sometimes  deploring  the  cruelty  of  your  trusted  blade, 
sometimes  aroused  by  the  boldness  of  your  sallies,  continually 
delighted  by  your  dexterity  in  fence,  and  always  admiring  the 
profuse  intermingling  of  general  sentiments  and  happy  conceits. 
It  seems  like  a  perpetual  feast,  and  indulgence  only  sharpens 
the  appetite.  .  .  .  Over-loaded  as  my  time  is  with  engagements, 
I  must  endeavor  to  give  you  my  ideas  of  the  political  situation. 
I  need  not  speak  of  what  has  been  done  in  Congress  and  what 
left  undone.  You  will  find  many  matters  worthy  of  comment. 
Talmadge  has  been  made  Governor  of  Wisconsin.  All  things 
considered,  I  do  not  regret  it,  except  that  I  feel  mortified  to  see 
him  take  a  commission  under  this  miserable  administration. 
But  his  position  had  become  unpleasant,1  as  you  know,  and  I 
am  glad  to  see  him  put  out  of  misery.  It  will  also  relieve  his 
friends  from  many  annoyances.  ...  I  perceive  that  our  friend 
Collier  2  is  inclined  to  hold  Fillmore  to  a  rigid  construction  of 
his  letter  ; 3  but  so  far  as  I  can  judge  at  this  distance  you  are 
right,  and  Fillmore  is  the  man.  I  believe  he  is  the  strongest. 
We  shall  carry  the  State,  but  I  assure  you  we  have  no  strength 
to  spare,  especially  since  Charles  King  and  other  antediluvians 
of  our  party  will  not  permit  the  Irish  or  the  Dutch  to  vote  the 
Whig  ticket.  Apropos,  I  am  exceedingly  indignant  at  this 
'  Native  American '  movement,  and  the  folly  of  our  people  in 
giving  their  aid  and  countenance  to  disorganizes.  .  .  .  We 
shall  expect  to  see  you  at  Kochester  at  the  convention." 

"  I  wish  to  say  to  you,"  wrote  George  W.  Patterson,  "  that 
you  are  right,  as  usual,  on  the  question  of  Governor.  After  Mr. 
Frelinghuysen  was  named  for  Vice-President,  it  struck  me  that 
Fillmore  above  all  others  was  the  man.  You  may  rest  assured 
he  will  help  Mr.  Clay  to  a  large  number  of  good  men's  votes. 
Mr.  Clay's  slaves  and  his  old  duel  would  have  hurt  him  with 

1  On  account  of  his  supporting  Tyler. 

2  John  A.  Collier,  of  Binghampton,  afterwards  State  Comptroller.     He 
nominated  Fillmore  for  Vice-President  at  the  Whig  Convention  of  1848. 

s  Disclaiming  any  desire  for  the  gubernatorial  nomination. 


122  MEMOIR.  [1844. 

some  men,  who  will  now  vote  the  ticket.  Fillmore  is  a  favorite 
everywhere  ;  and  among  the  Methodists,  where  '  Old  Father 
Fillmore '  is  almost  worshiped,  they  will  go  him  with  a  rush. 
Who  but  John  A.  King  at  the  East  will  take  the  lieutenancy  ? 
If  Collier  was  not  above  it,  he  would  do.  Some  of  our  Whigs 
were  going  to  take  Verplanck,  until  they  saw  your  answer  to  the 
'  Argus '  a  short  time  ago.  .  .  .  We  propose  to  have  a  rouser 
about  the  9th  of  July.  I  have  written  for  Fillmore  and  Haw- 
ley,  and  as  soon  as  the  day  is  fixed,  we  will  invite  other 
speakers  from  abroad.  .  .  .  What  course  will  J.  C.  Spencer 
take  ?  I  think  he  can't  go  for  Polk  and  Texas.  I  have  just 
heard  from  the  Loco-Foco  meeting  at  Mayville.  After  all  their 
drumming  and  running  with  handbills, 4  come  and  hear  Major 
Davezac,  the  aid  of  General  Jackson,'  etc.,  they  succeeded  in 
numbering  exactly  168  Locos,  all  told  (including  the  county 
judges,  as  the  court  was  in  session).  The  valiant  Major  did 
not  appear,  but  the  Eight  Hon.  Colonel  Felix  O'Daughaday, 
Judge  of  Common  Pleas,  etc.,  etc.,  mounted  the  stump,  and,  as 
you  may  suppose,  astonished  the  natives.  The  only  flag  worth 
notice  was  got  up  by  Postmaster  Nichols,  of  Westfield.  It  was 
one  of  the  true  Texas  stamp,  with  a  solitary  star,  the  glorious 
stars  and  stripes  being  abandoned.  Such  is  Loco-Focoism  in 
old  Chautauqua." 

1844.  —  Mr.  Weed's  advice  was  accepted  by  the  state  con 
vention,  and  Millard  Fillmore  was  nominated  for  Governor. 
"  So  I  am  '  in  for  it,'  am  I  ?  "  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Weed,  on 
learning  this  result.  "  There  is  now  no  escape,  though  I  had 
no  desire  for  the  office,  and  still  less  for  the  nomination.  .  .  . 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  enthusiasm  here  [in  Buffalo].  We 
have  but  two  things  to  fear.  First,  the  Abolition  vote  ;  second, 
that  our  friends  will  mistake  these  great  meetings  for  the  elec 
tion,  and  omit  to  take  the  requisite  steps  to  canvass  every  town 
by  school  districts,  and  furnish  proper  information  to  doubtful 
men,  and  make  necessary  arrangements  to  bring  every  Whig  to 
the  polls.  Cassius  M.  Clay  can  do  much  to  aid  us  on  the  first 
point,  and  will  return  from  Boston  to  the  ratification  meeting  at 
Rochester,  and  then  devote  the  rest  of  his  time  till  election  in 
attending  meetings  as  we  shall  think  best.  Some  system  is 
necessary,  that  the  ground  may  not  be  traveled  over  twice.  Our 
committee  will  send  you  a  list  of  appointments  to-day  for  Or- 


1844.]  THE   TEXAS   QUESTION.  123 

leans,  Erie,  Wyoming,  and  Genesee,  and  we  trust  the  state  com 
mittee  will  perfect  the  list  as  soon  as  possible.  Have  it  first 
published  in  some  Abolition  paper  and  then  in  our  own  papers. 
This  will  carry  the  notice  in  a  suitable  manner  to  those  whom 
we  are  most  anxious  to  have  it  reach.  .  .  .  On  the  second  point 
our  state  committee  must  act  promptly.  No  time  is  to  be  lost." 

"  Our  prospects  continue  very  good  in  this  quarter,"  wrote 
Washington  Hunt  to  Mr.  Weed,  as  election  approached,  "  al 
though  Mr.  Clay  has  given  his  friends  much  unnecessary  trouble. 
We  had  the  Abolitionists  in  a  good  way,  but  Mr.  Clay  seems 
determined  that  they  shall  not  be  allowed  to  vote  for  him.  I 
believe  his  letter  will  lose  us  more  than  two  hundred  votes  in 
this  county  [Niagara].  Cassius  M.  Clay  will  be  at  Boston  on 
the  19th,  and  intends  returning  to  this  State.  His  powerful 
usefulness  is  much  weakened  by  the  last  letter  of  Mr.  Clay's ; 
yet  he  has  a  way  of  presenting  the  Texas  question  in  clear  and 
striking  points  of  light,  and  he  can  do  much  good  in  some  of 
the  Abolition  counties,  such  as  Madison.  I  hope  you  will  make 
it  a  point  to  see  him,  and  give  him  such  advice  as  you  think  use 
ful  touching  his  future  movements.  1  dread  that  with  all  his 
efforts  he  may  not  counteract  the  influence  of  the  letter,  coming 
as  it  does  at  this  critical  moment,  when  half  the  Abolitionists 
were  on  a  pivot." 

"  Yours  of  November  4th,"  wrote  Governor  Patterson,  "  pre 
dicting  our  total  defeat,  was  duly  received.  It  was  in  my  bones 
all  summer,  as  I  told  you  in  a  former  letter,  and  I  could  never 
get  it  out ;  but,  like  you,  I  made  battle  with  a  determination  to 
succeed  if  possible.  Some  thought  that  my  connection  with  the 
land  office  ought  to  prevent  my  taking  part  in  politics,  but  I  do 
not  so  understand  my  position.  Of  the  Locos  I  have  no  favors 
to  ask,  and  if  my  employers  are  not  satisfied  with  my  whigging, 
all  they  have  to  do  is  to  tell  me  to  quit  my  place,  and  I  am  off 
for  home  at  once.  But  my  mouth  shall  not  be  closed  by  friends 
or  foes.  I  addressed  the  people  this  fall  at  about  twenty-five 
different  places  in  the  county.  On  one  occasion  I  left  home  at 
two  P.  M.  on  Monday,  traveled  eight  miles  with  my  own  convey 
ance,  spoke  seven  and  a  half  hours  at  three  different  places,  and 
got  home  at  sunrise  Wednesday  morning.  ...  I  hear  some  talk 
about  your  leaving  the  '  Evening  Journal,'  and  I  protest  against 
it  most  earnestly  and  solemnly.  I  care  not  what  the  '  Natives,' 


124  MEMOIR.  [1844. 

anti-education,  or  Clay  men  of  1840  say  about  your  connection 
with  that  paper.  What  did  such  men  ever  do  towards  sustain 
ing  the  '  Journal '  when  in  its  infancy  ?  The  establishment  re 
ceived  more  curses  than  coppers  from  them,  and  are  they  now 
to  dictate  to  its  patrons  who  shall  edit  the  paper  ?  I  trust  not. 
They  may  dictate  as  much  as  they  please  for  the  '  Slippery 
Elm ' l  near  you,  and  for  the  '  New  York  Commercial,'  but  we 
of  western  New  York,  —  of  the  '  infected  district,'  —  have  some 
say  about  the  'Evening  Journal,'  which  is  our  paper, — not 
theirs.  Our  young  men  have  taken  it  as  their  guide  in  politics, 
as  they  have  the  Bible  for  their  standard  in  religion,  and  all 
the  Clay  men  of  1840  in  creation  shall  not  deprive  them  of 
it.  You  must  consult  our  friends,  and  not  be  moulded  by  the 
whims  of  a  set  of  fanatics." 

The  contest  was  fairly  fought  and  won  when  Mr.  Clay's 
famous  letter  made  its  appearance.  That  document  found  the 
Birney  vote  a  straggling  faction,  of  no  special  account  to  any 
body,  and  straightway  transformed  it  into  an  element  of  deci 
sive  influence.  Reinforced  by  eleventh-hour  Abolitionists,  who 
claimed  of  all  things  to  be  opposed  to  the  annexation  of  Texas, 
this  element  sacrificed  enough  votes  upon  its  candidate  to  make 
James  K.  Polk  President.  New  York  would  have  saved  the 
Whigs,  but  that  was  not  to  be.  Thanks  to  the  "  third  party," 
New  York  went  against  the  state  and  national  Whig  candidates, 
Silas  Wright  becoming  Governor. 

"  The  country  owes  much  of  its  misrule  and  misery,"  wrote 
Mr.  Weed,  "  to  the  action  of  minorities,  —  well-meaning,  patri 
otic,  but  misguided  minorities.  .  .  .  The  election  of  Mr.  Polk 
means  that  Texas  will  be  annexed  to  the  United  States.  In  all 
rational  probability,  this  gain  to  the  slave  power  insures  per 
manent  slave  supremacy  in  the  administration  of  the  govern 
ment.  Such,  at  all  events,  was  the  known  and  avowed  object 
of  the  annexation.  That  question,  and  that  question  alone,  pro 
duced  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Polk.  It  was  that  upon  which 
the  presidency  hung,  first  in  the  nominating  convention,  and 
then  at  the  ballot-boxes,  where  the  people  ratified  the  act  of  the 
convention.  This  is  the  precise  truth,  to  deny  which  is  both  dis 
honest  and  unwise. 

1  The  Argus  office  was  located  near  the  "old  elm  tree  corner"  in 
Albany. 


1844.]  MISRULE  AND  MISERY.  125 

"  For  whatever  of  calamity  ensues,  the  people  have  themselves 
alone  to  blame.  If  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  New  Hamp 
shire,  Ohio,  and  Maine  shall  become  weary  of  their  bondage,  the 
fault  is  their  own,  for  they  gave  their  free  limbs  to  the  man 
acles  with  which  they  now  go  clanking  through  the  world.  .  .  . 
Whenever  and  wherever  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  North 
and  South  have  clashed,  they  have  owed  their  triumph  to  our 
treachery.  The  political,  numerical,  intellectual,  moral,  and 
physical  power  and  strength  of  the  country  resides  north  of 
4  Mason  and  Dixon's  line,'  but  our  4  dough-faces  '  have  frittered 
it  all  away.  We  have  had  the  power  to  confine  slavery  to  its 
constitutional  limits,  and  it  was  our  imperative  duty  to  have  ex 
erted  this  power.  But  how  lamentably  have  we  failed  in  the 
discharge  of  this  duty.  The  South  is  indebted  for  every  acre  of 
acquired  slave  territory  to  the  recusancy  of  the  North.  The  peo 
ple  have  tamely  and  ingloriously  allowed  political  leaders  to  sur 
render,  campaign  after  campaign,  the  fastnesses  and  bulwarks 
of  freedom  for  the  '  loaves  and  fishes  '  of  office.  All  that  is  im 
portant  and  valuable  in  policy,  and  all  that  is  dear  and  precious 
in  principle,  has  been  yielded  by  '  dough-faced  '  representatives, 
to  obtain  places  in  cabinets,  missions  abroad,  and  '  spoils '  at 
home.  And  the  result  of  all  this  baseness  and  treachery  is,  that 
slavery  not  only  boasts  a  President  chosen  expressly  to  enlarge 
its  boundaries,  but  has  acquired  a  decided  preponderance  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States.  .  .  . 

"  Abolition  newspapers  and  Abolition  conventions  begin  to 
clamor  for  remonstrances  against  the  admission  of  Texas. 
Truth  is,  indeed,  sometimes  stranger  than  fiction!  But  for 
the  influence  and  action  of  these  same  Abolition  newspapers 
and  conventions  there  would  have  been  neither  danger  nor  pos 
sibility  of  this  extension  of  the  territory  and  augmentation  of 
the  power  of  slavery.  They  first,  by  their  political  organiza 
tion,  secure  the  election  of  a  President  who  was  designated 
expressly  and  solely  to  annex  Texas  to  the  Union,  and  then 
remonstrate  against  a  wrong  which  could  not  have  been  perpe 
trated  without  their  consent  and  cooperation.  And  such  has 
been  the  fatuity  of  Abolition,  in  its  political  efforts,  for  the 
last  ten  years,  by  electing  members  of  Congress  avowedly  and 
notoriously  opposed  to  emancipation,  and  then  sending  petitions 
for  the  abolition  of  slavery  to  representatives  committed  and 


126  MEMOIR.  [1844. 

pledged  against  the  object  of  the  petitioners.  The  result  of 
the  late  presidential  election,  however  disastrous  in  other  re 
spects,  will  open  the  eyes  of  the  people  to  the  reckless  designs 
and  fatal  tendencies  of  ultra  Abolitionists.  The  fifteen  thousand 
votes  which  were  worse  than  squandered  in  New  York,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  thousands  thrown  away  elsewhere,  have  not  only 
made  shipwreck  of  every  other  public  interest,  but  threaten  to 
extend  the  links  and  strengthen  the  chains  of  slavery.  This, 
though  at  too  great  cost,  will  cure  the  evil.  Birneyism  will 
not  again  have  power,  by  casting  its  weight  into  the  scale  of 
slavery,  to  make  freedom  kick  the  beam.  In  the  mean  time, 
though  demagogues  have  run  their  race,  the  cause  of  emancipa 
tion  will  be  onward.  The  Whig  party,  as  philanthropic  as 
patriotic,  will  steadily  pursue  its  enlightened  policy,  until  meas 
ures  designed  and  calculated  to  secure  the  elevation  and  pros 
perity  of  those  who  are  free,  and  the  ransom  and  happiness  of 
all  who  are  held  in  bondage  throughout  the  Union,  have  been 
carried  into  full  and  triumphant  effect.  .  .  . 

"  I  wish  there  was  a  voice  loud  enough  to  reach  all  ears,  and 
sufficiently  influential  to  impress  upon  the  people  the  great  prin 
ciple  of  obedience  to  the  popular  will,  as  expressed  through  the. 
ballot-boxes,  so  that,  instead  of  a  theory,  we  may  have  prac 
tically  a  representative  government.  When  a  great  public  meas 
ure  has  been  at  issue  between  political  parties,  discussed  in  Con 
gress,  submitted  to  the  people,  and  their  decision  had  upon  it, 
let  that  decision,  right  or  wrong,  be  considered  as  binding  upon 
Congress.  In  this  way  only  can  the  people  be  made  to  act  upon 
their  responsibilities.  In  this  way  only  can  they  be  made  to 
appreciate  the  value  of  the  elective  franchise.  In  this  way  only 
can  they  be  made  to  think  and  act  for  themselves.  In  this  way 
only  can  they  be  brought  to  realize  that  a  sovereign  power  for 
good  or  for  evil  resides  with  themselves." 


CHAPTER  X. 

1844-1846. 

A   WINTER    IN    THE    TROPICS.  —  MR.  WEED'S    BOOK.  —  DR.    FRANKLIN'S 

RULE.  —  WASHINGTON  HUNT  ON  POLITICAL  CORRUPTION.  —  RETURN 
TO  ALBANY.  —  THE  STATE  CANVASS.  —  GOVERNOR  YOUNG.  —  "MONEY 

WELL  LAID  OUT  FOR  OUR  CONCERN." TEXAS  JOINS  THE  UNION.  — 

WAR  WITH  ENGLAND  THREATENED.  —  "NATIVE  AMERICANISM."  —  LET 
TERS  FROM  BISHOP  HUGHES,  DANIEL  WEBSTER,  AND  MR.  GREELEY. 

MR.  WEED  stood  upon  the  deck  of  the  ship  Cornelia  as  she 
cast  anchor  off  the  west  coast  of  the  island  of  Santa  Cruz  on 
the  5th  of  December,  1844.  This  was  his  first  glimpse  of  life 
in  the  tropics.  On  the  following  day,  established  in  the  most 
comfortable  lodgings  that  could  be  obtained,  he  gave  himself 
up  to  a  half  year  of  indolence  and  enjoyment.  It  was  a  sorry 
climax  to  the  administration  of  Mr.  Tyler,  —  keeping  up  the 
fight  for  Mr.  Clay,  when  there  ceased  to  be  any  prospect  of  his 
election.  Mr.  Weed  maintained  a  bold  exterior,  but  quietly 
warned  his  friends  that  all  was  lost  unless  New  York  city  made 
great  inroads  on  the  Democratic  majority.  When  it  was  plain 
that  control  of  state  and  nation  had  passed  into  the  hands  of 
the  "  Loco-Focos,"  he  was  glad  of  an  opportunity  to  escape  for  a 
time  from  public  affairs.  Physicians  prescribed  a  southern  trip 
for  his  daughter  Harriet,  and  he  took  her  to  the  West  Indies. 

It  was  now  with  abundant  leisure,  and  deprived  of  all  former 
methods  of  occupation,  that  he  began  to  jot  down  reminiscences 
of  his  life,  thinking,  as  his  daughter  told  him,  that  at  some  fu 
ture  day  they  might  interest  his  children.  They  were  written 
with  no  thought  of  publication.  In  fact,  when  he  started  for 
home  he  forgot  all  about  the  manuscript,  which  was,  however, 
secured  by  Miss  Weed,  as  she  was  leaving  for  the  ship.  Then 
for  twenty  years  it  was  not  mentioned,  until  one  day,  in  1865, 
when,  finding  the  papers,  she  took  them  to  him  and  began  to 
read  them  aloud.  "What  is  all  that?"  he  asked.  She  re 
called  to  his  mind  the  neglected  narrative,  and,  hoping  thus  to 


128  MEMOIR.  [1844. 

give  him  congenial  employment,  declared  that  it  ought  to  be 
finished  and  published.  "  I  don't  know  about  that,"  said  he, 
with  a  smile. 

[MB.    SEWARD    TO   MR.    WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  December  30,  1865. 

MY  DEAR  WEED,  —  Our  friends  are  so  faithful  that  we  ought  to  be 
tolerant  of  their  very  small  weaknesses.  They  do  not  see  always  as 
we  do  the  wisdom  that  lies  in  the  exercise  of  reasonable  self-confidence, 
especially  where  we  are  dealing  with  strangers. 

As  for  writing  a  book,  you  ought  to  leave  one ;  I  ought  not.  How 
either  could  make  one  without  making  the  other  seem  responsible,  is  a 
difficulty.  My  book,  if  I  wrote  one,  would  be  charged  to  you,  just  as 
much  as  if  you  wrote  it ;  yours,  in  like  manner,  to  me.  Perhaps  the 
ostensible  link  may  be  severed  by  death  or  political  accident,  and  it 
will  be  well  for  you  to  be  prepared  for  it. 

Your  faithful  friend,  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 

So  many  friends  concurred  in  this  view  —  that  Mr.  Weed 
should  go  on  with  his  writing  —  that  finally,  in  1869,  though 
in  poor  health,  he  took  up  the  work,  with  his  daughter  Harriet 
as  amanuensis.  And  thus,  with  the  exception  of  the  few  intro 
ductory  pages,  his  "  Autobiography "  was  written  entirely  by 
dictation,  after  he  had  passed  his  seventy-first  year. 

Often  Mr.  Frederick  W.  Seward  took  Harriet's  place.  He 
had  grown  up  from  boyhood  as  much  at  ease  and  as  welcome  in 
Mr.  Weed's  house  as  in  that  of  his  father,  dividing  his  early 
life  between  Auburn  and  Albany.  In  the  preparation  of  a  vol 
ume  requiring  constant  reference  to  newspaper  files,  letters,  and 
public  documents,  loss  of  vision  was  a  very  serious  deprivation. 
Mr.  Seward's  genial  presence  and  accurate  knowledge  of  pub 
lic  affairs  constituted  a  refreshing  and  sustaining  influence. 
When  he  went  to  Washington,  in  1877,  as  Assistant  Secretary 
of  State,  the  position  which  he  filled  during  the  administrations 
of  Presidents  Lincoln  and  Johnson,  the  narrative  was  laid  aside 
until  his  return.  As  time  went  on,  it  came  to  be  Mr.  Weed's 
hope  that,  under  the  Providence  by  which  he  was  so  long  and 
so  mercifully  guided,  he  might  finish  the  book.  That  he  did 
not  was  owing  to  several  causes,  chiefly  to  the  increasing  in 
firmities  of  old  age,  and  the  perpetual  and  perplexing  appeals 
for  employment  and  assistance  to  which  he  was  subjected  by 
numerous  friends  and  acquaintances.  He  felt,  moreover,  after 


1845.]  DR.  FRANKLIN'S  RULE.  129 

a  long  life  of  almost  ceaseless  contention,  an  overwhelming  wish 
not  to  speak  unkindly  of  any  man,  but  to  end  his  days  in  peace ; 
and  it  was  difficult,  while  cherishing  such  feelings,  to  trench 
upon  questions  which,  still  excite  antagonism,  or  to  express  opin 
ions  concerning  some  men  who  are  yet  alive. 

1844-1845.  —  "The  transition  from  the  old  year  to  the  new," 
he  wrote  at  Santa  Cruz,  "  is  eminently  a  season  for  reflection, 
and  particularly  with  those  who  are  separated  from  family, 
friends,  and  country.  Links  in  friendship's  chain  are  bright 
ened  by  absence.  Distance  not  only  lends  enchantment  to  the 
view,  but  stirs  and  quickens  the  emotions  of  the  heart.  Memory 
charges  itself  with  the  grateful  duty  of  calling  up  half -forgotten 
kindnesses  and  benefactions.  Here,  upon  a  mere  speck  of  land, 
encircled  by  seas  which  separate  me  from  the  busy  world,  a  re 
view  of  the  last  thirty  years  overwhelms  me  with  a  deep  sense 
of  obligation.  Few  persons,  so  humble  and  undeserving,  have 
such  manifold  reasons,  first  to  God  and  then  to  fast-devoted 
friends,  for  heartfelt  offerings  of  gratitude.  It  is  common  — 
too  common,  as  I  cannot  but  believe  —  to  deride  and  depreciate 
friendship,  as  a  name  for  man's  illusion  given,  which  certainly 
has  not  been  my  experience.  On  the  contrary,  it  has  been  my 
good  fortune  to  find  friends  whose  fidelity,  like  hooks  of  steel, 
remains  unbent  and  unbroken.  It  would  be  truly  delightful  to 
remember  how  much  of  the  world's  good  I  have  enjoyed,  if  the 
recollection  were  not  rebuked  by  the  consciousness  of  how  lit 
tle  of  that  good  I  have  conferred  upon  others.  If  I  had  always 
acted  upon  Dr.  Franklin's  golden  rule  of  '  letting  the  good  of 
fices  go  round,'  of  bestowing  favors  received  upon  neighbors, 
the  burden  of  obligation  would  be  lightened.  But  in  opening 
such  an  account,  I  should  find  a  fearful  balance  against  me. 
So,  like  other  debtors,  whose  present  means  are  insufficient  to 
liquidate  the  claims  against  them,  I  can  only  promise  to  pay 
hereafter.  In  the  meantime,  though  my  greeting  will  be  long  in 
reaching  them,  I  tender  to  all  friends  the  congratulations  of  the 
season,  with  warmest  and  heartiest  wishes  for  their  continued 
prosperity  and  enduring  happiness.  The  new  year  anniver 
saries,  which  in  joyous  succession  have  been  celebrated  at  Al 
bany,  come  back  to  me  consecrated  by  a  thousand  endearing 
recollections.  I  see  friends  and  acquaintances,  with  elastic  step 
and  beaming  eyes,  exchanging  congratulations  through  every 


130  MEMOIR.  [1845. 

street  of  our  ancient  metropolis.  I  can  see,  too,  the  open  door, 
the  bountifully-laden  board,  and  the  cordial  welcome  that  awaits 
each  visitor  in  his  cheerful  rounds.  I  can  imagine,  also,  deep 
snow  and  merry  bells,, or  at  least  the  icy  streets  and  piercing 
winds  of  a  northern  winter ;  but  those  of  you  who  have  not 
hailed  a  new  year  in  a  tropical  climate  can  form  no  idea  of 
what  is  passing  here.  The  fields  are  clothed  in  verdure  ;  the 
trees  are  loaded  with  fruit.  The  rays  of  the  sun,  as  intensely 
hot  as  those  we  encounter  in  July  and  August,  are  shining  upon 
us.  We  sit  with  open  doors  and  windows  to  catch  every  breath 
that  stirs." 

[WASHINGTON  HUNT  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  February  15,  1845. 

DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  If  I  could  envy  you  anything  in  this  world, 
it  would  be  your  happy  condition  at  the  present  time,  luxuriating  in 
tropical  fruits  under  the  warmth  of  a  genial  sun,  withdrawn  from  such 
scenes  of  political  outrage  and  profligacy  as  afflict  and  disgrace  our 
country. 

The  hope  which  you  express  that  the  dominant  party  here  will  pro 
ceed  with  energy  and  dispatch  to  carry  out  their  boldest  measures  is 
in  the  way  of  being  realized  to  the  utmost  of  your  desire.  The  jour 
nals  of  the  day  keep  you  informed,  no  doubt,  of  the  doings  of  Con 
gress.  You  will  see  that  the  Texas  resolutions  passed  the  House,  and 
are  now  under  discussion  in  the  Senate.  There  is  more  than  an  even 
chance  that  some  resolution  will  pass  at  this  session.  If,  however,  that 
calamity  shall  be  averted,  nothing  can  delay  the  consummation  of  the 
measure  beyond  another  Congress. 

Texas  will  be  brought  into  the  Union.  We  must  prepare  for  it. 
There  is  no  escape.  With  the  South  united  in  sentiment  and  the 
whole  power  of  the  government  thrown  into  the  scale  to  secure  the 
northern  Democracy,  it  is  idle  to  think  of  resisting  the  current.  It 
will  sweep  over  every  obstacle.  .  .  .  Washington  is  swarming  with  ap 
plicants  for  office  under  Polk.  Such  an  army  of  office-seekers  was 
never  seen,  and  the  cry  is,  still  they  come.  Meanwhile  Tyler  is  busy 
filling  every  possible  place  with  his  own  favorites  and  retainers.  This, 
of  course,  has  thrown  the  legitimates1  into  an  agony  of  disappoint 
ment.  Sincerely  yours, 

WASHINGTON  HUNT. 

1  Meaning  the  Loco-Focos.  After  Tyler  had  filled  the  offices,  of  course  it 
became  harder  for  Polk  to  reward  his  particular  friends. 


1845.]  JOHN   YOUNG  FOR    GOVERNOR.  131 

When  Mr.  Weed  returned  home,  in  the  spring  of  1845,  he 
found  several  of  his  usually  discreet  friends  committed  to  the 
support  of  John  Young  for  Governor.  That  gentleman  had  not 
only  this  strength,  but  also  the  cooperation  of  a  certain  Demo 
cratic  element,  which  was  determined  to  prevent,  if  possible,  the 
reelection  of  Silas  Wright.  At  this  time  the  Democracy  of  the 
State  were  divided  into  "  Barnburners,"  who  opposed  the  fur 
ther  extension  of  slavery,  and  "  Old  Hunkers,"  who  deprecated 
all  agitation  on  this  subject.  Governor  Wright  belonged  to  the 
former  class.  Not  relishing  the  combination  by  which  it  was 
urged,  Mr.  Weed  could  not  reconcile  himself  to  the  proposed 
Whig  candidature.  Difficulties  arose,  however,  in  making 
another  selection.  Many  delegates,  when  the  convention  met, 
were  in  favor  of  Mr.  Fillmore,  whereupon  Mr.  Young's  friends 
presented  letters  declaring  that  Fillmore  was  not  a  candidate. 
It  soon  became  evident  that  Mr.  Young  had  control ;  and,  not 
wishing  to  vote  for  that  gentleman,  Mr.  Weed  substituted 
another  delegate  in  his  place,  and  quietly  left  the  convention. 
His  instincts  as  to  what  course  politicians  would  probably  tr.ke, 
under  given  circumstances,  were  by  no  means  infallible,  but  they 
were  wonderfully  keen  and  accurate.  In  this  instance  he  was 
not  deceived. 

Late  in  the  summer  he  visited  Boston.  "  The  tariff  is  work 
ing  wonders  in  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts,"  he  wrote. 
"  Every  stream  seems  to  turn  a  hundred  wheels.  It  is  refresh 
ing  to  see  so  many  hardy  hands,  cheerful  faces,  and  such  clus 
ters  of  tidy  cottages.  One  would  suppose  that  every  house  in 
these  two  states  had  received  a  new  coat  of  paint  since  the  tariff 
of  1842."  He  then  went  with  Chancellor  Whittlesey  through 
Vermont,  "  the  only  State  in  the  Union,"  he  wrote,  "  which  can 
boast  of  never  having  given  a  wrong  presidential  vote."  1 

[MR.  GREELEY    TO    MR.    WEED.] 

NEW  YORK,  July  16,  1845. 

MR.  WEED,  —  I  missed  seeing  you  yesterday,  being  detained  at  home 
by  well-cleaning.  I  write  this  line  onJy  to  ask  when  you  and  your 
folks  will  probably  come  down  and  pass  a  Saturday  at  my  burnt-up 
place.  [My  corn  is  looking  like  plug  tobacco.]  I  ask,  first,  because 

1  Vermont  was  the  only  State  which  chose  Wirt  electors  in  1832.  In  1852 
it  was  one  of  only  four  which  chose  Whig  electors. 


132  MEMOIR.  [1845. 

we  count  on  the  visit,  and  secondly,  because  we  shall  probably  spend 
one  Saturday  this  month  at  Rockaway,  for  the  sake  of  sea-bathing,  and 
want  to  be  sure  of  not  missing  you. 

Don't  be  bothered  at  all  by  Webb's  ridiculous  libel  suit.  I  would  just 
as  soon  go  to  trial  on  it  as  not,  for  he  could  n't  recover  more  than  $200, 
and  it  is  worth  that  to  be  sued  by  him.  If  you  say  anything  to  him, 
he  will  think  I  want  to  be  let  off,  which  I  don't.  If  he  should  even 
recover  $1,000  of  me,  it  would  be  money  well  laid  out  for  our  concern. 

If  you  can,  come  down  on  Friday  night.  I  shall  be  glad,  but  do 
not  put  yourself  out  of  your  way  to  do  it.  Robinson 1  and  I  have  to 
attend  a  repeal  meeting  in  Newark,  Friday  night.  Saturday  I  think 
we  shall  go  to  Rockaway,  some  of  us  or  all,  whether  you  can  come 
down  or  not.  I  went  down  to  Coney  Island  on  Saturday  afternoon  — 
a  savage  place,  but  cool,  capital  bathing. 

I  have  assurances  that  our  government  is  secretly  paying  the  ex 
pense  of  the  outfit  of  myriads  of  emigrants  to  Oregon.  I  am  afraid 
they  will  starve  each  other  to  death  in  those  barren  solitudes. 

I  wish  you  would  sometime  handle  as  it  deserves  the  "  Express's  " 
atrocious  slander  on  Governor  Seward,  that  he  was  false  to  Mr.  Clay 
last  year.  From  the  "  Express "  this  should  not  have  come,  and  if 
acquiesced  in,  there  are  fools  who  will  deem  it  a  confession.  Brooks 
is  making  money,  and  ought  not  to  be  so  desperately  malicious. 

Please  send  me  three  lines  at  once,  saying  whether  you  can  come 
down  next  Saturday  or  the  next,  or  at  any  other  time,  and  whether 
you  would  n't  like  to  go  down  with  us  to  Rockaway.  If  you  never 
bathed  in  the  sea  by  moonlight  or  at  sunrise  in  July,  it  is  a  pleasure 
you  ought  not  to  miss  much  longer.  Rockaway  is  magnificent  —  I 
mean  the  ocean,  there  is  nothing  else  there ;  for  one  night  I  know  not 
its  equal.  Yours,  HORACE  GEEELEY. 

P.  S.  I  should  like  to  go  down  with  you  and  your  folks  any  Satur 
day  that  you  would.  I  want  to  teach  my  boy  to  swim.  Mrs.  Greeley 
and  Miss  Fuller  will  go. 

Texas  became  a  State  on  the  27th  of  December,  1845,  and  a 
successful  effort  was  made  immediately  thereafter  to  embroil 
the  United  States  in  a  war  with  Mexico.  It  was  hoped  to  quiet 
anti-slavery  agitation,  and  add  popularity  to  Mr.  Folk's  admin 
istration  by  a  foreign  contest.  Congress  was  Democratic  in 
both  branches,  and  there  was  little  difficulty  in  securing  appro 
priations.  Indeed,  during  the  session,  not  only  was  war  with 
Mexico  begun,  but  it  was  insisted  that  the  United  States  should 
take  possession  of  a  large  tract  of  British  territory  lying  north 

1  "  Richelieu  "  Robinson,  of  Brooklyn,  afterwards  member  of  Congress. 


1845.]  WAR    WITH  ENGLAND  AVERTED.  133 

of  Oregon.  It  was  demanded  that  England  should  yield  all  the 
land  south  of  54°  40'  in  that  region,  or  else  "  take  the  conse 
quences." 

Foreseeing  the  drift  of  events,  Mr.  "Weed  conferred  with 
Joshua  It.  Giddings,  of  Ohio,  and  suggested  a  stroke  such  as 
could  emanate  only  from  the  mind  of  a  master.  Mr.  Giddings 
had  been  censured  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  in  1842,  for 
offering  anti-slavery  resolutions,  had  resigned  his  seat  to  throw 
the  case  back  upon  his  district,  for  judgment  upon  his  record, 
and  had  been  re  elected.  He  was  now  a  leading  Whig  at  Wash 
ington. 

[MB.    WEED    TO   JOSHUA   R.    GIDDIXGS.] 

ASTOR  HOUSE,  NEW  YORK,  December  24,  1845. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  If  the  President  in  his  message  plays  the  game  of  war, 
why  not  out-trump  him  ? 

Wars  are  sometimes  national  blessings,  though  generally  the  reverse. 
But  are  there  not  worse  things  than  war  ?  The  Mexican  War,  though 
causeless  and  ugly,  yet  contained  jewels.  If  war  with  England  would 
give  us  a  tariff,  Canada,  and  freedom,  shall  we  refuse  it  ?  But  it  has 
another  aspect,  the  duplicity  of  the  administration. 

Were  you  to  take  this  ground  in  one  of  your  strong,  vigorous,  fifteen- 
minute  speeches,  it  would  blow  the  war  and  the  administration  sky 
high.  Yours  truly,  THURLOW  WEED. 

Upon  this  thoroughly  characteristic  letter,  it  is  not  too  much 
to  say,  the  fate  of  the  Whig  party  hinged.  Mr.  Giddings  was 
emphatically  opposed  to  war.  But  he  comprehended  the  "  wis 
dom  of  the  serpent,"  which  lay  in  Mr.  Weed's  suggestion,  and 
determined  to  make  the  most  of  it.  Accordingly,  on  the  5th  of 
January,  1846,  he  made  one  of  his  "strong  fifteen  -  minute 
speeches,"  in  which  he  favored  the  absorption  of  Oregon  ; 
showed  how  a  war  with  England  would  in  all  probability  secure 
the  annexation  of  Canada,  and  argued  that  this  new  accession 
to  the  United  States  would  be  radically  opposed  to  slavery,  so 
that,  in  the  end,  emancipation  must  surely  result.  Then  he 
drove  in  the  spike  and  clinched  it  on  the  other  side  by  predict 
ing  a  servile  insurrection  as  soon  as  hostilities  with  England  be 
gan.  His  speech  nonplussed  the  South  and  turned  the  tables 
on  the  Democrats.  Great  Britain  proposed  49°  as  a  boundary, 
the  frightened  Senate  advised  Mr.  Polk  to  accept  the  compro 
mise,  and  war  was  averted. 


134  MEMOIR.  [1846. 

1845-1846. — There  came  into  prominence  about  this  time, 
in  New  York  politics,  the  "  Native  American  "  party,1  which 
found  a  reason  for  being  in  the  oppressive  political  domination 
of  foreigners,  particularly  the  ignorant  Irish  and  Germans  in 
our  great  cities.  Upon  this  movement  Mr.  Weed  never  looked 
with  favor.2  He  was  a  true  American  in  hatred  of  all  proscrip 
tion.  As  against  this  form  of  political  outlawry,  he  advocated 
a  limited  right  of  suffrage,  not  to  be  accorded  except  to  men  or 
women  who  know  how  to  read  and  write.  The  grips,  oaths, 
and  pass-words,  agreed  to  by  "  Native  Americans,"  he  con 
demned  absolutely. 

[MR.  DAWSOX  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

ROCHESTER,  July  10,  1846. 

DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  I  am  in  something  of  a  quandary  on  this 
Nativism  question. 

What  do  the  Massachusetts  Whigs  mean  hy  a  "  thorough  revision  of 
the  naturalization  laws  ?  "  We  are  already  sufficiently  tinctured  with 
this  heresy.  Webster  &  Co.  are  giving  hope  and  confidence  to  the 
old  Federalists  here,  who  are  ready  to  d —  the  Irish  on  the  least  prov 
ocation.  Yours  truly,  GEO.  DAWSON. 

[BISHOP  HUGHES  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

NEW  YORK,  August  29,  1846. 

DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  I  told  you  and  another  dear  friend  in  1844, 
the  next  day  after  the  election  of  Mayor  Harper  by  Whig  votes,  that 
by  his  success  Henry  Clay  had  been  destroyed.  Has  it  been  so,  or 
not  ?  Similar  results  will  again  occur,  unless  you  and  yours  are  care 
ful. 

There  is  an  immense  voting  population  in  this  country,  unspeakably 
honester  than  the  leaders  of  either  party.  They  do  not  understand 
the  theories  of  principle  which  distinguish  party,  but  they  understand, 
in  a  gross  sense,  the  principles  of  the  Constitution,  as  well  as  Judge 
Taney.  They  regard  parties  through  their  understanding  of  this 
standard.  Try  to  make  the  difference  between  Whigs  and  Democrats 
less  unequal.  Do  not  allow  the  scale  to  kick  the  beam  at  one  end. 

1  This  was  not  the   "Know  Nothing"  party  of  1852-1858,  although  its 
principles  were  similar. 

2  I  thank  you  for  your  correct  views  upon  this  subject,  and  your  inde 
pendence  in  meeting  this  question,  upon  which  the  Loco-Focos  are  deter 
mined  to  drive  us  into  a  dilemma.  —  Washington  Hunt  to  Mr.  Weed,  De 
cember,  1845. 


1846.]  MR.    YOUNG   CHOSEN   GOVERNOR.  135 

Justice,  right,  liberality  will  be  sufficient  on  your  side,  and  if  these  be 
honestly  persevered  in,  the  "  slang  "  on  the  other  will  be,  depend  upon 
it,  unavailing. 

It  is  a  terrible  thing  to  see  a  giant's  chair  occupied,  not  filled,  by  a 
pigmy.  But,  for  Heaven's  sake,  do  not  reverse  the  order  which  has 
authorized  dwarfs  to  speak  as  giants,  and  compel  giants  to  fetter  their 
tongues,  instead  of  speaking  out  in  the  big,  broad,  honest  dialect  of 
their  o\vn  generous  nature.  I  speak  by  hints.  But  you  will  under 
stand. 

There  is  a  friend  dear  to  both  who  either  has  grown,  or  will  grow 
up,  to  the  required  dimensions,  if  your  party  are  worth  ten  groats. 
Be  careful,  save  him ;  let  him,  as  he  will  (for  the  stuff  is  in  him),  train 
and  prepare  himself.  There  is  no  chair  which  his  heart  and  intellect 
are  not  worthy  and  capacious  enough  to  fill.  The  time  has  come  which 
will  try  what  kind  of  metal  you  and  he  are  made  of.  So  far  its  sound 
is  clear  and  not  unmusical.  The  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  ingrates 
who  owe  to  his  popularity,  in  a  great  measure,  that  they  are  what  they 
are,  the  attempt  to  crowd  upon  him,  or,  as  Greeley  would  say,  to 
"  crowd  him  out,"  will  make  him  exceedingly  popular.  His  enemies 
have  contrived  to  get  their  eyes  in  the  back  of  their  heads. 

Yours  ever,  t  JOHX,  B.  N.  Y. 

The  second  Constitution  of  New  York,  the  Constitution  of 
1821,  provided  that  all  subordinate  state  officers  should  be  ap 
pointed  by  the  Governor  or  the  legislature.  This  arrangement 
was  never  very  popular,  and  in  1845  there  was  a  movement 
inaugurated  in  favor  of  giving  the  choice  of  these  officials  to 
the  people.  Mr.  Weed  was  a  warm  advocate  of  the  amendment, 
which  was  voted  upon  in  the  fall  of  1846,  and  ratified.  At  the 
same  election  Mr.  Young  was  chosen  Governor. 

[MR.  WEBSTER   TO   MR.    WEED.] 

BOSTON,  November  16,  1846. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  am,  and  was,  quite  sorry  not  to  stay  in  the  city 
time  enough  to  see  you  and  to  exchange  congratulations  on  the  great 
achievement  which  has  been  accomplished  in  New  York,  —  an  achieve 
ment,  you  must  allow  me  to  say,  in  producing  which  you  have  had  as 
effective  an  agency  as  any  other  man. 

The  result  of  the  election  in  New  York  is  a  most  portentous  sign  to 
the  administration.  They  cannot  but  understand  it.  In  my  opinion 
new  prospects  open  upon  the  country.  With  prudence,  moderation, 
and  discretion  the  Whigs  can  hardly  lose  their  present  ascendance. 


136  MEMOIR.  [1846. 

But  whether  we  possess  these  virtues,  and  shall  exercise  them,  remains 
to  be  seen. 

I  think  that  while  we  exhibit,  in  the  strongest  light,  the  evil  char 
acter  and  tendency  of  the  measures  of  the  administration,  we  ought 
to  stop  there,  without  such  review  or  censure  of  the  past  as  shall  dis 
please  those  who,  leaving  former  political  associations,  have  come  over 
to  help  us  in  our  opposition  to  Polk. 

I  hope  to  hear  that  your  new  Constitution  is  adopted.  There  is 
much  in  it  that  is  wrong,  in  my  judgment ;  but  then  there  is  much  in 
it  that  is  right,  and  the  good,  I  think,  is  likely,  in  time,  to  root  out  the 
evil. 

I  hope  to  be  in  New  York  about  the  27th,  and  that  I  may  meet  you 
there.  Yours  truly,  DANIEL  WEBSTER. 

Governor  Young  soon  exhibited  unfortunate  political  tenden 
cies.  He  rejected  the  advice  of  the  ablest  members  of  his  party. 
Mr.  Weed  declined  to  present  the  name  of  any  friend  for  ap 
pointment,  and  throughout  the  administration,  although  he 
endeavored  to  make  it  respectable,  visited  the  executive  cham 
ber  not  more  than  half  a  dozen  times.  At  the  beginning  of 
his  second  official  year  the  Governor  intimated  to  a  few  friends 
that  he  intended  to  insert  in  his  annual  message  a  paragraph 
criticising  Mr.  Clay's  attitude  in  regard  to  the  Mexican  War. 
To  suppress  this  reference  Mr.  Weed  called  upon  the  executive 
and  accomplished  his  object.  Intoxicated  by  the  caprice  which 
made  him  Governor,  Mr.  Young  was  aspiring  to  be  nominated 
for  Vice-President,  and  the  proposed  paragraph  was  part  of  his 
plan  to  secure  that  position. 

"  I  find  a  good  deal  of  concern  about  war,"  wrote  Mr.  Greeley 
from  Washington.  "  Webster  thinks  this  Mexican  conflict  has 
been  commenced  but  as  a  prelude  and  entering  wedge  to  war 
with  England.  The  54-40's  are  on  their  high  horse.  I  believe 
the  administration  men  will  keep  up  the  war  on  a  moderate  scale 
this  summer  to  avoid  the  season  on  the  Rio  Grande,  but  that  in 
the  fall  they  intend  to  concentrate  twenty-five  thousand  to  fifty 
thousand  men,  and  press  them  on  to  Mexico.  They  mean  to 
have  California  and  all  Northern  Mexico  at  any  rate.  The 
way  the  public  money  flows  is  a  caution.  If  we  flog  Mexico 
easily  and  thoroughly,  it  will  be  easy  to  coax  the  country  to  try 
England  next.  .  .  . 

"  Polk  is  a  weaker  and  a  meaner  man  than  you  think  him. 


1846.]  THE  PRESIDENT  CRITICISED.  137 

He  will  use  himself  up  if  he  plants  himself  011  54-40  and  re 
fuses  all  accommodation.  .  .  . 

"Dawson's  remark  about  nominating  me  for  commissioner  has 
knocked  that  project  in  the  head,  pretty  likely.  No  matter. 
But  why  can't  you  learn  the  rest  of  us  to  hold  our  tongues, 
when  we  can  say  nothing  but  mischief?" 


CHAPTER  XI. 

1846-1862. 

THE  BUSINESS  OF  SWINDLING  EMIGRANTS.  —  How  IT  ONCE  FLOURISHED 
IN  NEW  YORK.  —  REFORM  EFFORTS.  —  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  BOARD 
OF  COMMISSIONERS  OF  EMIGRATION.  —  NON-PARTISAN  GOVERNMENT. 

—  OTHER  CITY  COMMISSIONS.  —  A  PIER  LINE  ESTABLISHED.  —  CHAR 
ITIES  AND  CORRECTION.  —  CENTRAL  PARK.  —  METROPOLITAN  POLICE. 

—  ALVAH  HUNT.  —  EVENTS   AT   WASHINGTON.  —  A  TOUR  THROUGH 
THE  NORTHWEST. 

THEY  who  visit  the  neat  and  well-regulated  institution  at 
which  emigrants  to  the  United  States  by  way  of  the  port  of  New 
York  are  now  received  into  this  country,  see  nothing  to  remind 
them  of  the  fact  that  forty  years  ago,  when  a  foreigner  landed 
on  these  shores  with  the  expectation  of  becoming  an  American 
citizen,  he  was  immediately  subjected  to  the  combined  attacks 
of  boarding-house  thieves,  ticket-speculators,  and  other  plunder 
ers,  who  regarded  each  new  comer,  without  distinction  of  age 
or  sex,  as  legitimate  prey.  Ignorant  of  our  language,  geog 
raphy,  customs,  and  laws,  emigrants  formerly  fell  easy  victims 
to  organized  rapacity.  Whole  families  were  frequently  robbed 
of  all  that  they  possessed ;  children  were  stolen,  and  friendless 
young  women,  seeking  relatives  or  employment  in  a  strange 
land,  were  outraged. 

For  many  years  these  abuses  threw  a  heavy  burden  of  taxa 
tion  upon  the  city,  which  took  charge  of  destitute  foreigners 
through  its  board  of  Almshouse  Commissioners,  a  body  essen 
tially  political  in  character  and  wholly  unfit  for  this  service. 
Said  Congressman  Morton,  of  New  York,  now  United  States 
Minister  to  France,  speaking  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
in  April,  1880,  "  There  were  foisted  upon  our  community  large 
numbers  of  paupers,  lunatics,  and  criminals,  and  there  grew  up 
in  our  port  a  class  of  men  who  preyed  upon  the  poor  and  igno 
rant,  crippling  and  oftentimes  so  completely  stripping  them  as  to 
make  them  charges  upon  the  public  bounty.  These  evils  grew 


1846.]  REFORM  EFFORTS.  139 

to  an  alarming  extent.  .  .  .  Finally  the  efforts  of  philanthropic 
and  public-spirited  citizens  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  an 
institution  which,  for  the  motives  of  those  who  inspired  it  and 
for  the  character  of  the  men  who  managed  it,  stood  among  the 
most  benign  and  efficient  in  the  land.  Through  the  exertions 
of  Thurlow  Weed,  Archbishop  Hughes,  Moses  II.  Grinnell, 
Charles  O'Conor,  Robert  B.  Minturn,  and  other  eminent  citi 
zens  of  New  York,  the  passage  of  the  bill  to  organize  this  board 
[of  Emigration  Commissioners]  was  secured." 

Personal  knowledge  of  a  specific  case  served  to  call  Mr. 
Weed's  attention  to  this  subject  in  the  first  instance.  Brief 
examination  satisfied  him  that  grave  wrongs  were  constantly 
practiced,  and  he  began  at  once  to  see  what  could  be  accom 
plished  in  the  way  of  reform.  Hardly  had  he  taken  the  first 
step,  however,  when  he  was  set  upon  savagely  by  "  scalpers  " 
and  their  beneficiaries.  Combining  together,  they  hired  law 
yers  to  defend  their  rascalities.  For  exposing  the  "  ring  "  and 
its  operations  in  his  paper,  Mr.  Weed  was  deluged  with  libel 
suits.  On  one  occasion  he  was  required  to  appear  on  the  same 
day  and  at  the  same  hour  before  seven  different  magistrates 
sitting  in  seven  different  and  distant  towns.  These  attacks  not 
producing  the  desired  impression,  he  was  threatened  with  per 
sonal  violence. 

Finally,  when  he  had  kept  up  the  fight,  entirely  at  his  own 
expense,  for  eight  months,  and  had  been  unable  to  accomplish 
anything,  he  determined  to  bring  the  question  before  the  legis 
lature.  He  consulted  with  Robert  B.  Minturn,  for  many  years 
a  warm  personal  friend,  who  became  deeply  interested.  It  was 
discovered  that  the  then  owners  of  the  site  of  "  Castle  Garden" 
were  disposed  to  part  with  that  property  011  reasonable  terms. 
Mr.  Weed  drew  up  a  bill  moderately  increasing  the  commuta 
tion  or  "  head-money  "  tax,  and  providing  for  the  appointment 
of  a  board  to  be  called  the  Commissioners  of  Emigration. 

The  introduction  of  this  measure  brought  "  scalpers,"  Alms- 
house  Commissioners,  and  all  their  friends  to  Albany.  Fernando 
Wood,  then  Mayor  of  New  York,  joined  in  protesting  against 
any  innovation  in  connection  with  the  emigrant  system.  He 
called  a  meeting  of  the  New  York  common  council,  at  which  an 
official  delegation  was  deputed  to  go  to  Albany  and  oppose  this 
"  interference "  with  the  concerns  of  the  metropolis.  The 


140  MEMOIR.  [1847. 

Mayor's  committee  consisted  of  two  Whigs  and  three  Demo 
crats.  One  of  the  Whigs  was  Thomas  McElrath,  an  enlight 
ened  citizen  and  one  of  Mr.  Weed's  friends.  Upon  ascertain 
ing  the  objects  contemplated  by  the  bill,  he  gave  it  earnest 
support.  On  looking  into  the  question,  Abram  Wakeman,  the 
other  Whig  Alderman,  experienced  a  similar  conversion. 

By  resolution  of  the  Assembly,  a  special  committee  was  ap 
pointed  to  investigate  alleged  abuses,  and  their  report,  brought 
in  shortly  afterwards,  abundantly  sustained  the  necessity  for 
legislative  action. 

Your  committee  must  confess  [they  said]  that  they  had  no  concep 
tion  of,  nor  would  they  have  believed,  the  extent  to  which  these  frauds 
and  outrages  have  been  practiced,  until  they  came  to  investigate  them. 
As  soon  as  a  ship  loaded  with  emigrants  reaches  our  shores  it  is 
boarded  by  a  class  of  men  called  "  runners,"  either  in  the  employment 
of  boarding-house  keepers  or  forwarding  establishments,  soliciting  cus 
tom  for  their  employers.  If  they  cannot  succeed  in  any  other  way  in 
getting  possession  and  control  over  the  objects  of  their  prey,  they  pro 
ceed  to  take  charge  of  their  luggage,  and  take  it  to  some  boarding- 
house  for  safe-keeping,  generally  under  the  assurance  that  they  will 
charge  nothing  for  carriage-hire  or  storage.  .  .  .  The  keepers  of  these 
houses  induce  these  people  to  stay  a  few  days,  and  when  they  come  to 
leave  usually  charge  them  three  or  four  times  as  much  as  they  agreed 
or  expected  to  pay,  and  exorbitant  prices  for  storing  their  lug 
gage  ;  and  in  case  of  inability  to  pay,  their  luggage  is  detained  as 
security.  .  .  . 

Your  committee  have  been  shocked  to  find  that  a  large  portion  of 
the  frauds  committed  upon  these  innocent  and  in  many  cases  ignorant 
foreigners  are  committed  by  their  own  countrymen  who  have  come 
here  before  them ;  for  we  find  the  German  preying  upon  the  German, 
the  Irish  upon  the  Irish,  etc.,  etc. 

1847.  —  Under  the  old  law,  steamship  companies  were  com 
pelled  to  pay  a  tax  of  one  dollar  per  capita  on  emigrants  landed 
in  New  York,  and  this  money,  in  the  hands  of  the  board  of 
Almshouse  Commissioners,  was  an  element  of  patronage.  Thus 
the  question  assumed  a  party  aspect.  Happily,  however,  as  its 
real  character  developed,  many  Democrats  rose  above  party  con 
siderations.  The  Assembly  passed  the  bill,1  and  it  went  to  the 

1  John  E.  Develin,  of  New  York,  then  a  Tammany  Assemblyman,  voted 
in  the  affirmative. 


1847.]  A   PUBLIC  MEETING.  141 

Senate,  in  which  House  opponents  of  the  measure  were  deter 
mined  that  it  should  be  defeated. 

While  the  bill  was  pending  in  the  Senate,  the  New  York 
common  council  called  a  public  meeting,  at  which  it  was  pro 
posed  to  denounce  the  measure  and  all  members  of  the  legisla 
ture  who  gave  it  their  support.  Hearing  of  this  movement, 
Mr.  Weed  went  to  New  York  with  his  friend,  Andrew  Carri- 
gan,  one  of  the  Democrats  who  came  to  his  relief.1  lleaching 
the  city,  they  were  informed  that  Charles  O' Conor  was  to  pre 
side,  and  that  eminent  gentlemen  were  to  make  speeches. 
Among  the  latter  were  mentioned  the  late  District  Attorney, 
John  McKeon,  Alderman  William  T.  Brady,  afterwards  Mayor, 
and  Recorder  Morris.  The  brief  interval  was  not  lost.  Arch 
bishop  Hughes,  always  quick  to  respond  in  a  good  cause,  joined 
in  the  effort  to  protect  the  bill.  Mr.  Weed  called  upon  Mr. 
O'Conor,  Alderman  Brady,  Owen  W.  Brennan,  Mr.  McKeon, 
and  other  influential  friends,  while  the  Archbishop  and  Mr. 
Carrigan  were  equally  active.  The  next  evening  the  meeting 
was  held.  It  had  been  industriously  advertised  by  the  board 
ing-house  interest,  and  the  hall  was  crowded.  Five  minutes  had 
not  elapsed  when  it  was  found  that  the  meeting  would  act  in  a 
different  fashion  from  what  had  been  anticipated.  The  chair 
man,  Mr.  O'Conor,  was  for  the  bill ;  three  out  of  the  five  speak 
ers  advocated  it  with  great  effect,  and  resolutions  were  passed 
calling  upon  the  Senate  to  hasten  its  passage.2 

Soon  after  this,  the  time  arrived  when,  in  the  process  of  leg 
islation,  it  was  proper  to  fill  the  blank  in  the  act  with  the  names 
of  commissioners.  Mr.  Weed  met  Mr.  Carrigan  for  this  pur 
pose,  at  the  residence  of  Ira  Harris,  then  State  Senator  from 
the  Albany  district,  and  chairman  of  the  committee  to  which 

1  Mr.  Carrigan  emigrated  to  this  country  from  Ireland  in  1822,  and  knew 
from  personal  experience  something  of  the  wrongs  suffered  by  his  country 
men  on  landing  in  America.     His  zealous   cooperation  with  Mr.  Weed  in 
this  matter  cost  him  his  political  position. 

2  Mr.  O'Conor  gleefully  recalled  this  meeting  in  an  after-dinner  conversa 
tion  at  his  Nantucket  home,  in  the  summer  of  1883.     "  There  used  to  be  at 
that  time  in  New  York  [he  added]  a  political  sect  called  the  '  Yote-yourself- 
a-farm '  party.     I  remember  that  they  endeavored  to  get  control   of   onr 
meeting,  in  order  to  have  resolutions  passed  declaring  that  every  man  should 
vote  himself  a  farm.     But  when  their  first  speaker  began  to  talk,  I  ruled 
him  out  of  order." 


142  MEMOIR.  [1847. 

the  measure  was  referred.  Up  to  this  time  Mr.  Weed  had  not 
exchanged  a  word  with  anybody  upon  this  subject.  All  that 
he  desired  was  that  men  of  high  character,  removed  from  parti 
san  influences,  and  who  would  devote  themselves  to  this  cause 
without  other  reward  than  the  luxury  of  being  useful,  should  be 
selected.  Sitting  apart  from  each  other,  the  three  gentlemen 
mentioned  wrote  on  slips  of  paper  such  names  as  occurred  to 
them,  and  then  compared  results.  Mr.  Weed  wrote  on  his  slip  : 
"Gulian  C.  Verplanck,  Robert  B.  Minturn,  David  C.  Golden, 
Andrew  Carrigan,  James  Boorman,  William  F.  Havemeyer, 
Jacob  Harvey,  William  T.  Brady,  Francis  B.  Stryker,  Leopold 
Bierwith,  Gregory  Dillon."  These  gentlemen  constituted  the 
first  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Emigration  of  the  State  of 
New  York.  The  Senate  stood  at  a  tie,  on  the  5th  of  May,  1847, 
when  Lieutenant  Governor  Addison  Gardiner,  Mr.  Weed's  old 
friend  of  Manlius  days,  now  President  of  the  Senate,  voted  in 
the  affirmative,  and  the  bill  became  a  law. 

The  first  report  of  the  commissioners  showed  that  while 
much  good  had  been  accomplished,  there  were  still  abuses  in 
connection  with  emigration  which  they  were  powerless  to  reach. 
To  complete  the  reform,  another  appeal  was  made  to  legislation. 
A  bill  was  framed  designating  Castle  Garden  an  emigrant  de 
pot,  at  which  all  emigrant  passengers  must  be  landed,  under  the 
control  of  the  commission,  and  a  clause  was  added,  increasing 
the  power  at  the  Garden  of  John  A.  Kennedy,  chief  of  the 
New  York  police.  These  amendments  provoked  another  com 
bined  effort  at  obstruction.  Ticket  agents,  boarding-house  keep 
ers,  "baggage  smashers,"  and  railway  runners  appeared  again 
at  Albany,  in  augmented  force,  and  proved  even  more  vitupera 
tive  and  troublesome  than  before.  Many  of  them  had  grown 
wealthy  from  their  ill-gotten  gains,  and  they  were  beaten  only 
after  another  sharp  contest. 

Checkmated  at  last,  in  New  York,  the  speculators  removed 
the  field  of  their  operations  to  Albany  —  where  a  transfer  was 
made  from  the  river  to  the  canal  —  and  to  Europe,  where  for  a 
time  they  enjoyed  uninterrupted  prosperity.  Thousands  of  em 
igrants  began  to  arrive  at  Castle  Garden  with  worthless  rail 
road  tickets,  for  which  they  had  paid  two  or  three  times  what 
actual  transfer  would  have  cost.  Fraudulent  drafts  were  given 
in  exchange  for  currency,  and  unprotected  women  were  assigned 


1847.]  APPOINTMENT  OF  COMMISSIONERS.  143 

to  houses  of  disreputable  character.  To  combat  these  develop 
ments,  the  Board  of  Emigration  was  granted  further  powers. 
Mr.  Weed's  friend,  David  Nelligan,  became  their  efficient 
agent  at  Albany.  For  the  foreign  service,  Robert  Murray  was 
designated.  With  their  own  indorsement,  and  with  strong  let 
ters  from  Governor  Marcy,  then  Secretary  of  State  in  the  Cabi 
net  of  President  Pierce,  Mr.  Murray  visited  England,  Ireland, 
France,  Belgium,  Prussia,  Italy,  and  Holland,  and  in  each  of 
these  countries,  through  his  efforts,  measures  were  taken  which 
dealt  a  final  blow  to  the  business  of  swindling  emigrants. 

Thus  originated  a  commission  which  has  protected  millions 
of  our  fellow  creatures  from  imposition  and  robbery,  and  saved 
millions  of  dollars  to  the  city  of  New  York. 

Among  successors  of  the  first  board  have  been  such  men  as 
A.  C.  Kingsland,  George  W.  Blunt,  Jacob  A.  Westervelt, 
Edwin  D.  Morgan,  E.  F.  Purdy,  Cyrus  Curtiss,  John  P. 
Cuming,  A.  A.  Low,  William  Jellinghaus,  and  Wilson  G. 
Hunt.  By  them  and  their  associates  and  successors  the  char 
acter  and  influence  of  this  commission  has  been  perpetuated. 
Six  governors  of  the  State  yielded  to  Mr.  Weed  the  selection 
of  new  appointees  when  vacancies  occurred. 

It  is  proper  in  this  place  to  add  that  Mr.  Weed  was  respon 
sible  for  other  New  York  commissions,  whose  work  has  been  no 
less  important. 

From  1830  to  1854  the  encroachments  from  New  York  and 
Brooklyn  of  dock,  wharf,  and  pier  owners  proceeded  so  reck 
lessly  as  seriously  to  threaten  the  navigation  of  the  East  River. 
To  meet  this  abuse  he  suggested  and  the  legislature  passed  a 
bill  authorizing  the  Governor  to  appoint  five  commissioners, 
whose  duty  it  became,  in  defense  of  the  commerce  of  the  State, 
to  designate  experienced  surveyors  to  regulate  the  construction 
of  docks,  wharves,  and  piers,  and  to  establish  an  exterior  line 
beyond  which  no  obstruction  could  be  permitted.  Of  course 
for  this  service  men  of  the  strictest  integrity  were  required. 
Strong  influences  were  brought  to  bear  in  favor  of  the  appoint 
ment  of  commissioners  who  would  act  in  behalf  of  political  or 
corporate  interests.  Mr.  Weed  presented  the  names  of  James 
Bowen,  of  New  York,  George  W.  Patterson,  of  Chautauqua, 
John  Vanderbilt,  of  Kings,  Preston  King,  of  St.  Lawrence,  and 
John  A.  Talcott,  of  Erie.  Although  he  was  urged  to  make 


144  MEMOIR.  [1847. 

other  selections,  these  gentlemen  were  appointed  by  Governor 
Clark,  and  their  duties  were  discharged  with  wisdom  and  im 
partiality.  They  reclaimed  lands  worth  vastly  more  to  the 
State  than  their  expenses  and  salaries. 

The  original  Central  Park  Commission  was  also  Mr.  Weed's 
personal  selection,  though  here  his  responsibility  was  accidental. 
When  the  bill  providing  for  the  appointment  of  commissioners 
to  locate  and  lay  out  the  Park  was  under  discussion  in  the  As 
sembly,  the  section  in  which  names  were  to  be  inserted  was,  as 
usual,  left  blank.  No  agreement  had  been  reached,  when  it 
was  suggested  that  Mr.  Weed  be  asked  to  fill  the  blank,  if  he 
would  consent  to  do  so,  and  in  that  arrangement  all  parties 
interested  acquiesced.  Thus  called  upon,  he  named  Robert  J. 
Dillon,  James  E.  Cooley,  Charles  H.  Russell,  J.  F.  Butterworth, 
Andrew  H.  Green,  John  A.  Gray,  James  Hogg,  Waldo  Hutch- 
ings,  Thomas  C.  Fields,  Charles  W.  Elliott,  and  William  K. 
Strong,  the  first  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Central  Park. 

Then  came  the  creation  of  the  non-partisan  Board  of  Metro 
politan  Police  Commissioners.  When  efforts  in  this  direction 
began,  the  Whigs  were  in  power,  and  were  unwilling  to  part 
with  advantages  long  enjoyed  by  their  opponents.  Finally, 
however,  in  1857,  the  act  establishing  the  Metropolitan  Police 
district  and  force  was  passed.  On  the  23d  of  April,  in  that 
year,  the  board  of  commissioners  held  their  first  meeting ;  pres 
ent,  Simeon  Draper,  James  Bowen,  James  W.  Nye,  Jacob  Choi- 
well,  and  James  S.  T.  Stranahan.  Fernando  Wood,  Mayor  of 
New  York,  and  Samuel  S.  Powell,  Mayor  of  Brooklyn,  were 
also  members  of  the  commission,  ex  officio,  but  they  denied  the 
constitutionality  of  the  law,  appealed  to  the  courts,  and  made 
bloody  resistance  against  the  new  organization.  Suits  brought 
in  their  behalf  were, carried  to  the  Court  of  Appeals,  which,  in 
July,  1857,  handed  down  a  decision  sustaining  the  validity  of 
the  law.  Soon  afterwards  the  Mayors  of  New  York  and  Brook 
lyn  took  their  seats  in  the  board.1  Under  the  amended  act, 
James  Bowen,  James  G.  Bergen,  and  Thomas  C.  Acton  were 
constituted  commissioners  in  1860.  These  gentlemen,  with 
John  A.  Kennedy,  Superintendent,  carried  into  practice  the 
most  approved  civil  service  principles.  They  divorced  the  de- 

1  For  an  account  of  the  struggle  between  Mayor  Wood's  and  the  Metro 
politan  Police,  see  Stone's  History  of  New  York  City,  pp.  531-535. 


1847.]  ALVAII  HUNT   TO  MR.    WEED.  145 

partment  from  politics.  Appointments  and  promotions  were 
awarded  by  the  test  of  fitness,  and  not  from  personal  considera 
tions  or  outside  pressure.  The  result  was  that  the  police  force 
of  New  York,  which  had  been  one  of  the  worst  in  the  country, 
took  rank  as  the  finest. 

Next  followed  the  non-partisan  Board  of  Charities  and  Cor 
rection,  for  which  both  parties  held  Mr.  Weed  responsible.  The 
bill  creating  this  commission,  passed  in  April,  1860,  vested 
the  power  of  appointment  in  the  City  Comptroller,  who  asked 
Mr.  Weed  to  name  the  commissioners.  He  responded  by  sug 
gesting  Isaac  Bell,  Moses  H.  Grinnell,  James  B.  Nicholson,  and 
Simeon  Draper,  two  Democrats  and  two  Republicans,  under 
whom  for  five  years  the  cause  of  humanity,  the  interests  of  tax 
payers,  and  the  character  of  the  municipal  government  were 
vigilantly  guarded.  When  new  selections  were  made,  a  Demo 
cratic  Comptroller  asked  Mr.  Weed  to  nominate  two  Republi 
can  members,  and  in  response  he  suggested  James  Bowen  and 
Owen  W.  Brennan,  who  were  appointed. 

1847.  —  In  the  fall  of  1847  Alvah  Hunt  was  elected  State 
Treasurer.  "  I  feel  grateful  to  you  for  getting  me  nominated," 
he  wrote  in  October,  "  but  I  may  injure  instead  of  benefiting 
the  ticket.  Our  relations  are  so  friendly,  you  being  the  '  Riche 
lieu,'  and  I  one  of  your  '  serfs,'  that  Collier,  Cook  &  Co.  swear 
they  will  take  this  opportunity  to  punish  the  '  Weed  and  Sew- 
ard  clique.'  '  As  his  official  term  was  closing  Mr.  Hunt  wrote  : 
"  Let  me  take  this  occasion  to  thank  you  for  all  you  have  done 
for  me  and  mine.  I  am  under  obligations  to  you  that  I  can 
never  repay,  save  with  heartfelt  gratitude.  Parting  with  the 
society  of  yourself  and  the  '  immortal  few '  will  be  all  that  will 
thud  at  my  heart-strings  on  leaving  Albany.  You  brought  me 
into  public  life,  and  expanded  my  feeble  mind  to  its  utmost  ca 
pacity.  God  knows  why  you  did  it;  I  don't.  It  has  made  one 
more  dear  to  me  than  words  can  express  very  happy  and  grate 
ful.  She  unites  in  kind  regards  to  you  and  yours." 

At  the  same  election  Mr.  Fillmore  was  chosen  State  Comp 
troller,  and  his  letters  were  equally  cordial.  Another  of  Mr. 
Weed's  friends,  whose  letters  lose  none  of  their  sparkling 
quality  by  reason  of  the  lapse  of  years,  was  now  busy  at  "  Old 
Harvard." 

10 


146  MEMOIR.  [1847. 

[WILLIAM   KENT  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

CAMBRIDGE,  MASS.,  February  3,  1847. 

DEAR  MR.  DICTATOR,  —  How  do  you  do  ?  How  do  you  look  ? 
How  do  you  talk,  smoke,  laugh,  tell  stories  ?  Are  you  pleasant,  as  of 
yore,  or  have  grim  politics  metamorphosed  you  into  a  Talleyrand  or 
Metternich  ?  I  do  not  know  how  we  agree  in  politics.  I  rather  fear 
our  courses  are  diverging.  Certainly  they  are  if  you  think  with  Hor 
ace  Greeley,  whom  I  abominate  as  the  most  pernicious  journalist  that 
ever  pressed  crazy  reforms  or  urged  to  madness  rampant  Democracy. 

I  retain  tender  recollections  of  our  companionship,  our  confabs  over 
a  sympathizing  cigar,  and  jovial  nights  at  the  Eagle.  Shall  I  ever  for 
get  them  ?  How  glad  I  should  be  to  see  you  in  our  old  halls,  and  to 
convince  you  —  though  Everett  is  President  —  that  you  will  receive  a 
hearty  grasp  of  the  hand,  a  warm-hearted  welcome,  and  conversation 
not  over  precise  nor  too  puritanical. 

I  want  to  compare  experiences  with  you  as  to  Europe,  and  have 
much  to  tell  you  which  I  certainly  would  not  put  into  one  of  my  lec 
tures  at  Harvard  University.  Yours  ever,  W.  KENT. 

From  Washington  Mr.  Weed  received  frequent  letters  from 
his  friend  Congressman  Hunt,  now  engrossed  in  the  exciting  de 
bates  of  the  session.  "You  see  we  have  carried  the  Wilmot 
Proviso,"  l  he  wrote  in  February.  "  We  have  carried  it  against 
great  odds.  The  administration  made  mighty  efforts,  and  al 
most  succeeded.  There  were  several  from  our  State  and  others 
who  wished  to  avoid  the  question,  and  indeed  some  had  prom 
ised  to  vote  against  us,  who,  when  it  came  to  the  point,  dared 
not  record  themselves.  We  owe  much  to  a  few  of  our  southern 
friends,  who  voted  with  us,  or  omitted  to  vote  in  committee  of 
the  whole,  desiring  to  bring  the  question  to  a  fair  test  by  ayes 
and  noes.  Strong  was  the  only  Dough-face  from  our  State. 
Three  or  four  more  of  our  delegation  felt  like  him,  but  they 
were  appalled  by  the  dread  of  northern  opinion.  You  may  de 
pend  upon  it,  our  state  resolutions  were  of  great  service,  and 

1  So  called  after  David  Wilmot,  of  Pennsylvania,  who,  when  a  bill  appro 
priating  $2,000,000  for  the  purchase  of  territory  from  Mexico  was  under  dis 
cussion  in  the  House,  moved  to  add  a  "clause  providing  that  slavery  should 
never  exist  in  the  territory  to  be  acquired.  Mr.  Wilmot's  suggestion  was 
simply  a  renewal  of  the  language  of  the  ordinance  of  1787,  establishing  the 
North- West  Territory. 


1847.]  MR.    WEED'S  LETTERS.  147 

you  did  right  in  crowding  them  through.     They  compelled  men 
to  toe  the  mark." 

1 847.  —  During  the  presidency  of  Mr.  Polk  the  question  of 
appropriating  money  for  internal  improvements  was  agitated, 
much  as  it  had  been  on  a  smaller  scale  in  New  York  State  dur 
ing  the  governorship  of  De  Witt  Clinton,  liiver  and  harbor 
improvement  bills  were  vetoed  by  Mr.  Polk  on  the  ground  that, 
in  his  opinion,  they  were  unconstitutional.  Mr.  Weed  attended 
the  liiver  and  Harbor  Convention  which  was  held  in  Chicago 
on  the  5th,  6th,  and  7th  of  July,  1847,  at  which  resolutions  were 
adopted  demanding  appropriations  for  the  removal  of  obstruc 
tions  to  the  commerce  of  the  Great  Lakes.  His  letters  describ 
ing  this  meeting  are  full  of  interesting  allusions  to  this  then  un 
developed  region.1 

STEAMBOAT  EMPIRE,  June  30,  1847. 

I  am  afloat,  for  the  first  time,  on  Lake  Erie.  .  .  .  Captain  Randall 
began  working  his  way,  by  slow  and  tortuous  movements,  out  of  Buf 
falo  Harbor,  the  insufficiency  of  which,  for  the  vast  commerce  of 
these  inland  oceans,  forcibly  impressed  us  with  the  importance  of  the 
convention  about  to  assemble  at  Chicago. 

July  1. 

During  the  forenoon,  our  friend,  Seth  C.  Hawley,  of  Buffalo,  called 
our  attention  to  a  circumstance  which  was  particularly  unpleasant  to 
American  eyes,  and  which  proved,  far  more  conclusively  than  argu 
ment  or  even  figures  can  prove,  the  impolicy  and  wretchedness  of 
our  "  Financial  System  of  Forty-Two."  The  eye,  at  a  single  glance, 
took  in  a  commercial  fleet,  consisting  of  fifteen  sail,  all  from  Cleve 
land  and  neighboring  ports,  and  all  heading  directly  for  the  Welland 
Canal.  .  .  . 

We  entered  the  river  at  half  past  eight,  and  at  half  past  ten  were 
alongside  of  the  wharf  at  Detroit,  having  traveled  from  Albany  (nearly 
seven  hundred  miles)  in  fifty-one  hours.  We  are,  they  tell  us,  the 
only  persons  who  ever  performed  the  journey  between  Albany  and 
Detroit  in  so  short  a  time. 

July  4. 

The  great  and  good  men  who  seventy  years  ago  carved  out  a  re 
public  could  have  had  but  imperfect  conceptions  of  its  even  yet  unap 
preciated  magnitude.  They  did  not  dream  that  in  territory  then  un 
known  to  them  there  would  now  be  a  population  greater  than  that  of 

1  They  occupy  28  pages  of  fine  type  in  the  history  of  the  convention,  pub 
lished  by  Robert  Fergus,  Chicago,  1882. 


148  MEMOIR.  [1847. 

the  old  thirteen  colonies.  They  could  not,  in  their  wildest  imaginings, 
have  supposed  that  on  these  then  unexplored  lakes  there  would  now 
be  a  commerce  exceeding  in  tonnage  and  value  that  of  our  Atlantic 
States.  Yet  these  things  are  more  than  realized,  and  in  reference  to 
the  population  and  resources  of  the  West  we  have  only  seen  "  the  be 
ginning  of  the  end." 

The  works  of  nature  away  out  here,  where  "  the  sun  sinks  to  rest," 
are  indeed  upon  an  extended  scale.  Here  are  a  succession  of  mighty 
lakes,  emptying  themselves  one  into  another,  until,  nearly  three  thou 
sand  miles  from  their  head,  their  waters  mingle  with  those  of  the  At 
lantic.  And  upon  the  shores  of  these  lakes  is  an  extent  of  country 
capable  of  supporting,  and  destined  to  receive,  in  the  course  of  half  a 
century,  at  least  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  inhabitants. 

CHICAGO,  July  5. 

After  Mr.  Allen  closed,  there  was  a  spontaneous  call  for  "  Corwin," 
who  was  not,  it  was  thought,  present.  But  he  was  soon  observed  and 
pointed  out  in  the  crowd  ;  and  then  a  tremendous  shout  went  up  for 
"  Corwin,"  "  Corwin,"  who  finally  came  forward  amid  deafening  ac 
clamations. 

Immediately  after  reaching  the  stage,  a  profound  stillness  pervaded 
the  assemblage.  From  five  to  six  thousand  faces,  indicating  intense 
interest,  were  turned  upon  the  speaker,  who  riveted  their  attention. 

Mr.  Corwin  closed  a  most  impassioned  and  eloquent  speech  of  half 
an  hour  by  deprecating  the  introduction  of  any  political  tests  here. 
Let  nothing  be  said  or  done  to  recall  the  past,  to  mar  the  harmony  of 
the  present,  or  to  jeopard  the  prospects  of  the  future.  Let  the  bugles 
of  party  sound  a  truce  to  politics  while  this  convention  is  in  session. 

When  Mr.  Corwin  closed,  there  was  a  general  call  for  "  Greeley," 
whom  Mr.  Wentworth  introduced  to  the  convention.  Mr.  Greeley 
remarked  that  he  had  hoped  that  his  reputation  as  a  bad  speaker 
would  have  saved  him  from  the  embarrassment  of  addressing  so  vast 
an  assemblage.  He  then  spoke  for  half  an  hour  with  much  effect,  in 
favor  of  the  objects  of  the  meeting.  He  was  listened  to  with  great 
attention,  and  warmly  cheered  in  concluding.  Every  word  that  he 
uttered  was  full  of  truth  and  wisdom. 

July  7. 

Chicago  is  destined  to  be  a  large  and  beautiful  city.  It  is  reg 
ularly  laid  out,  with  broad  avenues,  and,  out  of  the  business  part  of 
the  city,  it  is  thickly  planted  with  trees,  which  will  soon,  in  addition 
to  adorning  the  city,  furnish  a  grateful  shade.  It  has  four  admira 
bly  conducted  public  schools,  much  larger  than  ours,  and  filled  with 
children.  The  various  religious  denominations  have  large  houses  of 


1847.]  MR.    WEED'S  LETTERS.  149 

public  worship.  The  river,  extending  well  through  the  city,  furnishes 
an  ample  and  excellent  harbor. 

All  are  looking  forward  anxiously  to  the  completion  of  the  canal. 
That  done,  Chicago  will  eclipse  even  its  own  past  magic-like  growth. 
In  ten  years  it  will  contain  more  inhabitants  than  Albany.  .  .  . 

We  rode  a  few  miles  out,  yesterday,  to  get  a  glimpse  of  the  prai 
ries.  In  doing  so,  we  found  the  road  all  the  way  occupied  with  an 
almost  unbroken  line  of  wagons,  drawn  generally  by  two  yokes  of 
oxen,  bringing  wheat  to  the  city.  These  teams  are  called  "  prairie 
schooners."  That  eccentric  member  of  Congress  from  Alabama,  Felix 
Grundy  McConnell,  among  his  last  acts  asked  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  to  "  Resolve,  That  this  is  a  great  country,  and  constantly  in 
creasing."  One  needs  to  visit  Chicago  to  realize  and  confess  that  the 
proposition  is  one  of  undeniable  truth. 

STEAMER  ST.  Louis,  NEAR  MACKINAC,  July  10. 

Our  boat  rides  at  anchor  in  a  broad  bay,  from  which  we  look  out 
upon  a  broader  wilderness,  apparently  as  unbroken  and  fresh  as  it 
was  the  day  that  Columbus  discovered  this  continent.  Solitude  — 
vast  and  sublime  solitude,  —  is  the  striking  feature  of  these  mighty 
waters  and  these  boundless  woods.  Lake  Michigan  occupies  more 
surface  than  the  State  of  New  York,  and  the  productive  unoccupied 
lands  bordering  it  would  sustain  a  population  greater  than  that  of 
the  New  England  States.  And  yet  there  are  hundreds  of  miles  of 
coast  upon  this  lake,  whose  waters  float  hundreds  of  vessels  bur 
dened  with  millions  of  dollars,  where  the  government  has  not  yet  ex 
pended  the  first  dollar  for  a  harbor. 

NIAGARA  FALLS,  July  17. 

We  arrived  in  Buffalo  last  evening,  just  in  time  to  take  the  cars  for 
Niagara  Falls.  The  railroad  from  Buffalo  to  the  Falls,  since  I  was 
here  last,  has,  much  to  the  advantage  of  the  public  and  the  stockhold 
ers,  changed  hands.  Instead  of  the  rickety  rail  over  which  we  were 
then  drawn  by  horse-power,  we  were  now  taken  through  upon  a  sub 
stantial  road  in  an  hour  and  ten  minutes. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

1847-1882. 

FATHER  MATHEW.  —  THE  TOTAL  ABSTINENCE  QUESTION.  —  MISTAKES 
OF  THE  PROHIBITION  PARTY.  —  THE  USE  OF  LIGHT  WINES.  —  GOSPEL 
METHODS  OF  INCULCATING  SOBRIETY.  —  THE  RELIGIOUS  ELEMENT  IN 
MR.  WEED'S  CHARACTER.  —  His  CHARITY.  —  RELIGIOUS  EXPERIENCES. 
—  MISSION  WORK.  —  DR.  BOOTH'S  REMINISCENCES.  —  PRACTICAL  RE 
SULTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  —  DUTY  OF  THE  SECULAR  PRESS.  —  THE 
LORD'S  PRAYER. 

WITH  a  keen  sense  of  the  wretchedness  and  degradation 
which  is  caused  by  strong  drink,  Mr.  Weed  was  for  half  a 
century  an  attentive  observer  of  such  methods  of  relief  or  pre 
vention  as  influential  men  and  women  have  urged,  and,  in  his 
own  way,  was  always  actively  devoted  to  mitigating  the  evils  of 
intemperance.  A  review  of  his  position  in  regard  to  this  ques 
tion  is  suggested  by  the  following  letter :  — 

[MR.    WEED    TO    FATHER    MATHEW.] 

ALBANY,  November  5,  1847. 

VERY  DEAR  SIR,  —  We  are  delighted  with  the  assurance,  in  a  Cork 
paper,  that  you  are  coming  to  America  in  the  spring.  The  American 
people  will  welcome  you  joyously  as  their  guest. 

Permit  me  to  second,  earnestly,  the  application  of  Captain  Knight, 
of  the  splendid  packet-ship  New  World,  for  the  honor  of  bringing 
over  "  the  Apostle  of  Temperance."  The  New  World  is  owned  by 
Messrs.  Grinnell,  Minturn  &  Co.,  who  tendered  you  a  passage  in  their 
ship  Ashburton,  in  1843.  Mr.  Minturn  was  the  moving  spirit  of  the 
committee,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  by  which  contributions  were  made 
for  Ireland. 

Captain  Knight  is  a  sailor,  a  gentleman,  a  teetotaler,  and  a  Chris 
tian.  He  has  sustained  the  cause  of  "  Total  Abstinence,"  by  his  pre 
cepts  and  example,  for  twenty  years.  His  ship  is  one  of  the  noblest 
specimens  of  naval  architecture  that  ever  graced  the  Atlantic. 

Our  mutual  friend.  Bishop  Hughes,  who  was  with  me  yesterday,  on 
his  return  from  Buffalo,  unites  in  the  wish  that  you  would  take  passage 
in  the  New  World. 


1847.]  FATHER   MATHEW  TO  MR.    WEED.  151 

When  I  remember  the  circumstance  that  you  sought  out  a  worthy 
temperance  man  in  Aldersgate  Street,  London,  and  honored  his  humble 
abode  with  your  presence,  I  am  persuaded  that  Captain  Knight's  early 
and  ardent  devotion  to  the  same  cause  will  not  be  lost  sight  of  in  de 
termining  your  choice  of  a  ship. 

I  am  instructed  by  Messrs.  Grinnell,  Minturn  &  Co.,  and  by  Captain 
Knight,  to  say  that  the  best  rooms  in  their  ship  are  at  the  service  of 
yourself  and  friends.  Very  respectfully  and  truly, 

Your  friend  and  servant,  THURLOW  WEED. 

Mr.  Weed's  best  hopes  for  the  redemption  of  his  fellow  men 
from  the  curse  of  alcoholism  were  excited  during  his  visit  to 
Europe  in  1843.  As  he  approached  Cork,  by  jaunting-car,  he 
observed  large  numbers  of  orderly,  well-dressed  men  and  women 
who  were  returning  from  a  funeral,  so  the  driver  explained, 
adding  that  a  few  years  before  he  would  have  been  compelled 
to  stop,  until  dozens  of  poor  creatures,  in  a  state  of  helpless 
intoxication,  were  assisted  to  the  sidewalk.  Now,  thanks  to 
Father  Mathew,  they  were  sober  and  decent  people. 

Deeply  impressed  by  this  incident,  Mr.  Weed  visited  Father 
Mathew  in  Cork  and  London,  and  they  became  warmly  at 
tached  to  each  other.  "  I  attended  his  meetings,"  writes  Mr. 
Weed,  "  and  visited  him  at  his  lodgings,  where  he  gratified  me 
with  the  assurance  that  he  would  visit  America.  He  came  in 
1849,  receiving,  as  he  deserved,  a  cordial  welcome  from  all 
classes  of  citizens.  He  brought  healing  on  his  wings,  and  by 
his  devoted  efforts  scattered  blessings  far  and  wide  amidst  the 
wives  and  children  of  reclaimed  inebriates.  Though  long  since 
called  to  his  reward  by  the  Master  whom  he  served  so  faithfully, 
his  name  is  still  a  household  word  among  us,  and  his  memory  is 
cherished  by  tens  of  thousands  who  are  indebted  to  him  for 
prosperity  and  happiness.  Nor  are  his  teachings  lost  upon  the 
present  generation.  Father  Mathew  temperance  societies  are 
yet  continuing  his  work  in  most  of  our  large  cities." 

[FATHER  MATHEW  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

CORK,  March  31,  1847. 

MY  DEAREST  FRIEND,  —  The  magnificent  humanity  evinced  by 
our  beloved  brethren  in  the  States  for  the  suffering  Irish  has  in 
spired  every  heart  on  this  island  with  ardent  gratitude.  We  shall 
ever  regard  America  as  our  deliverer  in  the  hour  of  bitter  calamity. 


152  MEMOIR.  [1847. 

The  immense  supply  of  Indian  corn  wafted  into  the  Cove  of  Cork 
the  last  few  days,  and  the  free  cargoes  daily  expected,  have  had  an 
unexpected  effect  on  the  market.  Maize  has  fallen  from  nineteen  to 
ten  pounds  the  ton.  In  the  darkest  hour  we  should  not  despair.  The 
mercies  of  the  Lord  are  above  all  his  works. 

I  am  resolved,  God  willing,  to  leave  Ireland  for  the  States  next 
summer.  It  shall  be  my  constant  anxious  prayer  that  the  Lord  may 
remove  every  obstacle,  and  allow  me  to  indulge  this  darling  desire  of 
my  heart.  As  soon  as  the  expected  breadstuff  vessels  shall  arrive  in 
Cork,  I  shall  have  the  pleasure  of  writing  to  you  again,  expressing  my 
thanks. 

Presenting  kindest  remembrance  to  all  my  friends,  I  have  the  honor 
to  be,  dear  Mr.  Weed, 

Yours  ever  truly,  THEO.  MATHEW. 

PITTSBURG,  July  2G,  1851. 

I  was  exceedingly  gratified  by  your  kind  letter,  as  it  convinced  me 
that  your  heart  was  not  so  entirely  occupied  by  your  recent  loss  as  to 
prevent  you  from  thinking  of  your  friends.1  It  will  be  my  pride  and 
delight  to  be  your  guest,  but  I  request  that  you  will,  with  your  accus 
tomed  consideration,  explain  to  the  Right  Reverend  Bishop  of  Albany 
why  you  will  not  permit  me  to  conform  to  the  general  usage  that  pass 
ing  priests  should  sojourn  at  the  episcopal  residence.  Should  your 
learned  and  most  zealous  prelate  kindly  acquiesce  in  the  arrangement, 
it  will  afford  me  much  pleasure  to  accept  of  your  honored  invitation. 
I  will  afford  myself  the  pleasure  of  addressing  you  again  from  Cleve 
land,  etc.,  etc. 

NEW  YORK,  November  8,  1851. 

Though  it  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  convey  in  adequate  terms 
the  intensity  of  my  gratitude  for  all  that  you  have  done  for  me,  I  can 
not  take  my  final  departure  from  this  great  Republic  without  adopting 
the  only  mode  left  me  of  begging  you  to  accept  the  warm  acknowl 
edgments  of  as  grateful  a  heart  as  ever  throbbed  within  human  bosom. 
You  have  indeed  proved  yourself  one  of  my  best  and  kindest  friends, 
and  the  recollection  of  the  solicitude  you  displayed  in  sacrificing  so 
much  of  your  precious  time,  and  in  the  exertions  you  made  on  my  ac 
count,  shall  never  be  forgotten.  ...  I  shall  indulge  pleasing  hopes  of 
seeing  you  once  more  in  the  old  country.  To  your  kind,  amiable 
lady  and  beloved  and  accomplished  daughters  be  pleased  to  present 
my  most  respectful  and  devoted  remembrance.  Earnestly  praying  for 
your  and  their  happiness,  and  bidding  you  farewell,  believe  me 

Yours  ever  gratefully  and  affectionately,  THEO.  MATHEW. 

1  Mr.  Weed's  only  son,  James,  died  in  June,  1851. 


1847.]  THE    TOTAL   ABSTINENCE    QUESTION.  153 

In  conferences  with  Chancellor  Walworth,  Mr.  E.  C.  Dela- 
van,  Father  Mathew,  and  other  distinguished  Prohibitionists, 
Mr.  Weed  did  not  acquiesce  in,  but  rather  sought  to  modify 
their  methods  and  convictions.  Some  knowledge  of  human  na 
ture  confirmed  him  in  the  belief  that  total  abstinence  is  not  the 
true  remedy  against  intemperance. 

"  Much  good  might  be  accomplished,"  he  wrote  in  1854,  "  if 
ultra  Prohibitionists  would  permit  the  legislature  to  pass  a  law 
correcting  the  worst  evils  of  intemperance.  We  have  urged  a 
law  restraining  the  sale  of  adulterated  liquor,  on  account  of  its 
poisonous  character,  and  exacting  such  sums  for  licenses  as 
would  shut  up  cheap  groggeries,  and  make  distillers  and  liquor- 
dealers  liable  for  the  support  of  inebriates  and  their  impover 
ished  families.  Popular  sentiment  would  sustain  such  a  law. 
Tens  of  thousands  would  rise  up  with  grateful  hearts  to  bless 
its  supporters.  Nine-tenths  of  all  the  liquors  consumed  in  the 
United  States  are  more  or  less  drugged.  There  are  numbers 
who  live  and  thrive  by  this  nefarious  trade.  More  port  is  drank 
in  the  United  States  in  one  year  than  passes  through  the  Cus 
tom  House  in  ten ;  more  champagne  is  consumed  in  America 
than  the  whole  Champagne  district  produces ;  Cognac  brandy 
costs  four  times  as  much  in  France,  where  it  is  made,  as  it  is 
sold  for  in  our  corner  groceries ;  and  the  failure  of  the  whole 
grape  crop  in  Madeira  produces  no  diminution  in  the  quantity, 
nor  an  increase  in  the  price  of  that  wine." 

Mr.  Weed  liked  most  of  the  light  wines,  and  his  taste  was 
exceedingly  delicate.  But  he  was  by  no  means  an  invariable 
drinker,  until  over  seventy  years  of  age.  He  then  took,  regu 
larly,  at  dinner  and  at  bed-time,  a  dash  of  old  Santa  Cruz  rum, 
abandoning  all  other  stimulants.  He  drank  of  the  Santa  Cruz 
barely  enough  to  color  a  glass  of  ice-water,  nor  would  he  suffer 
this  quantity  to  be  increased  under  any  circumstances  whatever, 
not  even  when  physicians  advised  it.  On  this  point  he  was 
very  sensitive. 

After  fifty  years  wasted  in  futile  efforts  to  inculcate  the  tem 
perance  principle  by  passing  prohibitory  statutes,  he  began  to 
lose  patience  with  the  Neal  Dow  school  of  reformers.  "  What 
have  you  accomplished  ?  "  he  asked  of  that  gentleman.  "  Pro- 
scriptive  laws  have  been  so  uniformly  evaded  or  violated  that 
they  have  become  worse  than  a  dead  letter.  It  is  a  common 


154  MEMOIR.  [1847. 

saying,  well  established  by  experience,  that,  if  a  man  wants  wine 
or  beer,  he  can  and  will  get  it,  if  not  openly,  then  'on  the 
quiet.'  .  .  .  In  the  old  States,  'cast-iron'  methods  have  been 
generally  abandoned  ;  though  in  Kansas,  Iowa,  Ohio,  and  other 
young  communities,  they  have  been  espoused  with  more  enthusi 
asm  than  discretion." 

But  it  has  often  and  very  properly  been  urged  that  those  who 
oppose  these  methods  should  offer  something  better. 

"  Presumptuous  as  my  scheme  may  be  regarded,"  Mr.  Weed 
writes,  "I  am  prepared  not  only  to  suggest  but  to  demonstrate 
that  by  the  concerted  action  of  the  people  and  the  government 
we  can  become,  as  a  nation,  as  distinguished  for  sobriety  as  we 
are  now  for  intemperance.  By  the  acquisition  of  new  terri 
tory  we  can  become  as  extensively  a  grape-growing  country  as 
France  or  Switzerland.  Let  California,  Kansas,  and  other 
States  with  soils  adapted  to  grape  culture,  turn  their  industries 
in  that  direction,  and  the  practical  remedy  for  intemperance 
will  soon  be  reached.  When  the  grape  is  produced  in  sufficient 
quantities  to  furnish  cheap  wine  as  a  beverage  for  all  classes,  it 
will  be  within  the  scope  and  duty  of  Congress  to  perfect  a  re 
form  that  will  emancipate  our  people  from  the  horrors,  and  our 
Nation  from  the  reproach,  of  intemperance.  Congressional  laws 
effectually  prohibiting  the  adulteration  of  whiskey  and  other 
alcoholic  drinks  should  be  enacted.  Under  such  laws  experts 
should  be  appointed  to  test  the  purity  of  such  liquors.  Other 
laws  should  be  passed  imposing  duties  so  onerous  upon  im 
ported  liquors  as  either  to  exclude  or  to  render  them  so  expen 
sive  that  the  rich  only  could  purchase  them.  .  .  . 

"  Intemperance,  while  it  reaches  all  classes,  is  most  fatal  and 
most  pervading  with  the  poor,  upon  whom  the  curse  rests  most 
heavily.  The  shortest  and  surest  remedy  and  relief  for  this 
most  numerous  class  of  victims  is  to  place  the  cause  beyond 
their  reach.  That  cause  exists  in  cheap  liquors.  The  law  should 
provide  for  the  appointment  of  competent  inspectors,  whose 
duty  it  should  be  to  ascertain  by  chemical  tests  that  all  liquors 
offered  for  sale  are  pure  and  unadulterated.  Alcoholic  liquors 
should  be  heavily  taxed.  That  would  immensely  diminish  the 
quantity  sold,  and  so  largely  enhance  the  price  as  to  render 
them  inaccessible  to  tlie  poor.  It  is  only  by  mixtures  and  adul 
terations  that  intoxicating  drinks  are  made  cheap  enough  to 


3847.]  ADULTERATED  DRINKS.  155 

ruin  and  destroy  hundreds  of  thousands.  These  mixtures  and 
adulterations  not  only  intoxicate  but  poison  their  victims.  That 
those  who  habitually  indulge  in  the  use  of  cheap  liquor  inhale 
more  or  less  of  deadly  poison  has  been  clearly  ascertained  by 
chemical  analyses.  The  sale  of  poisoned  liquors  should,  for 
sanitary  reasons,  be  prohibited.  Let  this  reform  be  accom 
plished  ;  let  us  obtain  the  passage  of  laws  which  will  prohibit 
by  stringent  penalties  the  sale  of  adulterated  liquors.  Gin-shops 
and  groggeries  would  then  rapidly  disappear.  .  .  . 

"  If  the  time,  labor,  money,  and  talent  that  have  been  since 
1820  devoted  to  well-meant  but  utterly  fruitless  efforts  in  favor 
of  prohibition  had  been  united  in  favor  of  the  measures  here 
briefly  outlined,  the  curse  of  intemperance  would  have  been  re 
moved  from  our  borders.  Light  and  palatable  wines  would  have 
been  substituted  for  inebriating  and  poisonous  alcoholic  liquors. 
.  .  .  France  and  England  are  divided  by  a  narrow  channel; 
France  produces  wine  as  a  beverage  ;  England  grows  hops  and 
brews  beer.  The  French  people  are  industrious,  frugal,  and 
sober  ;  in  England  the  laboring  classes  are  improvident,  intem 
perate,  and  degraded.  Unhappily,  our  social  and  domestic  hab 
its  and  tastes  came  with  our  ancestors  from  England.  Let  us 
now  rise  above  them,  and  adopt  measures  which  will  secure  to 
future  generations  the  blessings  which  confer  prosperity  and 
happiness  upon  the  French  people." 

All  that  has  been  actually  accomplished  for  sobriety,  in  Mr. 
Weed's  opinion,  has  been  brought  about  by  domestic,  moral, 
and  religious  influences.  Of  these  forces  he  ranked  religion  as 
the  most  potent.  He  was  a  firm  believer  in  so-called  "  gospel 
methods "  of  converting  inebriates.  He  contributed  liberally 
to  sustain  "  gospel  temperance  "  meetings  and  missions  in  New 
York,  at  which  he  was  a  frequent  visitor.  Of  these  missions, 
after  commending  them  to  general  favor,  he  writes  :  "  The  ef 
fect  of  the  best  discourses  is  greatly  enhanced  by  the  sacred 
melodies  which  precede  and  follow  them.  To  hear  such  hymns 
as  '  Waiting  and  Watching,'  '  Ninety  and  Nine,'  '  Almost  Per 
suaded,'  '  Hold  the  Fort,'  '  I  need  Thee  every  Hour,'  '  Sowing 
the  Seed,'  c  Jesus  of  Nazareth  Passeth  By,'  '  Just  as  I  Am,'  '  Oh, 
to  be  Nothing,'  4  Once  for  All,'  4  Only  Trust  in  Him,'  '  Kescue 
the  Perishing,'  '  Safe  in  the  Arms  of  Jesus,'  4  Kock  of  Ages,' 
rendered  as  they  are  at  these  meetings,  is  a  privilege  enjoyed 


156  MEMOIR.  [1847. 

only  by  the  present  generation.  .  .  .  Meanwhile,  after  the  tem 
perance  missionary  has  accomplished  his  task,  society  is  charged 
with  the  responsibility  of  completing  the  work.  A  reformed 
drunkard  enters  upon  his  new  life  in  a  sort  of  second  child 
hood,  helpless  and  dependent.  He  needs  sympathy,  assistance, 
and  encouragement.  When  he  is  ready  to  substitute  bread  for 
whiskey,  it  should  be  cheerfully  supplied  until  he  is  able  to  earn 
it.  His  greatest  need  is  employment,  and  all  who  are  fortunate 
enough  to  possess  influence  should  promptly  exert  it  in  favor  of 
those  who  are  ready  and  willing  to  work." 

This  seems  a  proper  time  to  say  that  the  religious  element  in 
Mr.  Weed's  nature  was  largely  developed.  He  made  no  pro 
fessions  in  this  direction ;  he  subscribed  to  no  formal  articles  of 
faith ;  but  he  always  led  a  sober,  conscientious,  reverential  life, 
and  was  a  far  better  Christian  in  thought  and  deed  than  many 
who  are  punctilious  in  matters  which  he  thought  irrelevant. 
One  day,  when  he  was  far  advanced  in  life,  a  bustling  young- 
Baptist  brother  called  upon  him,  to  converse  about  sin  and  re 
demption.  He  alluded  to  the  weather,  the  goodness  of  the 
Creator  in  granting  various  kinds  of  weather,  and  then,  after  a 
pause,  began  :  "  Mr.  Weed,  if  you  will  excuse  me,  you  are  now 
an  old  man.  You  cannot  have  many  years  to  live  ;  and  I  have 
called  to  pray  with  you  and  talk  with  you  about  the  interests 
of  your  soul,  in  view  of  the  eternal  future."  Mr.  Weed  smiled 
upon  the  juvenile  preacher,  who  might  have  been  his  grandson, 
and  said,  "  I  thank  you  sincerely  for  the  good  intent  and  kind 
wishes  which  no  doubt  brought  you  here.  But  you  seem  to  be 
laboring  under  a  misapprehension.  Do  you  really  imagine  that 
a  serious-minded  man  who  has  lived  between  these  two  worlds 
for  eighty-four  years,  who  has  had  the  highest  joy  and  the  deep 
est  sorrow,  who  has  been  stricken  down  in  the  shadow  of  death 
more  than  once  and  come  out  alive ;  who  has  been  bereft  of  fa 
ther  and  mother,  brothers  and  sisters,  wife  and  children,  who 
has  seen  the  dear  friends  of  his  youth  drop  off  one  by  one  till 
scarcely  a  companion  remains  above  the  sod,  has  never  dwelt 
upon  this  question  of  the  meaning  of  life  and  the  mystery  of 
death  concerning  which  you  have  come  to  give  me  your  opin 
ions  ?  I  thank  you,  my  dear  friend  ;  but  you  can  do  nothing 
for  me."  And  the  youth  took  his  departure. 

Certainly  no  one  could  be  more  charitable  without  being  im- 


1847.]  MR.    WEED'S   CHARITY.  157 

provident.  "  Why  do  you  pass  your  life  in  such  misplaced  gen 
erosity  ?  "  exclaims  his  friend  William  Kent,  in  one  of  his  letters. 
"  Do  you  imagine  that  Grub  and  Grinder  are  affected  by  such 
magnanimity?  "  In  the  days  when  he  knew  poverty  he  would 
sometimes  walk  down  the  street  in  Albany  with  a  few  dollars 
in  his  pocket,  meet  an  old  acquaintance  in  want,  and  that  day 
the  family  would  have  no  roast  for  dinner.  "  There,  you  do 
not  need  it  so  much  as  she,"  he  said  one  day  as  he  took  a  new 
red  shawl  from  one  of  his  daughters  -  and  placed  it  carefully 
across  the  shoulders  of  a  beggar's  shivering  offspring.  Such  in 
cidents  were  common. 

"  Horace  Greeley  used  to  tell,"  writes  Charles  A.  Dana,  "  how 
of  a  Monday  morning,  to  the  first  half-dozen  poor  widows  who 
came  soliciting  alms,  Thurlow  Weed  would  empty  his  pockets 
to  the  last  dollar  of  the  scanty  salary  he  had  received  the  Satur 
day  evening  previous." 

"  When  the  virulence  of  party  strife  shall  have  passed  away," 
wrote  Henry  J.  Raymond,  "  the  thousands  whom  he  aided,  the 
hungry  whom  he  fed,  the  weak  whom  he  strengthened,  the  men 
in  every  walk  whom  his  hand,  his  influence,  and  his  purse  have 
always  been  ready  to  assist,  will  cherish  the  remembrance  of  his 
worth.  Few  nobler  hearts  ever  lived." 

"  The  man,"  writes  William  H.  McElroy,  "  was  greater  than 
the  politician,  party  leader,  diplomatist,  or  journalist ;  and,  re 
flecting  upon  his  private  life,  I  am  tempted  to  apply  to  him 
Coleridge's  words,  declaring  that  '  his  worth  is  much  greater 
than  his  fame ;  it  is  impossible  not  to  speak  great  things  of  him, 
and  yet  it  will  be  very  difficult  to  speak  what  he  deserves.'  His 
intercourse  with  his  fellows  was  controlled  by  the  golden  rule ; 
he  loved  his  neighbor  as  himself  in  very  deed  and  truth.  The 
unselfishness  which  in  public  affairs  was  made  manifest  in  un 
stinted,  self-forgetting  exertions  for  his  well-beloved  party,  in 
private  life  took  the  shape  of  whole-hearted  benefactions.  To 
his  friends  he  was  faithful  and  attached  unto  death.  To  his 
most  bitter  opponents  he  was  considerate  and  generous.  The 
oppressed,  the  unhappy,  from  whatever  cause,  found  in  him  a 
sympathizing  confidant,  ever  prompt  and  liberal  in  relieving 
their  necessities.  The  poor  of  New  York  regarded  him  as  an 
Abou  Ben  Adhem,  and  no  one  of  them,  it  is  safe  to  say,  ever 
went  away  empty-handed  from  his  door.  Many  of  the  pension- 


158  MEMOIR.  [1847. 

ers  upon  his  bounty  came  to  look  upon  his  features  in  death, 
and,  as  they  bent  above  his  coffin,  exclaimed,  while  the  tears  fell 
fast,  that  they  had  lost  their  best  friend." 

"  To  have  a  reputation  for  generosity,"  writes  another,  "  nec 
essarily  subjects  a  man  to  many  trials.  Mr.  Weed  had  more 
than  his  share.  The  never-ending  throng  that  sought  his  influ 
ence  to  help  them  in  government  places  was  enough  in  all  con 
science  for  one  man.  Their  name  was  legion  and  their  perti 
nacity  inexpressible  ;  yet  they  were  all  courteously  treated,  and 
a  fair  proportion  succeeded  in  their  designs.  But  there  was 
another  crowd,  who  came  for  assistance  in  business  or  charity 
direct.  They  formed  another  legion,  though  their  boldness  was 
by  no  means  equal  to  that  of  the  office-seeking  tribe.  If  Mr. 
Weed  had  given  ever  so  little  to  each  one,  he  would  soon  have 
dispensed  the  fortune  of  an  Astor.  To  show  something  of  the 
extent  of  these  charity  demands  we  may  state  a  fact.  One  day 
a  friend  who  was  present  in  Mr.  Weed's  study,  where  applicants 
of  all  kinds  were  usually  heard,  privately  noted  the  amounts 
asked  for.  On  footing  up  the  sums  he  asked  Mr.  Weed  how 
much  he  thought  he  would  have  expended  if  he  had  given  all 
that  was  asked.  Mr.  Weed  had  no  idea,  —  possibly  a  hundred 
dollars.  The  figures  were  shown,  and  the  amount  was  §2,200. 
He  had  given  almost  as  much  as  the  sum  named.  But  his  char 
ities  were  as  far  as  possible  kept  from  notice.  He  went  where 
he  heard  of  a  poor  woman  in  difficulty  or  distress,  and  she  found 
her  rent  paid,  or  coal  or  flour  coining  without  bills,  or  clothes 
for  the  children,  and  money  in  hand  after  the  strange  gentleman 
had  taken  his  departure." 

To  this  testimony  it  would  be  easy  to  add  a  hundred  similar 
tributes. 

"  In  my  judgment,  all  who  lead  Christian  lives,  however  dif 
ferent  in  their  modes  of  worship,  will  be  mercifully  dealt  with 
by  a  merciful  Creator,  through  the  mediation  of  our  Saviour." 
That  was  his  creed. 

He  rated  benevolence  as  the  brightest  of  Christian  virtues. 
Upon  selfishness  and  parsimony  he  looked  with  positive  aver 
sion.  "  In  all  the  villages  and  cities  in  which  I  have  resided," 
he  once  wrote,  "  there  were  individuals  best  known  for  their 
sharp  practices  in  obtaining  wealth,  and  for  the  deaf  ears  they 
ever  turned  to  every  application  for  charity.  I  hated  these  men 


1847.]  RELIGIOUS   CONVICTIONS.  159 

as  cordially  as  I  honored  those  who  were  habitually  good  to  the 
sick  and  the  unfortunate.  I  remember  many  individuals  noto 
rious  as  misers,  but  men,  in  other  respects,  of  irreproachable 
character,  with  whom  I  could  never  affiliate.  Indeed,  avarice 
was  the  one  offense  I  could  not  forgive."  And  yet,  as  he  looked 
back  through  a  vista  of  sixty  years,  during  which  he  enjoyed 
a  fair  portion  of  life's  privations  and  toils,  and  then  of  its  com 
pensations,  he  came  to  a  better  knowledge  of  the  influences 
which  control  human  action.  He  was  passing  threescore  and 
ten  when  he  said,  one  day,  "  I  now  know  how  hard  it  is  for  a 
wealthy  man  to  keep  the  approaches  to  his  heart  open,  and  that 
the  wealthy  miser  is  entitled  to  pity  rather  than  hatred." 

It  has  been  supposed  that  he  became  devout  late  in  life,  but, 
in  reality,  he  became  then  less  demonstrative  in  religious  mat 
ters  than  he  was  before  reaching  his  majority.  His  letters 
from  1815  to  1825  skeptics  would  call  rhapsodical.  They  often 
contain  little  else  than  theological  reflections.  To  Mrs.  Weed 
he  wrote  freely  of  his  earnest  efforts  to  imitate  Jesus.  In  one 
of  these  letters  he  describes  a  visit  to  a  dying  friend  upon  whom 
he  was  besought  to  invoke  Divine  mercy ;  which  office  he  ful 
filled,  though  full  of  misgivings,  he  says,  as  to  his  fitness  for 
such  a  service. 

In  youth  he  attended  church  with  inflexible  regularity.  He 
was  impressed,  while  living  in  Onondaga,  by  the  eloquence  and 
piety  of  Lorenzo  Dow,  a  friend  of  John  Wesley's,  whose  long 
hair  and  beard  were  cultivated  to  give  an  apostolic  effect  to  his 
ministry.  Dow  appeared  without  notice  by  the  roadside  at  the 
foot  of  the  West  Hill,  and  began  to  expound  the  gospel  with 
but  two  or  three  listeners,  drawing,  as  he  proceeded,  men, 
women,  and  children  from  the  adjoining  village.  Mr.  Weed 
heard  him  subsequently  at  Herkimer  and  Rochester.  Fre 
quently,  in  closing  his  meetings  in  the  open  fields,  this  itiner 
ant  evangelist  would  give  notice  that  exactly  one  year  from  date 
he  would  appear  upon  the  same  stump  and  deliver  another 
sermon. 

At  Albany,  in  1815  and  1816,  Mr.  Weed  was  attracted  to 
the  church  of  the  Rev.  Hooper  Cummings,  then  a  popular  Pres 
byterian  preacher,  whose  eloquence  and  fervor  attracted  large 
crowds.  During  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  residence  in  Al 
bany  he  listened  with  satisfaction  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Campbell, 


160  MEMOIR,  [1847. 

and  afterwards,  in  New  York,  greatly  enjoyed  the  preaching  of 
the  Kev.  Drs.  Booth,  Hall,  Deems,  Paxton,  and  Taylor.  He 
felt,  also,  a  lively  interest  in  the  revival  meetings  conducted  by 
Moody  and  Sankey. 

"  My  attention  was  first  called  to  Mr.  Weed,  in  relation  to 
any  religious  services,"  kindly  writes  Dr.  Booth,  for  this  volume, 
"  in  connection  with  my  constant  attendance  on  the  meetings  of 
Moody  and  Sankey,  at  the  Hippodrome.  I  took  great  interest 
in  those  meetings  and  was  always  there,  and  soon  my  attention 
was  arrested  by  the  equally  constant  presence  of  Mr.  Weed,  sit 
ting  down  near  the  little  wooden  pulpit,  and  always  manifesting 
the  utmost  interest  and  the  closest  attention.  I  presently  began 
to  notice  him  in  attendance  at  my  own  church;  and  when  the 
meetings  were  brought  to  a  close  I  sought  him  out  and  made 
his  acquaintance  personally,  which  I  had  not  done  before.  He 
immediately  expressed  a  sense  of  personal  obligation  for  my 
own  interest  in  this  good  work,  —  that  of  Moody  and  Sankey, 
—  and  told  me  how  much  he  himself  had  been  impressed  by  its 
reality  and  power,  and  that  he  regarded  it  as  a  great  blessing 
to  the  city  of  New  York.  After  that  time  he  began  to  attend 
the  evening  meetings  in  the  University  Place  Church  with  great 
regularity,  and  was  a  very  prominent  centre  of  interest  there. 

"  He  had  his  favorite  hymns  out  of  the  collection  that  was 
used  at  the  Hippodrome  [the  'Gospel  Hymns'],  and  always  ex 
pressed  very  great  pleasure  whenever,  either  by  accident  or  in 
tention,  any  of  those  were  used,  —  such  hymns  as  'Jesus  of  Naz 
areth  Passeth  By  ; '  '  Pass  Me  not,  O  Gentle  Saviour  ; '  '  'T  is 
the  Promise  of  God  full  Salvation  to  Give  ; '  '  Watching  and 
Waiting  for  Me.'  He  always  would  thank  me,  if  he  had  the 
opportunity,  when  any  of  these  hymns  were  sung. 

"About  this  time  —  it  might  have  been  before  this,  but  at  this 
time  it  forced  itself  upon  my  consciousness  —  he  began  to  be 
especially  interested  in  the  evangelical  work  that  was  carried  on 
in  the  way  of  reform,  particularly  Jerry  McAuley's  meetings  in 
Water  Street,  at  which  he  was  a  frequent  attendant,  and  which 
he  sustained  with  a  great  deal  of  generosity.  His  persistent 
disinclination  to  speak  was  somewhat  curiously  manifested  in 
connection  with  these  meetings,  where  he  often  desired  to  ex 
press  what  he  felt.  I  was  witness  of  some  instances  at  that 
time,  when  he  wanted  to  say  something  and  could  not  speak. 


1847.]  DR.  BOOTH'S  REMINISCENCES.  161 

His  interest  in  the  work  was  very  great.  He  was  McAuley's 
best  supporter,  when  the  Water  Street  Mission  was  really  at  a 
critical  point.  Ho  followed  that  mission  with  deep  interest  in 
all  of  its  changes ;  and  when  it  was  transferred  to  Cremorne 
Gardens,  in  Thirty -second  Street,  he  still  continued  to  attend 
whenever  it  was  possible. 

"  He  was  also  very  deeply  interested  in  the  meetings  in 
Yorkville,  at  which  he  was  frequently  present  on  Sunday  after 
noons,  and  in  those  held  at  Cooper  Institute  in  the  evening, 
conducted  by  Mr.  Sawyer.  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that 
his  presence  at  these  meetings,  aside  from  any  pecuniary  assist: 
ance,  was  equivalent  to  a  very  great  moral  support.  The  prom 
inence  of  the  man  made  him  always  remarked.  At  the  time 
when  it  was  a  question  whether  they  should  be  recognized  as 
reputable  or  not,  Mr.  Weed  did  not  hesitate  to  throw  in  the 
whole  weight  of  his  character  and  influence  in  forwarding  that 
good  work.  Once  he  said  to  me,  '  I  want  to  thank  you,  as  a 
personal  matter,  for  the  labor  you  have  given  those  Hippodrome 
meetings.  I  think  as  a  citizen  I  ought  to  feel  grateful  to  those 
who  stood  by  them.'  ' 

"At  the  time  when  Mr.  Moody  made  his  visit  to  New  Haven, 
where  he  came  under  a  pretty  strong  glare  of  intellectual  light, 
and  was  exposed  to  considerable  criticism,  or  the  possibility  of 
it,  Mr.  Weed  took  pains  to  go  there  in  his  old  age.  I  do  not 
know  whether  he  went  for  the  sake  of  getting  his  own  heart  re 
freshed  or  of  bearing  testimony,  but  he  went  to  New  Haven  and 
identified  himself  with  the  work,  and  on  his  return  wrote  to  the 
'  Tribune,'  expressing  in  the  strongest  terms  his  approval  of  the 
work  of  Moody  and  Sankey,  its  benefit  to  the  community,  and 
its  reality  as  a  Divine  power. 

"  His  later  days,  so  far  as  they  passed  under  my  observation, 
were  very  fully  and  very  tenderly  identified  with  what  I  under 
stand  to  be  experimental  religion.  He  was  in  the  habit  of  using 
for  the  purpose  of  guiding  and  fixing  his  thought,  a  little  man 
ual  of  devotion,  entitled  '  Private  Prayers,'  by  the  Rev.  Ashton 
Oxenden,  of  England.  Copies  of  this  little  book  he  would  fre 
quently  distribute  among  his  friends.  He  took  great  pleasure 
in  conversing  on  these  matters  with  me,  whom  he  called  his  pas 
tor,  with  the  obvious  desire  of  getting  help  in  living  a  good  and 
true  life.  It  was  his  sincere  desire  to  receive  the  communion 
11 


162  MEMOIR.  [1847. 

and  enter  into  some  connection  with  the  Church,  but  he  was  pre 
vented  by  circumstances  over  which  he  had  no  absolute  control. 
He  had  lost  his  power  of  coming  to  a  prompt  decision  in  such 
matters,  which  is  often  the  case  at  eighty-four  years  of  age.  He 
did  intend  fully  to  receive  the  communion. 

"  I  remember  that  when  I  talked  with  him,  a  few  days  before 
he  was  seized  with  the  illness  which  terminated  his  life,  our  con 
versation  was  directed  toward  the  subject  of  religion,  and  the 
grounds  of  a  good  hope  for  the  future,  and  at  that  time  in  the 
most  explicit  terms  he  stated  to  me  that  his  reliance  was  on  the 
grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  Him  he  trusted.  His 
attitude  was  one  of  dependence,  of  humility  in  regard  to  him 
self,  coupled  with  a  sense  of  his  own  unworthiness,  and  of  the 
blessedness  and  glory  of  the  Christian's  hope.  That  was  our 
last  interview.  It  was  perhaps  a  week  before  he  was  taken  ill. 
It  left  on  my  mind  a  very  happy  sense  of  the  depth  and  power 
of  this  religious  nature." 

"  New  York  furnishes  many  illustrations  of  the  beneficence 
of  religion,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed  in  1881,  in  an  article  designed  to 
show  the  practical  results  of  Christian  effort.  "  Forty  years 
ago  a  locality  too  well  known  as  the  '  Five  Points,'  with  a  pop 
ulation  of  several  thousands,  was  the  home  of  the  vilest  of  the 
vile,  and  the  resort  of  others  equally  debased.  Men,  women, 
and  children,  of  all  nationalities  and  colors,  herded  together, 
differing  only  in  the  degrees  of  crime  and  the  depths  of  profli 
gacy.  Their  days  were  passed  either  in  idleness  or  depreda 
tions.  Their  nights  were  spent  in  dance-house  debaucheries. 
All  healthy  or  wholesome  influences  were  excluded.  Children 
grew  up  to  become  either  street  beggars  or  inmates  of  the  alms- 
house,  and  their  parents  filled  penitentiaries  and  prisons.  These 
orgies  continued  year  after  year,  defiant  and  aggressive,  until 
that  pandemonium  was  invaded  by  Christian  men  and  women, 
whose  patience  would  not  tire,  whose  courage  was  indomitable, 
and  whose  devotion  has  been  rewarded  by  a  moral  and  religious 
reformation  so  complete  that  no  part  of  our  city  is  now  more 
quiet  and  orderly  than  the  once  dreaded  '  Five  Points.'  Thou 
sands  of  children,  then  growing  up  either  vagabonds  or  cul 
prits,  are  now  attending  schools,  in  which  they  are  stimulated 
by  precept  and  example  to  live  industrious  and  virtuous  lives. 
Instead,  therefore,  of  going  forth  idle,  ignorant,  and  vicious,  to 


1847.]  JERRY  M°AULEY.  163 

prey  upon  society,  the  destitute  and  orphan  children  of  the 
'  Five  Points,'  prepared  for  usefulness  by  moral  and  religious 
training,  find  happy  homes  in  our  rapidly-developing  Western 
States  and  territories. 

u  Eight  years  ago,  Water  Street  and  its  surroundings  north 
ward  from  Peck  Slip  had  a  notoriety  almost  as  unenviable  as 
that  of  the  '  Five  Points.'  That  region  was  rife  with  drunken 
ness,  burglaries,  pugilism,  and  their  kindred  vices.  Jerry  Mc- 
Auley  was  conspicuous  in  all  that  was  wicked  and  demoralizing. 
He  had  the  reputation  of  being  a  terror  to  the  precinct,  a  repu 
tation  which,  by  his  own  confession,  was  deserved.  But  this 
disturber  of  the  public  peace  was  converted,  and  then  he  re 
solved  to  devote  the  remainder  of  his  life  to  the  service  of  his 
Master,  and,  with  a  faithful,  affectionate  wife  as  a  helper,  he 
has  atoned  abundantly  for  all  his  offenses.  For  a  long  time  the 
hisses  and  bowlings  of  his  former  associates  seriously  disturbed 
his  meetings ;  but  courage,  perseverance,  and  patience  finally 
prevailed,  and  his  work  now  progresses  without  interruption. 
The  general  character  of  the  neighborhood  has  been  improved ; 
its  social  and  moral  atmosphere  has  been  purified.  Sailor 
boarding-houses  have  been  reformed.  Sailors  now  cany  their 
Bibles  with  them  to  sea.  Moody  and  Sankey  hymns  are  sung  in 
forecastles.  Hundreds  of  half-naked  and  hungry  wives  and 
children,  by  the  conversion  of  drunken  husbands  and  fathers, 
now  rejoice  in  comfortable  and  happy  homes.  The  mission 
church  is  crowded  every  week-day  and  evening,  and  three  times 
on  Sunday,  with  intelligent  Christian  men  and  women,  who,  res 
cued  from  garrets  and  gutters,  arc  now  reputable  citizens,  en 
joying  the  fruits  of  their  industry,  and  relating  with  grateful 
hearts  the  miseries  of  their  past,  the  joys  of  their  present,  and 
the  hopes  of  their  future.  By  all  who  '  went  to  scoff,  but  re 
mained  to  pray,'  Jerry  McAuley  and  his  exemplary  wife  are 
regarded  with  affection,  and  will  be  remembered  with  grati 
tude." 

"  The  secular  press  of  our  day,"  writes  Mr.  Weed,  in  another 
article,  "  is  doing  its  share  of  good  work.  As  teachers  —  for 
such  they  are  —  editors  exert  a  potent  influence  in  preparing 
rising  generations  for  usefulness.  Youthful  minds  receive  not 
only  political  but  social  and  moral  impressions  from  the  secular 
journals  which  they  are  accustomed  to  read.  Lessons  teaching 


164  MEMOIR.  [1847. 

the  value  of  industry,  economy,  integrity,  virtue  and  honor  are 
learned  from  newspapers.  I  speak  understandingly,  for  among 
the  pleasures  of  old  age  none  are  more  grateful  than  the  numer 
ous  assurances  I  receive  from  intelligent  and  upright  men  resid 
ing  in  this  and  other  States,  that  they  not  only  owe  much  of 
their  success  in  life,  but  their  being  made  better  and  happier,  to 
habitually  reading  Rochester  and  Albany  papers  of  which  I  was 
editor."  It  is  almost  superfluous  to  add  that,  under  the  strict 
rules  which  he  laid  down,  no  article  ever  appeared  in  his  paper 
at  which  offense  could  be  taken  by  any  reader,  except  for  per 
sonal  or  political  reasons. 

It  was  his  opinion  that  the  Lord's  Prayer  should  read  "  Our 
Father  in  Heaven,"  instead  of  "  Our  Father  which  art  in 
Heaven ;  "  and  "  Give  us  day  by  day  our  daily  bread,"  instead 
of  "  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread."  He  adopted  each  of 
these  readings  himself,  and  once  wrote  a  letter  to  a  meeting  of 
clergymen  urging  their  general  acceptance,  but  never  sent  the 
letter,  concluding  after  it  was  written  that  it  was  not  the  part 
of  a  layman  to  present  such  suggestions. 

"  It  is  a  relief  to  me  to  repeat  the  Lord's  Prayer  before  going 
to  bed,"  he  once  said,  "  nor  could  I  sleep  without  it.  I  cannot 
believe,  and  cannot  be  brought  to  believe,  that  the  purpose  of  our 
creation  is  fulfilled  by  our  short  existence  here.  To  me,  the 
existence  of  another  world  is  a  necessary  supplement  of  this,  to 
adjust  its  inequalities  and  imbue  it  with  moral  significance." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

1848-1850. 

RALLYING  THE  WHIGS  FOR  GENERAL  TAYLOR.  —  LETTERS  FROM  WASH 
INGTON  HUNT.  —  A  USELESS  PILGRIMAGE  TO  MARSHFIELD. — "MAN 
AGING  "  A  MASS  MEETING.  —  RESULTS  OF  THE  CANVASS.  —  HAMILTON 
FISH  FOR  GOVERNOR.  —  "MY  SUFFERINGS  is  INTOLERABLE."  —  MR. 
SEWARD  SENATOR.  —  THE  FEDERAL  ADMINISTRATION.  —  A  PRESIDENT 
AFTER  MR.  WEED'S  OWN  HEART.  — "  STAND  FIRM,  WE  HAVE  DIS 
UNION  MEN  TO  CONTEND  WITH." 

"  WE  might  as  well  make  up  our  minds  at  once,"  wrote  Wash 
ington  Hunt  to  Mr.  Weed,  on  the  1st  of  January,  1848,  "  that 
Mr.  Clay  cannot  be  our  candidate.  Consider  that  point  settled. 
I  assure  you  that  southern  Whigs,  with  scarcely  an  exception, 
are  for  General  Taylor.  He  will  be  a  candidate,  with  or  with 
out  a  nomination.  Granting  these  two  facts,  we  are  brought  to 
a  serious  question,  which  may  be  multiplied  into  two  questions, 
which  we  of  the  North  must  now  prepare  ourselves  to  answer. 
First,  can  we  support  him  ?  Second,  can  we  oppose  him  ?  I 
want  you  to  bring  your  whole  mind  to  this  subject,  and  give  it 
your  careful  meditation. 

"  We  must  not  forget  that  the  mass  of  our  northern  Whigs 
are  deeply  imbued  with  anti-slavery  sentiments,  and  thousands 
of  them  are  immovably  fixed.  What  plagues  me  most  of  all  is 
to  think  how  I,  after  all  I  have  said  about  slavery  and  its  ex 
tension,  am  to  look  the  Wilmot  Proviso  people  in  the  face  and 
ask  them  to  vote  for  a  southern  slaveholder.  There  is  one,  but 
one,  door  of  escape.  I  think  General  Taylor's  friends  will  be 
able  to  say  that  he  is  strongly  in  favor  of  peace,  and  will  be 
content  with  a  moderate  acquisition  of  territory  ;  that  he  will 
take  less  than  any  other  man  that  is  strong  enough  to  be 
elected  ;  and  more  than  all  that,  will  leave  all  legislative  ques 
tions  to  the  decision  of  Congress.  There  is  no  doubt  he  will 
accept  a  nomination  from  the  Whig  convention,  if  they  offer  it 
to  him.  That  ought  to  make  him  a  Whig  in  all  true  honor,  yet 


166  MEMOIR.  [1848. 

there  is  no  doubt,  if  he  is  elected,  it  will  be  by  the  joint  votes  of 
Whigs  and  Loco-Focos.  His  aim  would  be  to  give  his  admin 
istration  a  non-partisan  character.  As  between  the  parties  it 
would  probably  be  a  draw  game.  Give  me  your  thoughts  in 
the  free  confidence  of  that  friendship  which  must  always  subsist 
between  us.  You  and  I  must  act  together  ;  New  York  must  be 
united  and  embodied,  so  as  to  move  her  power  as  a  unit  in  the 
national  convention." 

The  Whig  situation  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  1848  is  here 
concisely  depicted  by  Mr.  Hunt.  The  party  was  growing  tired 
of  the  idea  of  running  Mr.  Clay,  who  had  been  a  candidate  for 
over  twenty  years,  and  was  fulfilling  a  prediction  made  by  Mr. 
Weed  in  1846,  by  rallying  to  the  support  of  Zachary  Taylor. 
There  still  remained  a  large  number  of  Whigs,  particularly  at 
the  North,  who  would  listen  to  no  other  plan  than  again  re- 
nominating  Mr.  Clay.  Mr.  Weed  admitted  Mr.  Clay's  fitness 
for  the  presidency,  but,  for  reasons  which  do  not  require  ex 
planation,  took  ground  strongly  in  favor  of  General  Taylor. 

In  the  meantime  an  amusing  by-play  was  going  on  at  the 
state  capital,  where  Governor  Young  was  maturing  plans  for  the 
vice-presidency.  Concluding  that  Mr.  Weed's  foresight  was  a 
safe  guide,  he  sent  a  secret  agent  to  Mexico  with  letters  to 
General  Taylor,  and  endeavored  to  get  up  a  Taylor  mass  meet 
ing  at  Albany.  It  was  feared  that  these  demonstrations  would 
lead  to  counter  activity  by  friends  of  Mr.  Clay,  and  it  was 
necessary,  therefore,  to  keep  Governor  Young  in  the  back 
ground. 

"  There  is  peace  on  earth  again,"  wrote  Mr.  Hunt  in  Febru 
ary,  a  day  or  so  after  the  Treaty  with  Mexico  was  signed. 
"  All  parties  are  rejoicing  except  Cass  &  Co.,  who  have  desired 
war  as  an  appendage  to  the  presidential  canvass.1  We  have 
had  a  traffic  scene  in  the  House.  Mr.  Adams  sank  in  his  seat 

O 

under  a  paralytic  stroke.  I  was  near  him  and  was  the  first  to 
see  him  as  he  was  falling  from  his  chair.  It  was  one  of  those 
impressive  scenes  which  make  an  abiding  impression  on  the 
memory.  Before  this  reaches  you  I  fear  the  telegraph  will 
announce  that  '  the  old  man  eloquent '  is  no  more." 

1  The  Democrats  urged  the  war  record  of  General  Cass  as  the  strongest 
argument  in  his  favor,  and,  had  Mr.  Clay  been  the  Whig  nominee,  this  argu 
ment,  in  all  probability,  would  have  proved  irresistible  against  him. 


1848.]  RALLYING  THE  WHIGS  FOR  GENERAL  TAYLOR.     167 

A  few  days  after  the  date  of  this  letter,  John  Quincy  Adams, 
who  had  been  a  member  of  the  House  since  1831,  expired. 

"  I  fear  Taylor  cannot  be  nominated,"  continues  Mr.  Hunt 
from  Washington  in  March.  "  It  is  not  thought  possible  here. 
You  must  judge  whether  you  could  make  it  go  with  the  north 
ern  Whigs.  What  would  you  say  about  the  Wilmot  —  ex 
tension  of  slavery,  etc.  ?  There  is  no  doubt  but  that  General 
Taylor  would  leave  all  such  things  to  Congress,  as  Washington 
did,  but  you  are  for  Clay  in  Albany,  and  I  suppose  a  major 
ity  of  the  New  York  delegation  will  be  likewise.  .  .  .  Many 
discreet  men  here  think  the  nomination  of  Clay  or  Taylor 
would  break  the  Whig  party.  I  had  a  free  talk  yesterday  with 
Clayton  and  Corwin.  They  express  a  strong  opinion  that  it 
will  be  necessary  to  pass  both  and  take  a  third  man,  and  they 
are  now  ardent  for  Scott.1  ...  I  hope  you  see  a  way  through 
this  difficulty.  You  are  like  a  deacon  I  knew.  His  wife  said  it 
always  came  natural  to  him  to  see  into  the  doctrine  of  election." 

"  I  agree  with  you  perfectly  about  Mr.  Clay,"  wrote  Mr.  Hunt 
in  April.  "  There  can  be  but  one  opinion  about  his  letter.  It 
is  a  clear  case  of  felo-de-se.  He  has  evidently  treasured  up  all 
the  clever  things  said  to  him  by  flatterers  and  parasites  during 
his  recent  tour.  I  consider  him  out  of  the  question.  But  can 
General  Taylor  say  or  do  anything  now  that  would  satisfy  the 
Whig  feeling  in  our  State  ?  .  .  .  There  is  a  growing  movement 
for  Scott  the  last  two  weeks.  The  Americus  letter  is  embarrass 
ing,  however,  and  may  prove  fatal.  It  has  been  suggested  here 
that  he  ought  to  write  a  letter  saying  that  whatever  his  opinions 
may  have  been  in  the  past,  since  he  has  seen  how  the  Irish  and 
Dutch  fought  in  Mexico,  he  would  never  consent  to  place  them 
under  any  new  disabilities.  ...  I  received  yours  of  the  14th 
yesterday.  The  seal  had  been  broken,  evidently  by  a  designing 
hand,  and  I  half  suspect  it  must  have  been  done  in  the  Albany 
Post  Office,  where  your  handwriting  is  well  known.  There  is 
mischief  somewhere.  You  ought  to  use  wax." 

"  Presidential  matters  are  coming  to  a  focus  rapidly,"  wrote 
Mr.  Hunt  in  May.  "  I  consider  things  simmered  down  to  a  ques 
tion  between  Taylor  and  Scott.  I  have  reason  to  believe  that 
•many  of  the  naturalized  people  are  ready  to  vote  for  Scott.  He 

1  Mr.  Clayton  was  subsequently  made  Secretary  of  State  under  Taylor. 
Mr.  Corwiii  was  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  under  Fillmore. 


168  MEMOIR.  [1848. 

has  also  the  sympathies  of  the  Catholics,  and  many  of  their 
clergy  are  warmly  attached  to  him.  He  educated  his  daughter 
in  a  Catholic  school,  and  has  respected  their  religion  in  Mexico. 
Aside  from  mere  military  reputation,  look  at  the  morale  and 
discipline  of  his  army.  .  .  .  Ohio  and  New  England  are  coming 
in  solid  against  Taylor.  They  even  threaten  consequences  which 
we  would  all  deprecate.  Scott  has  relieved  himself  fully  from 
the  Americus  letter  by  a  new  letter  written  yesterday  at  my 
instance." 

We  have  seen  that  a  feeling  of  pride,  not  in  itself,  perhaps, 
incomprehensible,  cost  Mr.  Webster  the  presidency,  when  he 
rejected  the  advice  and  predictions  of  a  friend  touching  the  re 
sult  in  1840.  Had  he  been  willing  to  allow  New  York  to  sup 
port  him  for  Vice-President,  he  would  have  been  nominated  in 
stead  of  Mr.  Tyler ;  and,  when  General  Harrison  died,  would 
have  become  Chief  Magistrate,  instead  of  Secretary  of  State  in 
Mr.  Tyler's  Cabinet.  It  is  a  very  curious  circumstance  that 
the  events  of  1839,  1840,  and  1841  were  now  almost  exactly 
duplicated,  for  Mr.  Webster  was  visited  by  Mr.  Weed,  in  1848, 
and  urged  to  accept  the  support  of  New  York  on  a  ticket  headed 
by  General  Taylor.  It  was  certain,  when  this  visit  was  made, 
as  Mr.  Hunt's  letters  show,  that  Mr.  Clay  was  out  of  the  list 
of  presidential  possibilities.  By  this  fact  Mr.  Webster's  friends 
were  greatly  encouraged.  They  cherished  the  belief  that  by 
professing  friendship  for  General  Scott,  the  element  which  op 
posed  allowing  the  Democrats  to  elect  a  President  by  claiming 
all  the  glory  of  the  Mexican  War  might  be  divided,  and  that 
thus,  one  General  neutralizing  the  other,  the  nomination  would 
fall  to  the  Massachusetts  statesman. 

"  Well,"  said  Mr.  Webster,  when  Mr.  Weed  appeared  at 
Marshfield,  "  how  do  things  look  now  ?  I  suppose  the  question 
still  is,  '  who  will  poll  the  most  votes  ?  '  ; 

"  Yes,"  said  Mr.  Weed,  "  and  that  man  is  General  Taylor, 
who  will  be  the  next  President." 

"Why,"  said  Mr.  Webster,  "Taylor  is  an  illiterate  frontier 
Colonel  who  hasn't  voted  for  forty  years !  " 

Mr.  Weed  then  unfolded  the  object  of  his  visit,  insisting  that 
General  Taylor  must  be  nominated  by  the  Whigs,  or  he  would 
be  taken  up  and  elected  by  the  Democrats.  Mr.  Webster  sent 
for  George  Ashmun,  of  Massachusetts,  and  Senator  Wilson,  of 


1848.]  THE  MEETING   OF  1848.  169 

New  Hampshire,  with  whom  political  prospects  were  thoroughly 
canvassed.  They  listened  to  Mr.  Weed's  arguments  and  were 
disposed  to  yield  to  his  suggestion.  Finally  his  point  was  gained, 
and,  highly  pleased  with  his  success,  —  for  the  proposed  nomina 
tion  for  Vice-President  appeared  to  be  altogether  more  desir 
able  than  any  other  which  could  be  made,  —  he  was  about  to 
take  his  departure,  when  Fletcher  Webster  reached  the  Marsh- 
field  house.  "  The  cause  is  making  tremendous  progress,"  he 
said.  Informed  of  Mr.  Weed's  mission,  he  ridiculed  it  unspar 
ingly.  "Enough,"  said  his  father,  "  I  shall  remain  in  the  Held 
as  a  candidate  for  President.  I  am  not  a  candidate  for  any 
other  place." 

The  national  convention  met  in  June.  General  Taylor  was 
nominated.  The  vice-presidency  went  begging,  until  finally  a 
venturesome  delegate  nominated  Mr.  Fillmore,  and  he  became 
the  candidate.  General  Taylor  was  elected.  He  died  soon  af 
terwards.  Mr.  Fillmore  became  President,  and  Mr.  Webster 
accepted  the  position  of  Secretary  of  State  in  Mr.  Fillrnore's 
Cabinet. 

On  the  22d  of  August,  while  the  canvass  was  in  progress,  a 
Charleston  paper  published  a  letter  addressed  by  a  Demo 
cratic  meeting  held  in  that  city  to  General  Taylor,  at  which  he 
was  nominated  for  the  presidency,  together  with  a  letter  from 
General  Taylor  expressing  gratification  for  this  manifestation 
of  regard.  News  of  this  proceeding  was  received  by  Whigs 
at  the  North  with  mingled  indignation  and  incredulity.  At 
Albany  there  was  the  utmost  excitement.  Leading  members 
of  the  party  joined  in  calling  a  public  meeting,  "  for  consulta 
tion,  if  not  for  action."  A  thousand  Whigs  assembled  in  the 
rotunda  of  the  Capitol  on  Saturday  night,  and  it  was  generally 
anticipated  that  they  would  repudiate  the  head  of  the  ticket  and 
demand  another  nomination.  But,  acting  with  Mr.  Weed,  a 
few  of  his  friends  contrived  to  secure  a  postponement  until  the 
following  Monday. 

The  aspect  of  politics  just  after  the  close  of  the  Mexican  War 
gave  plausibility  to  the  hope  which  General  Taylor  entertained 
at  this  time,  that  he  might,  if  elected,  conduct  his  administra 
tion  on  "  purely  business  principles,"  with  no  regard  to  parti 
san  obligations.  There  was  much  in  his  character  and  pursuits 
to  make  him  take  that  view.  He  had  now,  however,  accepted 


170  MEMOIR.  [1848. 

the  Whig  nomination,  and,  it  was  argued,  had  thus  made  him 
self  a  Whig,  "  in  all  true  honor." 

Never  doubting  but  that  contact  with  public  affairs  would 
soon  convince  General  Taylor  of  the  impracticability  of  some 
of  his  expectations,  Mr.  Weed  exerted  himself  to  the  utmost 
to  prevent  precipitate  action  against  the  Whig  candidate.  On 
Monday  night,  pursuant  to  adjournment,  a  vast  throng  gath 
ered  at  the  Capitol.  That  class  of  men  who  never  feel  at 
home,  politically,  except  when  they  appear  as  complainants, 
was  largely  represented.  But  so  carefully  had  preliminaries 
been  arranged  that  the  committee  on  resolutions  reported  that 
they  found  nothing  in  the  Taylor  correspondence  inconsistent 
with  the  course  which  he  had  uniformly  pursued,  and  in  full 
knowledge  of  which  he  had  been  nominated  by  the  national 
convention.  These  resolutions  were  adopted,  and  the  concourse 
adjourned,  with  cheers  for  "  Old  Zach  Taylor,  Our  Next  Presi 
dent." 

But  for  the  example  thus  set  in  Albany,  to  which  the  rest  of 
the  State,  as  well  as  some  other  States,  then  looked  for  political 
guidance,  indignation  and  repudiation  meetings,  held  generally 
throughout  the  North,  would,  to  say  the  least,  have  rendered 
General  Taylor's  election  improbable.  In  September,  one 
month  after  this  "  flash  in  the  pan,"  his  "  Rough  and  Ready  " 
letter  appeared,  and  there  was  no  further  difficulty. 

Mr.  Fillmore  was  in  active  cooperation  with  Mr.  Weed 
through  these  stirring  years.  They  walked  together  to  the 
steamboat  landing  on  the  afternoon  of  the  day  on  which  Gen 
eral  Taylor's  Charleston  letter  reached  Albany.  Twenty 
years  before,  in  an  obscure  New  York  town,  Mr.  Weed  had 
"discovered"  Mr.  Fillmore,  and  brought  him  into  public  life, 
suggesting  his  nomination  for  the  Assembly  in  1829,  and  for 
Governor  in  1844.  Mr.  Fillmore  felt  almost  as  much  at  home 
in  Mr.  Weed's  house  as  Mr.  Seward  or  Mr.  Greeley. 

As  they  walked  together  to  the  steamboat  landing,  this  Au 
gust  afternoon,  they  discussed  the  probable  effect  of  General 
Taylor's  unexpected  letter.  Both  agreed  that  a  meeting  should 
be  held,  at  which  resolutions  calculated  to  subdue  excitement 
should  be  adopted.  Mr.  Fillmore  met  his  wife  at  the  steam 
boat,  and  said  he  would  go  with  her  to  the  hotel,  after  which 
he  would  go  to  Mr.  Weed's  office,  to  confer  with  him  further 


1848.]  GENERAL    TAYLOR  ELECTED.  171 

concerning  the  resolutions,  which  Mr.  Weed  promised  to  write 
in  the  meantime.  An  hour  afterwards,  they  sat  together  in  the 
printing-house.  The  proposed  mass  meeting  and  its  outcome 
were  discussed  freely. 

This  episode,  of  no  apparent  consequence  in  itself,  is  men 
tioned  with  some  degree  of  particularity,  because  at  a  later  date, 
when  he  deemed  it  to  his  advantage  to  declare  war  against 
old  associates,  it  was  charged  by  Mr.  Fillmore  that  Mr.  Weed 
instigated  the  meeting  of  1848  for  the  purpose  of  injuring  Gen 
eral  Taylor.  Extraordinary  as  this  revulsion  of  feeling  and  de 
fiance  of  'facts  was,  Mr.  Fillmore  went  even  further,  when  he 
added,  as  he  did,  that  he  knew  nothing  about  the  resolutions 
adopted  at  the  Albany  meeting,  until  they  were  printed  in  the 
newspapers. 

"  For  six  years,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed,  in  1855,  "  we  have  been 
subjected  to  persevering  abuse  from  the  Fillmore  press  in  con 
nection  with  a  meeting  honestly  and  wisely  called,  after  consul 
tation  with  the  ex-President  himself  and  him  only ;  and  during 
these  six  years  of  calumny  and  opprobrium,  the  seal  of  confi 
dence  was  upon  our  lips.  Now,  emboldened  by  our  forbear 
ance,  or  oblivious  of  the  vantage  ground  which  he  surrenders, 
Mr.  Fillmore  provokes  a  revelation  of  the  whole  truth.  The 
deliberations  of  the  meeting  of  1848  were  conducted  and  con 
cluded  precisely  as  Mr.  Fillmore  desired,  but  we  assumed  the 
whole  responsibility  for  it ;  so  that  if  results  had  not  been  thus 
fortunate,  he  would  have  been  unharmed.  That  meeting  re 
newed  and  invigorated  the  Whig  party  and  gave  Taylor  and 
Fillmore  the  electoral  vote  of  New  York." 

1848.  —  "  General  Taylor  will  be  elected  President  within  a 
few  hours  after  this  reaches  you,"  wrote  Washington  Hunt  to 
Mr.  Weed  on  the  5th  of  November.  "  It  is  written  in  the  book 
of  manifest  destiny.  I  put  great  faith  in  Pennsylvania  and 
Ohio,  though  it  will  be  close  work,  as  you  suppose.  The  A\  hig 
party  will  now  be  in  power  in  State  and  Nation,  and  with 
that  power  comes  great  responsibility.  We  must  use  our  vic 
tory  with  wisdom  and  moderation.  Great  prudence  will  be 
necessary  to  reconcile  jarring  interests  and  subdue  personal  fac 
tions.  %  You  will  find  me  ready  to  do  all  in  my  power  to  pre 
serve  harmony  and  consolidate  our  strength.  We  must  give 
and  take,  live  and  let  live,  and  make  all  due  concessions  where 


172  MEMOIR.  [1848. 

it  is  necessary  to  keep  our  organization  united.  .  .  .  Some  of 
us  must  display  political  virtue  in  a  generous  forgetfulness  of 
self.  ...  I  am  confident  that  our  sentiments  will  fully  accord 
in  future  as  in  the  past.  I  can  say  to  yon,  as  I  have  uni 
formly  said  to  others,  that  of  all  my  associations,  political  and 
personal,  none  has  afforded  me  more  true  pleasure  than  the 
frankness  and  kindness  you  have  so  uniformly  extended  to  me. 
I  persuade  myself  that  there  is  a  foundation  of  mutual  confi 
dence  between  us  too  deep  to  be  moved  by  the  officious  kind 
ness  of  friends  or  by  machinations  from  any  quarter.  I  can 
go  further,  and  say  that  it  would  require  more  than  one  differ 
ence  of  opinion  between  us  to  change  my  personal  sentiment.'* 

Mr.  Weed's  position  at  the  head  of  the  Whig  party  in  New 
York  was  at  stake  in  the  canvass  of  1848.  He  had  taken  ad 
vanced  ground  when  he  declared  for  General  Taylor.  By  that 
step  he  incurred  the  displeasure  of  all  ultra  friends  of  Mr.  Clay, 
as  well  as  of  all  radicals  who  wanted  slavery  abolished  without 
regard  to  the  rights  of  the  southern  people.  He  held  firmly 
to  General  Taylor  through  the  pleadings  and  threats  of  the 
convention  period,  until  the  nomination  was  secured.  When 
visionaries  and  iconoclasts  protested,  when  Albany  Whigs  were 
on  the  brink  of  revolt,  he  so  guided  and  controlled  popular  cur 
rents  that  General  Taylor  was  triumphantly  elected.  Nor  were 
these  the  only  great  results  with  which  he  was  identified.  In 
1848  the  Whigs  secured  a  majority  in  the  legislature  which  was 
to  elect  a  United  States  Senator  in  1849 ;  Hamilton  Fish,  who 
had  succeeded  Addison  Gardiner  as  Lieutenant- Governor  at  a 
special  election  in  1847,  was  promoted  to  the  governorship,  and 
George  W.  Patterson  was  elected  Lieutenant-Governor.  Thus, 
so  far  as  they  proved  anything,  -the  first  fruits  of  Mr.  Weed's 
leadership  strikingly  vindicated  his  sagacity. 

And  yet  the  crucial  test  remained.  What  policy  would 
Zachary  Taylor,  of  Louisiana,  adopt  ?  Would  he  turn  apostate 
when  the  slave  power  shook  its  fist  in  his  face  ? 

1849.  — In  January,  1849,  when  a  contest  began  at  Albany 
for  a  successor  in  the  United  States  Senate  to  John  A.  Dix,  the 
most  prominent  Whig  candidates  were  William  H.  Seward, 
John  A.  Collier,  and  Washington  Hunt.1  * 

1  Mr.  Collier  had  served  one  term  in  Congress,  in  1832,  and  was  State 
Comptroller  in  1841.  Mr.  Hunt  had  served  in  Congress  since  1843. 


1849.]          "MY  SUFFERINGS  IS  INTOLERABLE."  173 

[WASHINGTON  HUNT  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  January  1,  1849. 

DEAR  WEED,  —  I  wish  you  could  see  the  letters  I  get.  If  I  wanted 
to  excite  your  sympathy,  they  would  be  sufficient.  Some  say  Seward 
will  be  elected.  More  say  neither  Seward  nor  Collier  will  be  chosen, 
but  a  majority  are  going  for  a  third  man  by  way  of  compromise,  and  my 
consent  is  invoked  to  save  the  party  by  being  said  "  Number  Three." 
Others  insist  that  I  ought  to  be  Comptroller,  whilst  several  have  writ 
ten  that  a  rumor  is  spreading  over  the  State  that  Weed  and  Hunt 
have  formed  a  conspiracy  to  make  Seward  Senator  and  Hunt  Comp 
troller,  wherefore  the  Collier  men  swear  neither  Hunt  nor  Seward 
shall  be  the  one  or  the  other.  These  and  like  topics,  with  all  sorts  of 
variations,  form  the  staple  of  the  letters  which  are  pouring  in  upon 
me  by  every  mail.  "  My  sufferings  is  intolerable."  A 

At  this  rate,  my  friends  will  be  the  death  of  me.  What  shall  be 
done  ?  How  is  a  man  to  respond  to  such  a  medley  of  interrogatories, 
categorical,  equivocal,  and  hypothetical  ?  The  truth  is  that  I  know 
no  allegiance  except  to  the  Whig  party,  which  I  would  preserve 
united  by  a  course  of  wisdom,  conciliation,  and  justice  ;  but  it  seems 
that  I  am  bound  to  be  somebody's  man.  "  Under  which  king,  Bezo- 
nian?  Speak,  or  die."  I,  who  am  here  quietly  representing  the 
Niagara  district,  must  needs  swear  by  some  man's  jack-knife  at  Al 
bany.  I  must  sport  the  badge  of  the  Fillmore  Rangers,  the  Seward 
Plugs,  the  Collier  Society,  or  the  John  Young  Dragoons,  and  forswear 
T.  W.,  or  be  suspected.  Was  ever  a  man  so  badgered,  beset,  and 
hampered  ?  My  only  comfort  is,  that  all  my  friends  do  not  appear 
to  me  in  person.  In  that  case,  I  should  be  killed  dead  with  kindness. 
As  it  is,  I  possess  my  soul  in  peace,  and  preserve  the  complacency  of 
my  temper.  More  than  all,  I  sleep  soundly  at  night,  —  an  inaliena 
ble  right  which  I  never  surrender  to  you,  Thurlow  Weed,  nor  to  any 
faction  at  Albany.  Pray  for  me,  and  believe  me 

Yours  in  affliction,  WASHINGTON  HUNT. 

On  the  6th  of  February  the  Legislature  chose  Mr.  Seward  to 
the  United  States  Senate,  and  Mr.  Hunt  State  Comptroller. 
44  First  of  all  I  shall  ask  you,"  Mr.  Hunt  wrote,  on  hearing  this 
news,  "  by  what  charm  you  brought  order  and  harmony  out  of 
the  chaos  which  seemed  to  reign  around  you  but  a  few  days 
ago  ?  If  the  telegram  speaks  the  truth,  they  nominated  me  for 
Comptroller  last  night.  I  will  try  to  discharge  the  duties  of 

1  Quoted  from  one  of  Mr.  Van  Buren's  letters,  written  in  1828,  when  he 
was  in  the  State  Senate.  The  phrase  used  to  be  a  standing  joke  in  politics. 


174  MEMOIR.  [1849. 

that  position.  In  this  effort  I  shall  need  the  aid  and  indul 
gence  of  my  friends,  and  I  shall  not  hesitate  to  appeal  to  you 
in  all  vicissitudes.  I  feel  more  gratitude  to  you  than  you  would 
wish  me  to  express." 

The  day  before  Mr.  Seward  was  elected,  Mr.  Weed  was  vis 
ited  by  a  brother  editor,  whose  description  of  the  interview  may 
not  be  out  of  place  :  — 

The  Legislature  of  New  York  was  to  assemble  the  next  day.  Many 
of  the  members  had  arrived  and  his  sanctum  was  crowded.  The 
Whigs  were  in  the  majority,  and  a  United  States  Senator  was  to  be 
elected.  More  than  usual  interest  was  felt  in  political  movements 
among  the  Whig  members,  and  they  gathered  around  Weed  for  coun 
sel  and  advice.  It  resembled  a  President's  levee.  He  remained 
standing  in  the  centre  of  the  room,  conversing  with  those  around  him 
and  shaking  hands  with  new-comers.  But  there  was  nothing  in  the 
whole  appearance  and  bearing  of  the  man  to  indicate  the  slightest  de 
gree  of  mystery  or  excitement,  so  common  with  politicians.  All  was 
"  calm  as  a  summer's  morning." 

Of  course,  at  that  time  we  saw  him  but  a  moment,  which  was  im 
proved  by  him  in  extending  a  polite  and  cordial  invitation  to  call 
again  at  some  time  when  he  was  less  engaged,  and  we  could  have  an 
.  opportunity  for  a  little  chit-chat.  We  availed  ourselves  of  the  invita 
tion,  and  found  him,  for  once,  alone  \\\  his  sanctum.  He  was  sitting  at 
the  table,  behind  a  huge  pile  of  exchanges}  writing  an  editorial.  He 
was  taking  it  coolly,  puffing  away  leisurely  at  a  fine-flavored  cigar, 
and  making  himself  remarkably  comfortable  for  a  political  editor  upon 
whom  so  much  responsibility  then  rested.  He  would  have  ceased 
writing  had  we  permitted.  But  his  article  was  soon  finished,  and  he 
was  ready  for  conversation,  which,  indeed,  he  had  not  entirely  sus 
pended,  for  he  has  learned,  as  most  editors  of  daily  papers  must  learn, 
how  to  write  upon  one  subject  and  talk  with  callers  upon  other  matters 
at  the  same  time. 

1 849.  —  The  political  situation  now  became  highly  interest 
ing.  Dreams  of  reaching  the  White  House  in  1852  were  be 
ginning  to  dazzle  Mr.  Fillmore,  who  would  have  been  satisfied 
had  New  York  sent  Mr.  Hunt  to  the  Senate,  but  who  saw  in 
Mr.  Seward  a  probable  rival.  "  Caution  him  ;  caution  him," 
wrote  Philo  C.  Fuller  to  Mr.  Weed,  "  and  keep  him  out  of  dan 
ger.  I  fear  he  will  be  drawn  into  the  eddy,  and  founder  with 
the  rest  of  the  crew.  You  know  him  infinitely  better  than  he 
knows  himself." 


1849.]  PARTY  OBLIGATIONS.  175 

General  Taylor  was  sworn  into  office.  Mr.  Sewarcl  took  his 
seat  in  the  Senate.  The  President  sent  in  the  appointments  of 
Hugh  Maxwell,  to  be  Collector  of  the  Port  of  New  York,  and 
Zebedee  King  to  be  Surveyor.  These  gentlemen  were  Anti- 
Seward  Whigs.  The  President  also  named  Messrs.  Hall  and 
Haven  to  be  District-Judge  and  District-Attorney,  respectively. 
These  gentlemen  were  the  Vice-President's  law  partners.  Mr. 
Foote,  a  Buffalo  editor,  and  another  Fillmore  man,  was  sent  on 
a  foreign  mission.  Mr.  Seward  voted  to  confirm  these  nomina 
tions,  though  each  appointee  was  a  political  adversary.  Mr. 
Weed  called  upon  his  old  friend,  the  President's  brother,  Colonel 
Taylor,  and  remonstrated.  The  President  sent  for  Mr.  Weed, 
acknowledged  that  he  had  been  misled,  and  after  that  Mr.  Sew- 
ard's  relations  with  the  administration  were  most  cordial. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Mr.  Weed  conversed  with  the 
President  as  to  the  wish  which  he  had  expressed  before  the 
election  in  respect  to  conducting  his  administration  with  no  re 
gard  to  ordinary  party  obligations.  "He  soon  became  con 
vinced,"  Mr.  Weed  writes,  "  that  the  significance  of  a  zealous 
and  patriotic  movement  of  the  people  which  overthrew  Demo 
cratic  supremacy  meant  something  more  than  the  election  of  a 
Whig  President  and  the  appointment  of  a  Whig  Cabinet.  In 
stopping  there  the  victory  was  incomplete.  ' 1  did  not  think  it 
either  wise,  or  just,'  the  President  himself  remarked,  ;  to  kick 
away  the  ladder  by  which  I  ascended  to  the  presidency ;  colo 
nels,  majors,  captains,  lieutenants,  sergeants,  and  corporals  are 
just  as  necessary  to  success  in  politics  as  they  are  to  the  dis 
cipline  and  efficiency  of  an  army.'  I  remember  with  equal  sat 
isfaction  and  distinctness  when,  after  a  conversation  on  this 
subject  at  the  White  House,  the  President  walked  with  me  to 
the  Treasury  Department,  where,  as  the  Secretary  rose  to  receive 
him,  he  said,  4 1  came  over,  Mr.  Meredith,  to  inquire  whether 
you  think  our  friends  are  getting  their  share  of  the  offices  ?  " 

"  The  Secretary,  after  deliberately  taking  a  paper  of  tobacco 
from  his  pocket  and  depositing  fully  one  half  of  it  in  his  mouth, 
replied  that  he  '  had  not  thought  of  the  matter  in  that  light.' 
4  Nor,'  added  the  President,  'had  I,  until  recently.  But,  if  the 
country  is  to  be  benefited  by  our  services',  it  seems  to  me  that 
you  and  I  ought  to  remember  those  to  whose  zeal,  activity,  and 
influence,  we  are  indebted  for  our  places.  There  are  plenty  of 


176  MEMOIR.  [1849. 

Whigs  just  as  capable  and  honest,  and  quite  as  deserving  of 
office,  as  the  Democrats  who  have  held  them  through  two  or 
three  presidential  terms.  Rotation  in  office,  provided  good  men 
are  appointed,  is  sound  republican  doctrine.'  Secretary  Mer 
edith  soon  made  wholesome  reforms  in  his  department. 

"  The  Postmaster-General,  Judge  Collamer,  to  whom  I  was 
authorized  to  communicate  the  President's  views,  lost  no  time 
in  appointing  meritorious  Whig  Postmasters  throughout  the 
Union.  New  life  was  thereby  infused  into  the  Whig  party. 
The  Whig  press  and  Whig  people  rallied  with  enthusiasm  to 
the  support  of  the  administration ;  and,  had  Providence  spared 
the  life  of  that  gallant  soldier,  patriotic  citizen,  and  inflexibly 
honest  President,  his  administration  would  have  been  more  im 
portant  in  events,  more  beneficial  to  the  country,  and  more  glo 
rious  to  himself,  than  any  other  since  that  of  Washington." 

But  these  were  wheels  within  the  wheels  of  politics.  What 
the  great  mass  of  the  people  felt  most  anxious  about  was  to 
know  what  ground  the  President  would  occupy  in  connection 
with  slavery.  One  incident  in  his  administration  furnishes  a 
conclusive  answer. 

When  it  became  apparent,  early  in  1850,  after  a  protracted 
struggle,  that  California,  which  applied  to  enter  the  Union  as  a 
free  state  on  the  15th  of  February,  could  not  be  kept  out,  eight 
Democratic  members  of  Congress  met  and  loaded  down  the 
bill  under  which  it  was  to  become  a  free  state  with  "  riders," 
designed  to  extend  the  power  of  slavery  in  other  directions. 
Messrs.  Toombs,  Stephens,  and  Clingman,  members  of  Con 
gress  from  Georgia,  who  then  professed  to  be  Wrhigs,  visited 
the  President,  and  endeavored  to  influence  his  judgment,  urging 
him  to  favor  the  admission  of  California  on  the  terms  offered. 
In  turning  out  of  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  on  the  day  when  they 
visited  the  President  with  this  object,  Mr.  Weed  met  these 
southern  statesmen  as  they  passed  from  the  White  House.  He 
knew  them  as  members  of  Congress,  and  had  met  them  fre 
quently  in  Washington  and  elsewhere.  With  Mr.  Clingman 
his  relations  were  intimate.  But  they  now  passed  him  with 
scarcely  a  nod  of  recognition.  Puzzled  and  annoyed,  he  kept 
on  towards  the  White  House.  Walking  up  the  steps  he  met 
Hannibal  Hamlin,  of  Maine,  who  stopped  long  enough  to  say 
that  the  President  would  be  found  greatly  agitated. 


1849.]  GENERAL    TAYLOR'S  PATRIOTISM.  177 

Mr.  Weed  entered  General  Taylor's  apartment  a  moment 
later.  The  President  was  walking  rapidly  to  and  fro.  "  Did 
you,"  said  he,  with  an  oath,  "  did  you  meet  those  traitors  ?  " 
Then,  in  an  excited  manner,  and  in  strong  language,  he  pro 
ceeded  to  relate  what  had  passed  between  them  and  himself. 
They  came,  he  said,  to  talk  with  him  about  his  policy  upon 
pending  slavery  questions  ;  and  when  they  were  informed  that 
he  would  approve  any  constitutional  bill  that  Congress  might 
pass,  and  execute  the  laws  of  the  country,  they  threatened  a  dis 
solution  of  the  Union  ;  in  reply  to  which  he  informed  them  that, 
if  it  became  necessary,  in  executing  the  laws,  he  would  take 
command  of  the  army  himself,  and  that,  if  they  were  taken  in 
rebellion  against  the  Union,  he  would  hang  them  with  less  re 
luctance  than  he  had  hung  deserters  and  spies  in  Mexico ! 
When  the  President  grew  more  calm  he  took  his  seat,  and 
remarked  that  ultra  members  of  Congress  from  southern  states 
presumed  upon  his  acquiescence  in  their  views,  because  he  was 
a  southern  man  and  a  slaveholder;  that  before  he  had  been 
placed  in  a  position  that  made  it  his  duty  to  examine  both  sides 
of  the  question,  he  had  entertained  and  expressed  views  differ 
ing  widely  from  his  then  sentiments.  Kelying  on  the  assur 
ances  of  distinguished  southern  statesmen  that  the  North  was 
"aggressive,"  and  that  the  "compromises  of  the  Constitution" 
were  in  danger,  he  had  written  a  letter  to  his  son-in-law,  Jeffer 
son  Davis,  saying  that  he  was  ready  to  stand  with  the  South  in 
maintaining  all  the  guarantees  of  the  Constitution ;  but  that 
since  it  had  become  his  duty  to  look  carefully  into  the  merits  of 
the  controversy,  he  had  satisfied  himself  that  the  exactions  and 
purposes  of  the  South  were  intolerant  and  revolutionary.  He 
added  that  he  regarded  Davis  as  the  chief  conspirator  in  the 
scheme  which  Toombs,  Clingman,  and  Stephens  had  enunci 
ated. 

This  account  follows  Mr.  Weed's  own  description  of  these  in 
terviews,  as  given  in  a  controversy  with  Mr.  Stephens  in  187G, 
in  which  that  gentleman,  while  admitting  all  the  other  facts,  de 
nied  that  there  were  threats  of  disunion  on  the  one  side  or  of 
hanging  on  the  other.  Fortunately  for  Mr.  Weed,  his  own  dis 
tinct  recollections  were  confirmed  and  corroborated  by  a  let 
ter  from  ex- Vice-President  Hamlin,  who  saw  Mr.  Stephens  and 
his  friends  pass  out  of  the  executive  apartment,  two  or  three 

12 


178  MEMOIR.  [1849. 

minutes  before  they  passed  Mr.  Weed  on  his  way  to  the  White 
House. 

"  As  I  was  approaching  the  door  to  the  President's  room," 
writes  Mr.  Ilamlin,  "Robert  Toombs  and  Alexander  H.  Ste 
phens,  of  Georgia,  came  out.  They  were  excited  in  their  manner 
to  a  degree  that  attracted  my  attention.  We  did  not  speak  to 
each  other.  I  went  into  the  President's  room  and  found  him 
alone.  He  was  evidently  much  excited.  I  have  frequently  said 
that  he  appeared  like  an  enraged  lion  in  his  cage,  as  the  best 
description  I  could  give.  In  fact,  he  must  have  walked  across 
the  room  some  three  or  four  times  before  he  even  noticed  me, 
after  my  entrance.  He  then  spoke  to  me,  but  still  continued 
pacing  the  room,  crossing  it  several  times  more.  He  then  ad 
dressed  me  with  an  inquiry :  '  Mr.  Ilamlin,'  said  he,  4  what 
are  you  doing  in  the  Senate  with  the  omnibus  bill  ? '  (so-called) 
then  before  the  Senate.  My  reply  was  prompt :  '  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  I  believe  the  bill  wrong  in  principle,  and  I  am  doing  what 
1  can  to  defeat  it.'  His  rejoinder  was  as  prompt,  and  very  de 
cided  :  '  Stand  firm ;  don't  yield  ;  it  means  disunion,  and  I  am 
pained  to  learn  that  we  have  disunion  men  to  contend  with ; 
disunion  is  treason  ; '  and  with  an  expletive  which  I  will  not  re 
peat  here,  he  said,  with  an  emphasis  \vhich  I  shall  never  forget, 
that  if  they  attempted  to  carry  out  their  schemes  while  he  was 
President,  they  should  be  dealt  with  by  law  as  they  deserved, 
and  executed." 

Ex-Vice-President  Wilson,  writing  in  1877,  after  quoting  a 
disunion  speech  made  in  the  House  of  Representatives  by  Mr. 
Toombs,  and  indorsed  publicly,  on  the  floor,  by  Mr.  Stephens, 
before  their  interview  with  the  President,  thus  refers  to  that 
interview,  and  to  General  Taylor's  position  :  l 

At  that  time  of  timidity,  wavering,  and  weakness  in  both  Houses 
of  Congress,  President  Taylor  stood  firm,  collected,  and  resolutely  de 
termined  to  maintain  the  authority  of  the  government.  Aggrieved,  on 
the  one  hand,  at  what  he  regarded  as  the  ungenerous  conduct  of  Mr. 
Clay,  Mr.  Webster,  and  other  leading  Whigs,  he  was  deeply  moved,  on 
the  other,  by  demands  he  deemed  to  be  both  unpatriotic  and  personally 
offensive.  Mr.  Hamlin,  then  a  Democratic  Senator  from  Maine,  states 
that,  making  a  business  call  upon  the  President,  he  met  Toombs,  Ste- 

1  Wilson's  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Slave  Power  in  America.  Vol.  ii.  pp.  259, 
260. 


1849.]  POSITION   OF   THE  PRESIDENT.  179 

phens,  and  Clingman  just  retiring  from  an  interview.  On  entering 
the  President's  room  he  found  him  walking  the  floor,  greatly  excited 
and  indignant.  He  told  Mr.  Hanilin  that  the  men  who  had  just  retired 
had  been  making  demands  concerning  the  policy  of  his  administration, 
accompanied  with  intimations  that  the  South  would  not  submit  unless 
they  were  acceded  to.  He  accompanied  this  statement  with  the  decla 
ration  that,  if  there  were  any  such  treasonable  demonstrations  on  the 
part  of  the  southern  leaders  and  people,  he  would  put  it  down  by  the 
whole  power  of  the  government,  even  if  he  was  obliged  to  put  himself 
at  the  head  of  the  army  to  do  it.  Thurlow  Weed,  who  called  at  the 
Executive  Mansion  immediately  afterward,  found  the  President  still 
in  a  state  of  excitement,  and  he,  too,  received  the  assurance  of  his  pur 
pose  to  maintain  the  Union  and  the  government  at  all  hazards.  These 
statements  received  significance  from  a  letter  written  by  General  Taylor 
to  Jefferson  Davis,  dated  Monterey,  August  16,  1847 .  In  this  letter 
he  says  that  his  "  position,  feelings,  and  associations,  independent  of 
pecuniary  considerations,"  were  with  the  South,  and  that,  while  he 
would  "  respect  the  feelings  of  the  non-slaveholding  states,"  he  would 
be  "  equally  careful  that  no  encroachments  were  made  on  the  rights  of 
the  citizens  of  the  slaveholding  states."  After  expressing  his  convic 
tions  of  the  gravity  of  the  slavery  issue,  and  his  willingness  that  it 
should  be  the  subject  of  free  and  full  discussion,  he  said  :  "  But  the 
moment  they  go  beyond  that  point,  when  resistance  becomes  right  and 
proper,  let  the  South  act  promptly,  boldly,  and  decisively,  with  arms 
in  their  hands,  if  necessary,  as  the  Union,  in  that  case,  will  be  blown 
to  atoms,  or  will  be  no  longer  worth  preserving." 

That  the  President,  so  unequivocally  committed  to  southern  inter 
ests,  and  holding  views  so  decided,  not  to  say  defiant,  should  have 
taken,  with  such  determination,  his  stand  for  the  Union,  as  indicated 
by  the  statements  of  Mr.  Hamlin  and  Mr.  Weed,  affords  conclusive 
evidence  that  there  were,  in  his  view,  no  northern  aggressions ;  that 
the  cry  of  southern  danger  and  alarm  was  simulated,  or  at  least  un 
founded,  and  that  the  real  foes  to  be  resisted  were  at  the  South,  and 
not  in  the  North. 

Not  less  fortunately  for  Mr.  Weed,  the  denial  of  Mr.  Ste 
phens  attracted  the  attention  of  General  Pleasanton,  a  highly  in 
telligent  officer,  who  served  with  distinction  in  the  Mexican 
War,  and  in  the  Union  army  during  the  Rebellion. 

General  Pleasanton's  letter  furnishes  a  fitting  conclusion  to 
the  present  chapter. 


180  MEMOIR.  [1849. 

[GENERAL  PLEASANTON  TO  MB.  WEED.] 

NEW  YORK,  September  22,  1876. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  have  just  read  in  the  New  York  "  Herald"  a  letter 
of  the  Hon.  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  in  which  he  attempts  to  show 
that  you  were  mistaken  in  the  report  of  your  interview  with  General 
Taylor.  Permit  me,  in  support  of  your  statement,  to  present  some 
facts  coming  within  my  own  personal  knowledge,  which  confirm  your 
evidence  that  General  Taylor  did  regard  the  southern  leaders  then  in 
Congress  as  encouraging  disunion,  and  that  he  looked  upon  such  con 
duct  as  treasonable. 

I  served  in  the  army  in  Mexico  under  General  Taylor,  and  knew 
him  well.  [General  Pleasanton  here  alludes  to  several  occasions  on 
which  he  was  entrusted  by  General  Taylor  with  responsible  duties.] 
Shortly  after  my  arrival  in  Washington,  in  April,  1850,  I  called  to 
pay  my  respects  to  my  old  commander,  then  President.  .  .  .  Late  in 
June,  I  received  orders  to  join  my  command  in  New  Mexico,  and  the 
same  day  called  upon  General  Taylor.  He  then  appeared  to  be  in 
excellent  health,  was  very  glad  to  see  me,  and  upon  my  mentioning 
my  destination,  said :  "I  am  glad  you  are  going  to  New  Mexico. 
I  want  officers  of  judgment  and  experience  there.  These  southern 
men  in  Congress  are  trying  to  bring  on  civil  war.  They  are  now  or* 
ganizing  a  military  force  in  Texas  for  the  purpose  of  taking  possession 
of  New  Mexico  and  annexing  it  to  Texas,  and  I  have  ordered  the 
troops  in  New  Mexico  to  be  reinforced,  and  directed  that  no  armed 
force  from  Texas  be  permitted  to  go  into  that  territory.  Tell  Colo 
nel  Monroe  (commanding  in  New  Mexico)  he  has  my  entire  confi 
dence,  and  if  he  has  not  force  enough  out  there  to  support  him" 
(and  then  his  features  assumed  the  firmest  and  most  determined  expres 
sion),  "  I  will  be  with  you  myself  ;  but  I  will  be  there  before  those 
people  shall  go  into  that  country  or  have  a  foot  of  that  territory. 
The  whole  business  is  infamous,  and  must  be  put  down." 

This  was  my  last  interview  with  General  Taylor.  Mr.  Fillmore 
succeeded  him  as  President  and  hastened  to  countermand  his  or 
ders.  .  .  .  Mr.  Stephens  says,  that  General  Taylor  could  not  have 
addressed  himself  to  you  as  represented,  as  he  (Taylor)  had  stated  in 
a  letter  from  Baton  Kouge,  Louisiana,  August  5,  1848 :  "  Not  a  drop 
of  American  blood  was  shed  by  my  order  while  in  Mexico,  nor  that  of 
a  Mexican  except  in  the  heat  of  battle."  In  this  letter,  General  Tay 
lor  expressed  himself  as  a  soldier  ;  he  meant  that  he  had  never  in  an 
arbitrary  manner  ordered  an  American  to  be  shot.  But  men  were 
shot  in  Mexico  by  sentence  of  court-martial  or  military  commissions ; 


1849.]        LETTER  FROM  GENERAL  PLEASANTON.          181 

for  I  was  present  myself  at  Camargo  when  eight  of  our  soldiers  were 
shot  at  the  same  time.  General  Taylor  never  intended  to  shoot 
Messrs.  Toonibs  and  Stephens,  by  his  simple  order ;  but  in  case  they 
were  caught,  tried,  and  convicted  of  treason,  he  would  order  the  sen 
tence  of  death  to  be  carried  out,  and  they  need  not  expect  any  mercy 
from  him. 

General  Taylor  was  not  alone,  as  President,  in  regarding  some  of 
the  southern  leaders  of  his  time  as  traitors.  General  Jackson,  as 
President,  had  similar  troubles  with  the  southern  leaders  of  his  time, 
and  he  threatened  to  hang  Mr.  Calhoun  as  a  traitor,  if  South  Caro 
lina  persisted  in  her  course  of  nullification.  Both  of  these  Presidents 
were  southern  men,  both  declared  that  certain  leaders  in  the  South 
were  working  for  disunion,  and  both  expressed  the  opinion  that,  if 
they  were  not  effectually  squelched,  they  would  eventually  bring  on 
civil  war.  Neither  lived  to  see  his  prediction  verified. 

I  remain,  etc.,  your  obedient  servant,  A.  PLEASAXTON. 


CIIAPTEK  XIV. 

1850-1851. 

THE  MAYORALTY  DECLINED.  —  CALIFORNIA.  —  "  OMNIA  NON  POSSUMUS 
OMNES."  —  DEATH  OF  GENERAL  TAYLOR.  —  EFFORTS  TO  "  CRUSH  " 
MR.  WEED.  — THE  WHIG  STATE  CONVENTION  OF  1850.  —  BOLT  OF  THE 
SILVER  GRAYS.  —  WASHINGTON  HUNT  FOR  GOVERNOR.  —  A  TRIAN 
GULAR  CANVASS.  —  THE  COALITION  DEFEATED.  —  GOVERNOR  FISH 
ELECTED  SENATOR.  —  H.  J.  RAYMOND.  —  GOVERNOR  MARCY  AND  Tim 
PRESIDENCY. 

"  I  RECALL  a  very  pleasant  anecdote  of  Mr.  Weed,"  says  Al- 
vah  Bradish,  the  artist,  "  which  I  had  from  Governor  Morgan, 
while  he  was  sitting  to  me  in  New  York  for  his  portrait.  We 
were  speaking  about  Mr.  Weed's  exceeding  modesty,  so  re 
markable  -in  a  man  possessing  such  great  influence.  I  learned 
from  the  Governor  that  some  years  before,  while  Mr.  Weed 
was  a  resident  of  Albany,  he  had  been  asked  to  be  a  candidate 
for  the  office  of  Mayor  of  that  city,  at  a  time  when  there  c<j>ujd- 
be  no  doubt  of  his  election.  He  declined  this  honor.  -The 
committee  then  called  and  urged  his  acceptance.  No,  no,  he 
could  not  think  of  it.  But  it  seemed  to  be  an  important  crisis, 
perhaps,  to  his  party,  and  a  third  earnest  application  was  made 
to  overcome  his  scruples.  '  No,  no,  gentlemen,'  he  said  ;  '  I  can 
not  consent ;  indeed,  if  you  could  only  know  what  a  very  poor 
Mayor  I  should  prove  to  be,  I  am  sure  you  would  not  urge  me.' 
4  And  this,'  said  the  Governor,  '  from  a  man  who  had  the  power 
to  make  judges,  governors  and  presidents ! ' 

[MR.    WEED    TO    THE    COMMITTEE    OF    THE    CITY    CONVENTION.] 

ALBANY,  April  3,  1850. 

GENTLEMEN,  —  If  the  Whig  convention  that  you  represent  knew 
half  as  well  as  I  do  how  poorly  I  should  discharge  the  duties  of 
Mayor  of  our  city,  it  would  gladly  take  back  the  nomination  which  I 
am  constrained  to  decline,  and  for  which  I  am  indebted  to  the  im 
pulses,  rather  than  to  the  judgment,  of  my  friends. 

I  am  indebted  to  Albany  and  to  Albanians  for  much  of  prosperity 


1850.]  THE   COMPROMISE    OF  1850.  183 

and  happiness  ;  and  if  I  felt  that  it  was  in  my  power  to  discharge 
the  duties  of  the  city's  chief  magistrate  worthily,  and  thus  lighten  the 
sense  of  obligation,  your  nomination  would  be  accepted  cheerfully. 
But  it  is  not  so  ;  and  I  must  not  bring  reproach  iqion  my  party  and 
friends  by  unwisely  assuming  responsibilities  for  which  my  pursuits 
and  habits  unfit  me. 

My  declension  involves  the  necessity  of  reassembling  your  conven 
tion.  I  regret  tthis  inconvenience  ;  but  we  shall  all,  I  doubt  not,  find 
our  compensation  in  the  unanimity  which  will  characterize  your  delib 
erations,  and  in  the  enthusiasm  with  which  our  Whig  friends  through 
out  the  city  will  rally  to  the  support  of  your  nominees. 

Very  respectfully  and  truly  your  friend,          TIIUKLOW  WEED. 

The  California  question  now  absorbed  the  attention  of  the 
whole  country.  In  the  hope  of  reaching  a  peaceable  adjust 
ment,  Mr.  Clay  introduced  in  the  Senate  resolutions  which  sub 
sequently  became  the  basis  of  the  combination  of  measures 
known  as  the  "  omnibus  bill  of  1850."  Among  equivalents,  un 
der  these  acts,  for  the  admission  of  California  as  a  free  state, 
were  payment  of  the  Texas  debt,  repudiation  of  the  Wilmot 
Proviso,  and  the  enactment  of  a  stringent,  vindictive,  and  humil 
iating  statute,  under  which  United  States  Commissioners  at 
the  North  were  required  .to  surrender  fugitive  slaves,  without 
trial  by  jury,  and  all  good  citizens  were  commanded  to  aid  in 
pursuing  and  arresting  such  fugitives,  whenever  an  opportunity 
offered. 

It  was  during  the  debate  on  the  admission  of  California  that 
Mr.  Webster  delivered  his  famous  "  7th  of  March  "  speech  and 
Mr.  Seward  his  speech  on  the  "  higher  law." 

[MR.    WEBSTER   TO    R.  M.  BLATCIIFORD.] 

Ix  THE  SENATE,  Id  July. 

DEAR  SIR.  —  Truman  Smith  is  making  a  very  sensible  speech,  but 
I  fear  he  will  not  be  bold  enough  to  vote  rightfully. 

The  President  is  sick.  Was  very  sick  last  evening,  is  better  at  this 
hour,  but  is  still  quite  ill.  I  think  he  is  in  no  great  danger,  however. 
It  is  an  illness  caused  by  heat  and  anxiety. 

I  perceive  that  my  friend  Weed  laments  that  it  did  not  happen  to 
me  to  make  such  a  great  and  glorious  speech  as  Governor  Seward's. 
I  thank  him  sincerely  for  his  condolence,  but  "  Omnia  non  possumus 
omnes."  Yours  on  a  very  hot  day,  D.  WEBSTER. 


184  MEMOIR.  [1850. 

1850. —  On  the  9th  of  July,  when  Mr.  Weed  heard  of  the 
death  of  General  Taylor,  his  feelings  could  not  have  been  very 
different  from  those  of  Mr.  Blame  in  September,  1881,  at  the 
death-bed  of  G&rfield.  Not  only  was  the  national  adminis 
tration,  which  to  a  certain  degree  he  had  controlled,  and  which, 
with  reason,  he  had  believed  to  be  big  with  promise,  now  wiped 
off  the  face  of  the  earth  at  one  fell  stroke ;  but  a  new  regime  — 
a  regime  with  which  he  could  have  no  sympathy  —  was  installed 
in  its  place.  Heretofore  Mr.  Fillmore  had  always  been  an 
ardent  friend  of  freedom.  Almost  immediately  he  veered 
round,  and  as  ardently  espoused  the  cause  of  slavery.  Perhaps 
his  change  of  heart  was  provoked  by  the  pronounced  position 
of  Mr.  Weed  and  Mr.  Seward,  who  in  1850  were  loudly  de 
nounced  as  too  radical  in  opposition  to  slavery. 

Thus  a  second  time  Mr.  Weed  found  himself  at  war  with  a 
national  administration  which  he  had  helped  largely  to  create. 
"  We  are  in  a  bad  fix,"  Mr.  Fillmore  had  written  to  Mr.  Weed, 
in  1842.  "  Captain  Tyler  has  gone  over  soul  and  body  to  the 
Locos."  President  Fillmore  now  took  Mr.  Tyler  for  his  own 
model,  embracing  projects  which  had  been  rejected  by  General 
Taylor  with  righteous  indignation.  By  signing  the  fugitive 
slave  law  he  rent  the  Whig  party  in  twain  forever. 

No  secret  was  made  of  the  purpose  of  the  administration 
to  "  crush  "  Mr.  Weed.  All  federal  office-holders  suspected 
of  fidelity  to  u  the  Dictator  "  were  requested  to  resign.  Mr. 
Weed's  friend,  Mr.  Benedict,  Postmaster  at  Albany,  was  sum 
marily  removed.  The  post-office  department  interfered  with 
the  subscription  lists  of  Mr.  Weed's  paper.  A  rival  sheet, 
called  the  "  Register,"  was  established  at  Albany,  and  commis 
sioned  to  speak  for  the  administration  "  by  authority."  Hop 
ing  to  keep  up  the  division,  Democratic  papers  took  a  hand 
in  the  quarrel,  doing  what  they  could  to  strengthen  the  admin 
istration,  as  they  knew  that  Mr.  Fillmore  was  no  match  for  the 
men  whom  he  challenged.  William  A.  Duer,  a  member  of  Con 
gress  and  a  leading  Fillmore  politician,  declared  that  Mr.  Weed 
was  "  trying  to  build  up  abolitionism  on  the  ruins  of  the  Whig 
party."  By  the  "  Register  "  he  was  dubbed  "  Generalissimo- 
in-chief  of  the  Abolition  forces."  And  this  folly  Democratic 
papers  reiterated,  adding  that  the  South  would  and  should 
break  up  the  Union,  in  case  Mr.  Weed  succeeded  in  carrying 
out  his  "  nefarious  abolition  policy." 


1850.]    MR.    WEED   ON   THE  FUGITIVE  SLAVE  LAW.     185 

"  The  time  will  come,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed,  "  when  Mr.  Fill- 
more  will  contrast  the  friendship  which  fawns  around  him  now 
with  that  which  he  has  repelled.  .  .  .  Neither  Mr.  Benedict  nor 
those  who  act  with  him  will  wrangle  about  office.  The  Pres 
ident  may  do  what  he  pleases  with  his  appointments.  If  his 
measures  are  right,  if  he  adheres  to  the  principles  of  the  Whig 
party,  we  shall  prove  better  supporters  of  his  administration 
than  the  fly-blown  adventurers  who  bask  in  his  favor.  .  .  .  As 
for  the  fugitive  slave  law,  we  cannot  but  reiterate  our  regret 
that  a  measure  so  repugnant  received  the  sanction  of  Congress 
and  the  President.  The  execution  of  that  law  violently  con 
vulses  the  foundations  of  society.  Fugitives  who  have  lived 
among  us  for  many  years  cannot  be  seized  and  driven  off  as  if 
they  belonged  to  the  brute  creation.  The  attempt  to  recover 
such  fugitives  will  prove  abortive.  But  the  error  of  the  ad 
ministration  is  not  so  much  in  its  determination  to  see  the  law 
executed,  as  it  was  in  allowing  a  bill  so  dangerous  to  the  public 
tranquillity  to  pass.  .  .  .  Slavery,  in  every  aspect  in  which  it 
can  be  viewed,  is  deleterious.  It  is  a  curse  to  the  slave  master, 
to  the  slave  owner,  to  the  state,  to  the  community,  and  to  the 
soil  upon  which  it  exists.  It  is  equally  a  moral,  political,  and 
physical  evil.  It  dignifies  idleness  and  dishonors  industry.  It 
nullifies  a  solemn  declaration  that  liberty  is  among  the  inalien 
able  rights  of  all  men.  It  leads  to  enervation  in  master  and 
servant.  The  contrast  between  the  slave  and  the  free  states, , 
side  by  side  upon  our  western  rivers,  is  full  of  eloquent  and 
instructive  admonition.  Ohio  and  Kentucky,  Indiana  and  Vir 
ginia,  are  open  volumes  of  nature,  in  which  are  written,  in 
luminous  lines,  the  vast  superiority  of  free  over  slave  labor." 

[ALVAH  HUNT  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

GREENE,  July  18,  1850. 

MY  DEAR  FRIEND,  —  "  And  he  mourned  as  one  without  hope." 
As  the  stage  stopped  at  Oriskany  Falls  on  the  10th,  the  appalling 
words  fell  upon  my  ears,  "  General  Taylor  is  dead !  "  I  could  not, 
would  not,  believe  it.  On  reaching  Clinton,  men  were  gathered  in 
groups  reading  black-draped  "  extras."  From  thence  to  Utica,  though 
the  stage  was  full,  no  word  was  spoken. 

I  thought  of  you,  of  Seward,  and  others  of  the  tried  and  true ;  of 
what  would  probably  come  of  this  national  bereavement.  .  .  . 


186  MEMOIR.  [1850. 

Have  you  courage  for  another  trial  ?  I  had  almost  a  mind  to  turn 
off  at  Utica  and  seek  you,  but  duty  pointed  West,  and  I  took  that  di 
rection,  believing  also  that  you  would  shut  yourself  up  for  three  days 
and  refuse  to  be  comforted. 

Your  articles  touching  the  duty  of  the  Whigs  are  among  the  best 
and  wisest  you  ever  penned.  Your  true  friends  will  stand  or  fall  on 
the  position  which  you  have  taken.  If  this  be  treason,  then  let  the 
reptiles  who  now  crawl  around  that  child  of  chance,  the  accidental 
President,  "  make  the  most  of  it." 

Stage  in  sight.     God  bless  you  and  yours.  ALVAH   HUNT. 

1850.  —  It  was  evident  that  the  administration  would  put 
forth  every  effort  to  gain  control  of  the  New  York  Whig  con 
vention  in  the  fall,  in  order  to  secure  a  vindication  of  the  Pres 
ident's  policy  in  his  own  state,  and  rebuke  all  Whigs  who 
opposed  that  policy,  particularly  Mr.  Weed  and  Mr.  ISeward. 
While  the  election  of  delegates  was  in  progress  there  was  un 
usual  excitement. 

On  the  27th  of  September  the  convention  was  held  at  Syra 
cuse.  Francis  Granger,  who,  when  he  went  into  General  Har 
rison's  Cabinet,  was  opposed  by  the  South  as  an  Abolitionist, 
appeared  as  an  ally  of  the  President.  Mr.  Maxwell,  Collector 
of  the  Port  of  New  York,  with  several  of  his  subordinates,  and 
the  United  States  sub-Treasurer,  were  at  Syracuse  endeavoring 
to  influence  delegates.  It  was  known  that  Mr.  Granger  took 
extreme  ground  in  behalf  of  the  administration,  and  he  was 
therefore  put  in  the  chair,  where  it  was  thought  he  could  do  the 
least  harm. 

When  a  committee  on  resolutions  was  proposed,  Mr.  Granger 
made  Mr.  Duer  chairman.  Some  time  after  the  convention  this 
gentleman  admitted  that  he  went  to  Syracuse  from  Washington 
with  instructions  from  Mr.  Fillmore  to  bolt  in  case  Mr.  Seward's 
course  was  approved  in  the  platform.  At  the  proper  time  he 
presented  resolutions  lamenting  the  death  of  General  Taylor, 
extolling  the  administration,  and  leaving  Mr.  Seward  severely 
alone.  The  moment  this  document  was  read,  Mr.  Cornwell,  of 
Cayuga,  moved  a  set  of  resolutions  more  pronounced  against 
slavery  and  eulogizing  Mr.  Seward.  The  vote  on  the  adoption 
of  the  substitute  was,  of  course,  a  test  of  strength.  It  resulted 
in  an  emphatic  majority  against  the  administration.1  Mr. 

1  The  vote  stood  76  to  40. 


1850.]  BOLT  OF   THE   SILVER   GRAYS.  187 

Granger  abruptly  threw  down  his  gavel,  and,  with  several  other 
delegates,  left  the  hall.  In  the  mean  time  Mr.  Weed  was  at  his 
rooms  in  the  hotel.  When  he  heard  how  events  were  shaping 
he  sent  word  to  his  friends  to  adjourn,  an  adjournment  was  at 
once  carried,  and  a  private  consultation  was  arranged  to  be  held 
at  his  quarters  in  the  evening.  It  was  not  his  way  to  ride 
roughshod  over  a  minority  which  numbered  among  its  leaders 
such  men  as  Granger  and  Maxwell. 

There  assembled  in  the  evening,  at  Mr.  Weed's  rooms,  among 
others  Christopher  Morgan,  Lewis  Benedict,  John  L.  School- 
craft,  William  A.  Wheeler,  and  James  M.  Cook.  As  Governor 
Fish  was  not  a  candidate  for  renomination,  it  was  determined  to 
nominate  Washington  Hunt,  who  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Mr. 
Granger's,  and  whose  candidacy,  it  was  thought,  would  head  off 
the  chance  of  Granger's  running  as  a  Fillmore  candidate.  When 
the  convention  reassembled  Mr.  Hunt  was  nominated.  He  re 
signed  as  Comptroller,  and  Philo  C.  Fuller  was  appointed  to 
that  position  by  Governor  Fish. 

But,  after  looking  over  the  ground,  the  administration  party 
refused  to  acquiesce.  In  their  name  a  call  was  issued  for  a  new 
convention  to  assemble  at  Utica  on  the  17th  of  October,  and 
this  meeting  was  held  on  the  day  named.  Mr.  Granger  presided, 
and  speeches  were  made  by  Hiram  Ketcham,  John  A.  Collier, 
James  O.  Putnam,  and  others.  It  was  decided  to  make  no 
nominations.  When  the  hour  for  adjournment  arrived,  Mr. 
Grander  rose  in  his  place  and  gave  a  name  to  the  new  movement 

£}  'X  o 

by  saying :  "  For  this  cause  I  shall  fight  so  long  as  I  live,  nor 
do  I  ask  any  higher  post  than  to  be  a  private  in  the  ranks  of 
the  Silver  Grays." 

Late  in  October  there  was  held  at  Castle  Garden  a  so-called 
"  union "  meeting,  which  was  really  a  demonstration  against 
Mr.  Seward  and  Mr.  Weed,  delayed  until  just  before  election, 
so  that  there  might  be  no  reaction  in  the  rural  districts.  A 
prominent  New  York  journalist,  then  a  bitter  political  and  per 
sonal  opponent  of  Mr.  Weed,  intimated  in  his  paper  that  the 
names  of  merchants  who  refused  to  sign  the  call  would  be 
published,  so  that  the  South  might  understand  from  whom  to 
withdraw  patronage.  The  meeting  was  largely  attended.  Res 
olutions  were  adopted  calling  for  vigorous  enforcement  of  the 
fugitive  slave  law.  A  letter  from  Daniel  Webster  was  read, 


188  MEMOIR.  [1850. 

in  which  that  statesman,  true  to  the  false  course  which  he  had 
begun  to  follow  on  the  7th  of  March,  called  upon  all  good  citi 
zens  not  to  rekindle  the  flames  of  "  useless  and  dangerous  con 
troversy."  l  Senator  Daniel  S.  Dickinson  sent  a  letter  couched 
in  a  similar  strain.  Messrs.  Charles  O' Conor,  Ogdeii  Hoffman, 
Marshall  O.  Roberts,  James  W.  Gerard,  Moses  Taylor,  Schuyler 
Livingston,  James  Kernochan,  Robert  C.  Wetmore,  and  John 
McKeon  were  named  on  the  "  Union  Safety  Committee."  A 
coalition  ticket  was  agreed  upon,  beginning,  "  Anti-Disunion, 
Anti- Abolition,  Anti-Seward,  Anti-Weed,  —  for  Governor,  Ho 
ratio  Seymour,  of  Oneida." 

Mr.  Weed  attacked  the  Castle  Garden  meeting,  its  objects, 
and  all  who  had  any  part  in  it.  The  Fillmore  press,  anxious  to 
defeat  the  Whig  state  ticket,  eulogized  the  meeting  as  a  "  great 
popular  protest  against  demagoguery."  "  After  this  demonstra 
tion,"  said  one  of  these  papers,  "  the  President  cannot  but  en 
force  the  fugitive  slave  law  at  all  hazards,  even  if  it  takes  the 
whole  United  States  army  to  do  it."  In  reply,  Mr.  Weed  re 
turned  defiance,  declaring  that  New  York  was  ready  to  face  the 
issue. 

Never  did  the  Whigs  go  into  a  state  canvass  under  such  dis 
couraging  auspices.  The  Democrats  were  united,  but,  as  elec 
tion  approached,  "  Silver  Grays"  boasted  that  the  defeat  of  Mr. 
Hunt  was  preferable  in  their  eyes  to  ratification  of  the  Syracuse 
platform.2  The  New  York  Custom  House,  it  was  said,  provided 
funds,  by  assessment,  to  aid  the  Democrats.  John  L.  School- 
craft,  candidate  for  Congress  in  the  Albany  district,  and  Wil 
liam  A.  Sackett,  candidate  in  the  Seneca  district,  because  those 
gentlemen  were  intimate  friends  of  Mr.  Weed  and  Mr.  Sew- 
ard,  were  openly  opposed  by  the  national  administration.  In 
his  county,  Oswego,  Mr.  Duer  was  so  energetic  that,  although 
it  gave  General  Taylor  a  majority  in  1848,  it  now  went  eight 
hundred  Democratic.  For  almost  a  fortnight*  the  state  re 
mained  in  doubt.  "  Will  the  '  Evening  Journal '  have  the  dust 
brushed  off  that  big  eagle?"  said  the  "Argus"  just  after  the 
election.  "  We  shall  need  it  in  a  few  days."  To  which  Mr. 
Weed  replied,  "  We  have  had  the  dust  brushed  off  that  eagle, 

1  This  letter  defeated  the  Whig  ticket  in  Massachusetts. 

2  The  Whig  platform  was  essentially  similar  to  that  which  carried  the 
State  in  1848. 


1850.]  MR.    WEED'S  FRIENDS    VICTORIOUS.  189 

but  have  not  sent  it  to  the  c  Argus.'  The  gallant  bird  has  no 
predilections  for  Loco-Focoism."  *  It  was  finally  found  that 
214,614  votes  had  been  polled  for  Mr.  Hunt,  against  214,352 
for  Mr.  Seymour.  Legislative  district  returns  indicated  that 
a  Seward-Weed  Whig  would  be  chosen  in  1851  to  succeed  Mr. 
Dickinson.  Sanford  E.  Church,  Democrat,  was  elected  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor.  Mr.  Schoolcraft,  who  had  had  to  contend 
against  Erastus  Corning,  Albany's  wealthiest  citizen,  was  elected 
to  Congress.  So  was  William  A.  Sackett,  of  Seneca. 

"  These  results,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed,  "will  encourage  the  friends 
of  freedom  to  persevere  by  all  constitutional  means  and  through 
all  rightful  channels  in  their  efforts  to  restrain  the  extension  of 
slavery,  and  to  wipe  out  that  black  spot,  wherever  it  can  be  done 
without  injury  to  the  rights  and  interests  of  others." 

[GEORGE  ASHMUN  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  December  6,  1850. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  Mr.  Schoolcraft  showed  me  your  article  upon  the 
message,  and  I  cannot  help  telling  you  how  much  it  gratified  me.  Of 
course  you  could  not  be  expected  to  indorse  the  fugitive  slave  law ; 
but  considering  your  relations  toward  Mr.  Fillmore,  a  more  graceful 
thing  could  not  have  been  done.  So  much  for  that. 

Now,  a  single  word.  The  fugitive  law  cannot  and  will  not  be 
repealed  or  amended.  It  has  provisions  which  to  all  of  us  are  objec 
tionable.  But  they  cannot  be  changed.  As  wise  men,  then,  should 
we  sustain  or  countenance  a  movement  which  is  certain  to  fail  ?  Is  it 
not  a  mistake  for  politicians  to  take  a  step  when  defeat  is  inevitable  ? 
The  movement  itself  would  divide  the  Whig  party  of  the  North  from 
that  of  the  South ;  but  more  than  that,  the  Whigs  of  the  North  would 
most  certainly  divide  upon  it.  We  should  not,  therefore,  gain  what 
sometimes  follows  a  defeat,  viz.,  the  putting  our  enemies  in  a  false 
position,  of  which  we  might  afterwards  take  advantage ;  because  we 
should  ourselves  be  in  no  condition  to  take  advantage  of  such  a  state 
of  things  by  reason  of  our  own  division. 

We  are  all  in  very  good  humor  here,  and  have  great  hopes  of  a 
quiet  and  useful  session  —  and  no  agitation  for  ineffectual  ends.  Good 
evening,  and  believe  me, 

Your  friend,  GEORGE  ASHMUX. 

1  For  many  years  these  establishments  enjoyed  in  common  the  ownership 
of  a  large  wood-cut  representing  an  eagle,  which  served  to  illustrate  the  col 
umns  of  the  paper  whose  party  was  in  a  majority. 


190  MEMOIR.  [1851. 

[GOVERNOR  FISH   TO  MR.  WEED.] 

ALBANY,  December  31,  1850. 

MY  DEAR  WEED,  —  I  send  herewith  a  volume  of  "  Literary  Curi 
osities."  I  pray  you  to  accept  it  as  a  very  slight  testimonial  of  my 
appreciation  of  the  uniform  and  uninterrupted  kindness  which  I  have 
experienced  at  your  hands  from  the  first  moment  of  my  entrance  upon 
public  duties.  I  came  here  without  claims  upon  your  kindness.  I 
shall  leave  here  full  of  the  most  grateful  recollections  of  your  favors 
and  good  will.  I  shall  ever  cherish  the  pleasure  of  recurring  to  the 
past. 

May  God's  choicest  blessings  be  yours.  Whatever  space  may  sepa 
rate  us,  I  shall  ever  be, 

Truly  your  friend,  HAMILTON  FISH. 

1 85 1. --When  the  state  legislature  met,  in  January,  the 
contest  between  Fillmore  and  Weed-Seward  Whigs  was  re 
newed.  In  the  Assembly  the  Whigs  were  in  a  majority,  but  the 
Senate,  to  which  Fillmore  men  had  elected  James  W.  Beekman, 
of  New  York,  was  so  close  as  to  be  doubtful.1  The  caucus  to 
nominate  a  successor  to  Mr.  Dickinson  was  not  held  until  the 
30th  of  January,  and  even  after  that,  federal  office-holders, 
who  besieged  Albany,  were  able  to  maintain  a  dead-lock  for  sev 
eral  weeks.  Finally,  however,  Governor  Fish,  the  anti-Fillmore 
candidate,  was  elected. 

Mr.  Weed  was  urged  to  accept  the  senatorship  himself,  but, 
as  was  his  wont,  declined  to  be  a  candidate. 

Henry  J.  Raymond,  was  Speaker  of  the  Assembly  while  the 
President  was  engaged  in  "  crushing  "  Mr.  Seward  and  Mr. 
Weed.  Mr.  Raymond  began  making  political  speeches  in  1840, 
when  too  young  to  vote.  Shortly  afterwards,  falling  in  with 
Mr.  Greeley,  he  was  given  a  position  on  the  "  New  Yorker," 
with  a  salary  of  8400  a  year.  One  day  Mr.  Greeley  brought 
him  into  the  "  Journal "  office  and  introduced  him  to  Mr. 
Weed.  In  1848,  when  his  relations  with  General  Taylor  ren 
dered  him  obnoxious  to  a  certain  class  of  Whigs,  Mr.  Weed 
voluntarily  offered  to  withdraw  from  his  own  paper,  in  Mr. 
Raymond's  favor,  if  that  would  satisfy  the  discontented.2 
This  suggestion  \vas  eminently  characteristic  of  Mr.  Weed.  It 

1  Mr.  Beekman  finally  voted  with  the  Democrats. 

2  See  Maverick's  Life  of  Raymond,  pp.  88,  89. 


1851.]  FORTY  YEARS  A    PRINTER.  191 

was  not  acted  upon,  however,  and  Mr.  Raymond,  returning  to 
N.ew  York,  began  to  attack  the  editor  of  the  '*  Journal  "  as  a 
man  whose  "  dangerous  free  soil  tendencies  "  provoked  discord 
and  dissension.  Wherefore,  when  Mr.  Raymond  went  to  the 
Assembly  in  1850,  Mr.  Weed  refused  to  recognize  him. 

Then,  as  now,  Albany  was  addicted  to  a  species  of  winter 
entertainments  known  as  "  legislative  parties,"  to  which  gentle 
men  only  are  invited.  Several  such  parties  were  given  at  Mr. 
Weed's  residence,  and  Mr.  Raymond  was  the  only  member  of 
the  legislature  who  received  no  invitation.  It  was  not  long, 
however,  before  prominent  Whigs,  who  were  friends  of  both 
gentlemen,  busied  themselves  in  efforts  to  bring  about  a  recon 
ciliation.  Mr.  Weed  yielded  so  far  as  to  invite  Mr.  Raymond 
to  his  house  ;  and  Mr.  Raymond  yielded  so  far  as  to  accept  the 
invitation.  These  formal  courtesies  soon  led  to  the  desired 
result,  and  thereafter,  so  long  as  life  lasted,  there  was  never 
again  aught  save  the  warmest  friendship  between  these  two 
great  journalists.  Mr.  Raymond  was  chosen  Speaker  in  1851, 
was  elected  Lieutenant-Governor  in  1854,  and  went  to  Congress 
in  1865. 

[MR.    WEED    TO    THE    NEW    YORK    TYPOGRAPHICAL    SOCIETY.] 

ALBANY,  January  12,  1851. 

GENTLEMEN,  —  When  your  association  honored  me,  two  years  ago, 
with  an  invitation  to  speak  to  the  printers  of  the  city  of  New  York,  I 
regretted,  almost  for  the  first  time  in  my  life,  that  this  gift,  "  to  speak 
in  public  on  the  stage,"  has  been  denied  me.  Indeed,  my  solicitude 
to  be  with  you  in  celebrating  the  birthday  of  the  immortal  Franklin 
was  so  keen  that,  could  I  have  relied,  as  did  a  gentleman  similarly  sit> 
uated,  on  a  friend  to  speak  for  me,  I  should  have  taken  a  seat  at  your 
table.  But  fearing  that  I  might  be  less  fortunate  than  Balaam,  my 
valor  took  counsel  of  discretion.  Though  I  cannot  speak  them,  allow 
me  to  express  in  this  form  my  grateful  thanks  for  your  present  kind 
remembrance  of  me. 

It  is  now  forty  years  since  I  was  apprenticed  to  the  "  Art  preserva 
tive  of  all  arts."  I  had  aspired  to  this  dignity  four  years  earlier,  but 
after  officiating  as  "  carrier  "  for  a  few  weeks,  in  the  office  of  Mackey 
Croswell,  of  Catskill,  my  hopes  were  disappointed  by  the  removal  of 
my  parents  from  that  village  to  a  then  remote  county.  But  in  Decem 
ber,  1811,  when  Thomas  Chittenden  Fay  established  "  The  Lynx  "  in 
Onondaga  Hollow,  the  cherished  desire  of  my  heart  was  gratified. 
According  to  the  accounts  of  my  master,  I  was  then  a  very  verdant 


192  MEMOIR.  [1851. 

youth.  And  this,  so  far  as  my  recollection  serves  in  recalling  the 
modes  of  instruction  resorted  to,  must  have  been  true  ;  for  he  not  un- 
frequently  proposed  to  get  ideas  into  my  head  with  the  "  mallet,"  and 
on  one  occasion  I  evaded  a  well-aimed  experiment  in  the  same  direc 
tion  with  the  "sheepfoot,"  only  by  an  u  artful  dodge."  For  this 
kind  of  discipline  there  were  provocations.  I  remember  one :  An 
obituary  notice  of  the  death  of  the  accomplished  lady  of  a  then  youth 
ful  and  promising  but  now  venerable  and  eminent  clergyman  (the 
Rev.  Derick  C.  Lansing)  was  handed  in  just  before  the  paper  was 
going  to  press.  In  setting  it  up,  the  word  "  consort  "  occurred.  It 
was  new,  and  did  not  strike  me  as  conveying  the  appropriate  idea  ; 
and  instead  of  referring  to  the  dictionary,  I  substituted  the  word 
"  comfort,"  so  that  the  deceased  was  thus  made  the  "  comfort  "  rather 
than  the  "  consort  "  of  the  bereaved  husband  !  The  paper  was  worked 
off  and  sent  about  the  village  ;  and  while  I  was  felicitating  myself 
upon  an  intellectual  achievement,  the  blunder  was  discovered  by  Mr. 
Brown,  a  one-eyed  shoemaker,  and  my  ears  yet  tingle  with  the  boxing 
my  stupidity  cost  them. 

In  1811  there  were  but  thirty-four  newspapers  in  this  State.  With 
their  names,  appearance,  complexion,  cuts,  etc.,  I  was  as  familiar  as  I 
now  am  with  the  faces  around  my  own  fireside.  The  paper  on  which 
they  were  printed  resembled  ordinary  wrapping  paper,  in  texture  and 
hue.  and  the  type,  in  most  cases,  was  worn  well  down  toward  the 
"first  nick."  The  -"New  York  Columbian"  was  printed  on  a  sheet 
as  blue  as  indigo,  while  the  "  Hudson  Bee  "  rejoiced  in  colors  as  yel 
low  as  "  Mrs.  Skewton's  "  bed  curtains.  .  .  . 

Progress  and  mechanism  have  divested  our  art  of  much  of  its  inter 
est.  I  have  never  been  able  to  look  with  complacency  upon  these  in 
novations  ;  and  if  our  great  exemplar,  Franklin,  could  revisit  earth, 
,his  spirit  would  grieve  at  the  vandalism  which  has  robbed  "press 
work  "  of  all  its  intellectuality.  Benjamin  Franklin,  though  a  good 
"  compositor,"  was  a  good  "  pressman  "  also,  and  worked  as  such  from 
choice,  while  a  journeyman. 

But  now  only  one  branch  of  our  trade  is  taught  to  apprentices.  A 
printer  is  now  no  longer  connected  with  the  "  press-room."  The 
printer  of  the  present  day  is  a  stranger  to  its  healthful  toil,  its  rich 
humors,  its  merry  laughs,  its  habitual  jests,  and,  I  am  constrained  to 
remember,  its  too  frequent  revelries.  The  customs  of  the  press-room, 
along  with  its  labors,  are  all  obsolete.  Who,  of  the  present  generation 
of  printers,  knows  anything  of  the  mystic  and  magic  power  of  signa 
ture  "  0  "  ?  And  how  can  a  boy  make  a  good  printer  whose  initia 
tory  "  steps  "  were  not  taken  in  treading  a  "  pelt  ?  "  Who  has  for 
gotten,  or  can  forget,  the  weariness  of  that  treadmill  ?  I  remember 


1851.]  TYPOGRAPHICAL   REMINISCENCES.  193 

with  gratitude  the  invention  which  gave  us  dressed  deer-skins  instead 
of  "  green  pelts  "  for  "  balls  "  ! 

Railroads,  steamboats,  canal  boats,  etc.,  have  had  their  share,  too,  in 
plucking  flowers  from  our  path.  The  journeyman  printer,  like  the 
hatter  and  shoemaker,  used  to  go  on  his  "  tramps."  These  were  de 
lightful  peregrinations.  I  have  traveled  on  foot,  from  Onondaga  to 
Auburn,  from  Auburn  to  Utica,  from  Utica  to  Herkimer,  thence  to 
Cooperstown,  thence  to  Albany,  thence  again  to  Utica  and  to  other 
places,  working  a  few  months,  or  weeks,  as  chanced,  in  each  town. 

Time  has  wrought  great  changes,  and  nowhere  else  with  such  a  leg 
ible  hand  as  in  your  city.  I  obtained  a  "  situation  "  there  in  June, 
1816.  It  seems  as  though  but  a  night  had  intervened,  and  that  all  I 
now  see,  in  waking,  of  grandeur  and  magnificence,  of  a  wilderness  of 
dwellings  and  forests  of  masts,  is  the  work  of  enchantment. 

My  first  employers  there  were  Messrs.  Van  Winkle  &  Wiley, 
whose  office  was  in  Greenwich  Street,  a  few  doors  below  Cortland.  I 
was  at  press  on  "  Gobbet's  Register,"  that  great  English  radical  and 
reformer  then  having  an  office  at  No.  10  Wall  Street.  Anxious  to  see 
"  William  Gobbet,"  of  whom  I  had  read  and  heard  so  much,  I  ob 
tained  permission  to  take  a  "  proof-sheet "  to  him. 

Through  the  aid  of  the  late  Samuel  H.  Davis,  one  of  the  best 
printers  I  ever  knew,  and  my  cherished  friend  through  life,  I  soon  got 
a  better  situation  at  Daniel  Fanshaw's,  in  Cliff  Street.  Mr.  Fanshaw 
had  the  printing  of  the  Bible  and  Tract  Societies.  This  gave  con 
stant  though  hard  work,  for  he  required  "  eleven  quire  tokens "  of 
us.  I  worked  subsequently  at  the  office  of  Samuel  Wood  &  Sons, 
George  Long,  Jonathan  Seymour,  William  A.  Mercein,  and,  for  a 
short  time,  upon  the  "  Courier,"  published  by  the  late  Barent  Gardi 
ner. 

Upon  the  years  of  my  life  which  glided  away  as  a  journeyman 
printer  in  New  York,  I  look  back  with  exceeding  gratification.  It 
was  a  period  of  high,  healthy,  buoyant  spirits,  and  fresh  enjoyment. 
I  was  never  for  a  day  out  of  work  ;  and  with  a  hardy  frame  and 
willing  hand,  was  enabled  from  my  wages  to  gratify  every  rational 
wish. 

Few  journeymen  made  a  larger  figure  in  the  "  bill  book  "  of  a  Sat 
urday  night  than  myself ;  but  I  was  indebted  for  much  of  this  to  the 
driving,  indomitable  industry  of  my  "  press  partners."  Often  when, 
of  a  pleasant  afternoon,  I  suggested  a  walk  on  the  Battery,  instead  of 
allowing  me  to  "  cap  the  balls,"  my  partners  would  insist  on  "  break 
ing  the  back  of  the  thirteenth  token,"  which  being  done  would  sug 
gest  an  argument  for  ''finishing"  the  thirteenth  token  the  next  day. 
But  all  this  told  in  our  favor  on  Saturday,  when,  instead  of  a  "  dead 
13 


194  MEMOIR.  [1851. 

horse,"  we  had  a  live  one  in  the  stable,  and  when  I  was  sure  to  treat 
myself  with  a  pit  ticket  in  the  Park  Theatre,  —  then  in  its  palmiest 
days,  for  its  boards  were  graced  by  the  talents  and  genius  of  Hilson, 
Hop  Robinson,  Mrs.  Darley,  and  Miss  Johnson.  Then  every  face 
habitually  in  the  boxes  was  familiar  to  my  eye.  But  here  again,  Time, 
with  his  merciless  scythe,  has  "  cut  down  all,  both  great  and  small." 
On  a  more  recent  occasion,  when  all  play-going  people  were  attracted 
to  that  theatre,  the  only  persons  always  present  thirty-five  years  ago 
were  Philip  Hone,  M.  M.  Noah,  and  Jacob  Hays. 

Let  me  give  you  a  practical  idea  of  what  printing  was  in  New  York 
in  1816.  Messrs.  Kirk  &  Mercein,  booksellers,  received  an  early  copy 
of  Moore's  "  Lalla  Rookh,"  and  determined  to  astonish  the  public 
with  a  hastened  edition.  The  copy  was  sent  to  Mr.  Mercein,  in  Gold 
Street,  where  I  was  at  press.  All  the  force  attainable  was  in  request. 
Compositors,  pressmen,  folders,  binders,  etc.,  worked  day  and  night, 
and  the  American  edition  was  for  sale  in  a  fortnight ! 

Again.  In  1817  I  worked  on  the  "  Courier."  Those  who  remem 
ber  the  proprietor  and  editor,  Mr.  Gardiner,  need  not  be  told  that  his 
education  as  a  financier  had  been  sadly  neglected.  He  could  not 
afford  to  keep  a  news-boat,  as  Long  &  Turner,  of  the  "  Gazette,"  and 
Mr.  Butler,  of  the  "  Mercantile  Advertiser,"  did.  And  yet  he  must 
have  the  "  marine  list,"  which  was  obtained  in  this  wise :  Every  half 
hour  after  dark,  until  eleven  o'clock,  a  boy  was  dispatched  from  the 
"  Courier  "  to  the  "  Gazette  "  office,  who  "  cribbed,"  and  brought  back 
—  in  his  memory  —  all  arrivals,  consignees,  etc.  This  incident  will 
enable  you  to  contrast  the  commerce  of  New  York  in  1817  with  its 
"  ship  news  "  in  1851. 

When  I  first  worked   in  New  York  the  late  Mr.  Rosier  Prout  was 

o 

the  only  ink  manufacturer  in  the  State.  Soon  afterward,  two  very 
worthy  journeymen  printers,  Messrs.  Mather  &  Donnington,  estab 
lished  themselves  in  the  business.  They  were,  of  course,  poor,  and 
had  to  contend  against  an  old  manufacturer  with  capital,  by  whom 
they  were  regarded  as  intruders.  The  employers,  generally,  took  part 
with  Mr.  Prout,  while  the  sympathies  of  the  journeymen  were  with 
his  rivals.  We  believed  that  our  friends  were  oppressed,  and  it  was 
soon  found  impossible  to  do  "  good  work  "  with  Prout's  ink.  In  spite 
of  our  best  efforts,  "picks,"  "monks,"  and  "friars"  marred  the 
beauty  of  each  impression.  This  soon  compelled  employers  to  pat 
ronize  Mather  &  Donnington,  whose  ink  worked  to  a  charm  !  In 
looking  back  upon  this  warfare,  I  am  not  sure  that  Prout's  ink  re 
ceived  fair  play  ;  but,  fortunately,  business  increased  so  rapidly  that 
both  found  abundant  employment.  Mr.  Prout  died  rich ;  and  Mr. 
Mather,  who  as  a  printer,  a  man,  and  a  Christian  is  an  honor  to  all 


1851.]      MR.    WEED    TO  NEW   YORK  JOURNEYMEN.        195 

his  professions,  is  now  the  hest  and  most  extensive  ink  manufacturer 
in  America.  . 

It  was  my  good  fortune,  as  a  journeyman,  to  find  in  employers  al 
most  invariable  kindness.  I  remember  them  all  with  sincere  regard, 
and  several  with  affection  and  gratitude.  Mr.  Seymour  was  an  honor 
to  his  race.  Mr.  Mercein  was  a  most  amiable  man.  The  now  vener 
able  Thomas  Walker,  of  Utica,  for  some  thirty  years  publisher  of  the 
"  Columbian  Gazette,"  and  nearly  or  quite  as  long  an  upright  magis 
trate,  has  not  outlived  his  enemies,  for  he  never  had  one.  Colonel  W. 
L.  Stone,  always  proud  of  his  profession,  was  an  estimable  and  guile 
less  man. 

In  Everard  Peck,  of  Rochester,  for  whom  I  worked  after  a  wife  and 
children  were  upon  my  hands  (that  wife,  God  bless  her,  always  doing 
more  than  her  share  for  the  support  of  all),  and  to  whose  office  I 
seemed  to  have  been  providentially  attracted,  I  found  that  friend  who 
"  sticketh  closer  than  a  brother."  .  .  . 

I  rejoice  that  the  memory  of  Franklin  is  cherished  by  printers.  No 
page  of  history  is  adorned  by  a  brighter  name.  His  precepts  and  ex 
amples  —  both  eminently  wise  and  good  —  have  exerted  a  salutary 
and  living  influence  over  the  civilized  world.  But  to  printers,  espe 
cially,  have  his  teachings  been  profitable.  Stimulated  by  his  virtues, 
and  emulous  of  his  fame,  printers  have  risen  to  high  and  enviable 
stations. 

There  is  no  man,  I  venture  to  say,  who  has  the  slightest  intellectual 
relation  to  our  craft,  who  has  not  been  rendered  wiser,  better,  and  hap 
pier,  by  reading  the  life  of  Benjamin  Franklin.  And  many  a  pri li 
ter's  "  devil,"  who,  but  for  his  familiarity  with  the  history  of  Franklin, 
would  have  groveled  through  life,  has  risen  to  eminence.  Every  state 
in  the  Union  has  furnished  gratifying  illustrations  of  this  fact.  .  .  . 

But  it  is  time  to  arrest  this  garrulous  pen.  I  sat  down  merely  to 
write  my  thanks  for  the  honor  which  your  invitation  confers.  Instead, 
however,  of  regarding  the  maxim  which  teaches  that  brevity,  on  social 
occasions,  is  "the  soul  of  wit,"  old  memories  have  kept  me  wasting  ink 
and  paper  these  two  hours.  But  the  horse  led  to  water  will  drink  or 
not  as  he  pleases,  and  you  have  this  advantage  over  me  :  letters,  like 
petitions,  can  be  referred,  or  laid  on  the  table  —  "  without  reading." 
Very  truly  yours,  THURLOW  WEED. 

P.  S.  —  If  sentiments  "  register  "  with  your  proceedings,  I  beg  to 
submit  the  following  :  — 

The  Journeymen  Printers  of  the  City  of  New  York,  —  May  "  full 
cases"  and  "fat  takes"  brighten  their  toil,  while  "proofs  "  of  friend 
ship,  and  "  tokens  "  of  affection  sweeten  their  repose. 


196  MEMOIR.  [1851.' 

[WILLIAM  KENT  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

NEW  YORK,  January  22,  1851. 

MY  DEAR  WEED,  —  We  hear  a  good  deal  here  of  movements  to  de 
feat  Fish  as  Senator.  That  would  be  a  base  desertion  of  one  who  has 
proved  himself  so  true  and  worthy  in  every  station.  Of  one  thing  I 
am  sure,  —  intrigues  are  going  on  to  obstruct  the  choice ;  but  how 
likely  they  are  to  be  of  any  effect,  you  know  better  than  I  do.  My 
heart  and  soul  are  for  Fish. 

I  have  just  finished  reading  your  autobiographical  letter  to  the  prin 
ters,  and  while  the  glow  of  pleasure  still  animates  me,  cannot  re 
frain  from  writing  you  a  line  to  thank  you.  Interesting  as  it  is  (and 
it  is  worthy  of  Franklin,  and  much  more  warm-hearted  than  careful 
"  Poor  Richard's  "  memoirs),  it  might  have  been  made  more  piquant, 
if  it  had  set  forth  incidents  some  of  which  I  wot  of.  My  occupation 
this  winter  has  been  and  is  to  make  notes  to  a  law-book  ;  but  if  I  ever 
become  annotator  of  your  letter,  and  place  before  its  readers  adven 
tures  which  I  learned  from  you  over  the  wheel  of  a  steamboat  of  a 
summer's  evening,  the  book  will  vie  with  Gil  Bias  of  Santillane,  if,  in 
deed,  it  will  not  with  the  adventures  of  Roderick  Random. 

One  dark  page  will  appear  in  your  biography.  It  will  appear  that, 
in  1822,  you  became  acquainted  with  a  young  lawyer,  who  from  that 
time  to  the  present  never  faltered  in  his  attachment ;  who  stuck  to 
you  through  good  and  ill  report,  and  yet  whom  you  never  visited.  Or, 
if  conscience  made  you  come  to  his  house  of  a  Sunday  evening,  when 
he  sat  gaping  over  the  fire,  from  whose  door  you  turned  away  with 
some  slight  excuse  which  will  not  pass  muster  in  the  day  of  judgment; 
but  yet  this  history  will  say  that  the  lawyer  still  continued  faithful 
as  Everard  Peck,  or  any  other  devoted  devil  of  a  printer  among  your 
host  of  friends. 

Yours  ever  truly,  W.  KEXT. 

[HAMILTON  FISH  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

NEW  YORK,  November  15,  1851. 

MY  DEAR  WEED,  —  I  hardly  have  the  heart  to  write.  A  noble, 
glorious  party  has  been  defeated  —  destroyed  —  by  its  own  leaders. 
What  is  to  become  of  us  ?  Where  shall  we  go  ?  Webster  has  suc 
ceeded  better  under  Fillmore  than  he  did  under  Tyler,  in  breaking  up 
the  Whig  organization  and  forming  a  third  party.  How  are  the 
mighty  fallen ! 

I  pity  Fillmore.  Timid,  vacillating,  credulous,  unjustly  suspicious, 
when  approached  by  his  prejudices,  he  has  allowed  (rather  than  ac 
complished)  the  sacrifice  of  that  confiding  party  which  has  had  no 


1851.]  NATIONAL  POSSIBILITIES.  107 

honors  too  high  to  confer  upon  him.     It  cannot  be  long  before  he  will 
realize  the  tremendous  mistake  he  has  made. 

When  are  you  coming  to  New  York  ?  Let  me  know,  and  make 
your  arrangements  for  a  sociable  dinner  with  me,  where,  with  two  or 
three  friends,  we  can  talk  over  the  past,  the  present,  and  the  future. 
You  know  you  are  sure  of  a  cordial  welcome.  If  Alvah  Hunt  comes 
with  you,  bring  him  to  my  house  also. 

Truly  yours,  HAMILTON  FISH. 

[MR.    GREELEY    TO   MR.    WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  December  20,  1851. 

FRIEND  WEED,  —  If  Fillmore  and  Webster  will  only  use  each  other 
up,  we  may  possibly  recover.  But  our  chance  is  slim.  Our  friends 
came  together  dispirited,  as  well  they  may  be.  We  ought  to  have  cast 
thirty  votes  to-day  for  Thad.  Stevens,  as  a  protest  against  the  com 
promise  resolve,  yet  we  got  but  sixteen.  Even  Henry  Bennett  and 
the  Michigan  men,  who  owe  their  election  to  the  hatred  of  the  fugi 
tive  slave  law,  went  wrong.  Schoonmaker  voted  under  advice,  as  his 
seat  may  be  contested.  Pennsylvania  cheated  Stevens  meanly,  —  but 
that  was  like  her. 

There  is  a  powerful  interest  working  hard  against  Douglas.  It 
pushes  William  O.  Butler  for  President,  and  would  like  to  run  W.  L. 
Marcy  for  Vice  if  he  would  consent,  but  may  take  Frank  Pierce.  I 
am  not  sure  that  Marcy  will  not  himself  be  the  candidate.  Our  Barn 
burners  would  prefer  him  if  they  could  nominate  him,  and  tried  to 
have  the  delegates  chosen  by  state  convention  for  that  purpose ;  but 
Hunkers  outgeneraled  them  and  called  by  districts,  which  will  give 
Douglas  a  chance.  Buchanan  will  have  to  fight  hard  for  his  own 
State  ;  if  he  gets  it,  he  may  yet  be  nominated.  Cass  is  nowhere. 

I  see  the  old  set  of  borers  for  everything  here. 

Yours,  H.  GREELEY. 

Mr.  Greeley  concurred  cordially  in  denouncing  the  adminis 
tration,  but,  as  his  letter  shows,  believed,  or  tried  to  believe, 
that  the  Whigs  might  "  possibly  recover,"  and  thus,  as  the  plan 
was,  elect  General  Scott.  Regarding  this  result  as  out  of  the 
question,  but  unwilling  to  embarrass  his  friends,  Mr.  Weed  con 
cluded  to  go  to  Europe  for  six  or  eight  months.  Believing  that 
a  Democrat  would  certainly  be  chosen  President,  he  was  dis 
posed  to  allow  Mr.  Fillmore  or  Mr.  Webster  to  secure  the 
Whig  nomination,  and  take  the  consequences.  Thus,  so  far  as 
his  influence  in  national  politics  was  exercised  at  this  time  it 


198  MEMOIR.  [1851. 

was  not  so  much  in  connection  with  his  own  as  with  the  Demo 
cratic  party. 

"  Governor  Marcy,"  he  writes,  "  though  nominally  an  old 
Hunker,  was  sound  011  the  slavery  question.  With  the  Demo 
crats  of  his  own  State  united  in  his  favor,  it  was  fair  to  expect 
that  he  might  succeed  in  obtaining  the  Democratic  presidential 
nomination.  Having  friendly  intercourse  with  prominent  Barn 
burners,  among  whom  were  Lieutenant-Governor  Addison  Gar 
diner  and  Simeon  B.  Jewett,  of  Monroe,  and  Dean  Richmond, 
of  Batavia,  I  brought  them .  and  Governor  Marcy  together 
The  misunderstanding  between  the  Governor  and  Mr.  John 
McKeon,  of  New  York,  was,  by  mutual  explanation,  reconciled. 

"  One  obstacle  only  remained,  Mr.  Daniel  S.  Dickinson,  of 
Binghamton,  was  a  candidate,  relying  confidently  upon  the 
support  of  Virginia  and  other  Southern  States.  With  the  ap 
proval  of  Governor  Marcy,  I  undertook  to  arrange  that  matter 
by  an  agreement  that  the,  delegates  from  New: York. should  vote 
solid  for  Mr.  Dickinson  if  ,  he .  should  prove  to  be ,  stronger  in 
the  national  convention  outside  our  State  than  Governor  Marcy ; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  if  Governor  Marcy  should  prove 
stronger  than  Mr.'  Dickinson  in  other  states,  then  New  York 
was  to  vote  solid  for  him. 

"  After  a  conference  with  several  prominent  Democrats, 
Francis  B.  Cutting  and  Elijah  F.  Purdy  were  suggested  as  the 
right  persons  to  confer  with  Mr.  Dickinson  on  that  subject. 
They  cheerfully  acquiesced,  and  the  day  before  I  departed  for 
Europe  Mr.  Cutting  informed  me  that  he  would  visit  Mr.  Dick 
inson,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Purdy,  at  an  early  day.  But  that 
day  was  procrastinated  until  it  was  too  late.  Indeed,  the  prop 
osition  was  not  made  to  Mr.  Dickinson  until  his  leading  friends 
had  committed  themselves  by  a  second  choice.  Mr.  Corning 
and  Mr.  Jewett  subsequently  informed  me  that  what  Mr.  Cut 
ting  and  Mr.  Purdy  neglected  was  proposed  when  the  national 
convention  met,  but  that  the  proposition  came  too  late.  Mr. 
Dickinson  in  18G2,  when  I  talked  the  matter  over  with  him, 
said  that  if  Mr.  Cutting  and  Mr.  Purdy  had  visited  him  as  con 
templated,  he  would  have  '  accepted  the  situation  '  cheerfully, 
and  that  whatever  might  have  been  his  opinion  then,  he  now 
knew  that  it  would  have  resulted  in  Governor  Marcy's  nomina 
tion  and  election." 


1851.]  LETTERS   OF  INTRODUCTION.  199 

[WASHINGTON    IRVING   TO    CHARLES   R.    LESLIE.] 

NEW  YORK,  November  20,  1851. 

MY  DEAR  LESLIE,  —  This  will  be  handed  to  you  by  my  worthy 
and  intelligent  friend,  Thurlow  Weed,  Esq.,  who  makes  a  short  visit 
to  London,  in  the  course  of  a  brief  European  tour,  lie,  of  course,  is 
desirous  of  seeing  the  lions,  —  particularly  the  literary  lions,  —  of 
London.  Can  you  give  him  an  introduction  to  Dickens,  of  whom  he 
is  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic  admirers  I  have  met  with  ?  Render 
him  any  other  civility  that  is  conveniently  within  your  power. 

With  kindest   remembrances   to   Mrs.  Leslie   and  all  your  family, 
Ever,  my  dear  Leslie,  yours,  WASHINGTON  IRVING. 

[THE  SECRETARY  OF  STATE  TO  LORD  CARLISLE.] 

WASHINGTON,  January  G,  1851. 

MY  DEAR  LORD  CARLISLE,  —  I  pray  to*  introduce  to  your  notice 
and  regard  my  friend,  Mr.  Thurlow  Weed,  of  the  State  of  New  York. 
Mr.  Weed  is  a  gentleman  of  character  and  much  intelligence.  He 
has  been  heretofore  connected  with  the  political  press  of  this  country, 
and  by  that  instrumentality  has  exercised  a  very  considerable  influ 
ence.  He  is  modest  and  retiring  in  his  manners,  but  you  will  find 
him  capable  of  giving  you  a  just  account  of  the  state  of  things  with  us 
in  whatever  regards  public  affairs  and  political  transactions.  I  cor 
dially  recommend  him  to  your  kindness.  With  entire  respect,  my 
dear  lord, 

I  remain  your  obedient  servant,  DANIEL  WEBSTER. 


CHAPTER  XV. 
1851-1852. 

MR.  WEED'S  SECOND  EUROPEAN  TOUR. — CHANGES  NOTED  IN  GREAT 
BRITAIN.  —  LONDON'S  PECULIARITIES.  —  KOSSUTH.  —  PROTECTION  AND 
FREE  TRADE.  —  FRANCE  AND  THE  COUP  D'ETAT.  —  PARIS  SIGHING 
FOR  A  RESTORATION.  —  PROVENCE.  —  MARSEILLES.  —  GENOA.  —  FLOR 
ENCE.  —  NAPLES.  —  ROME  AT  EASTER-TIDE.  —  THE  APENNINES.  - 
VIENNA.  —  FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MALN.  —  RETURN  TO  ENGLAND. 

"  THE  aspect  of  England  has  greatly  changed  since  I  saw  her 
eight  years  ago,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed  from  London  011  the  9th  of 
December,  1851.  "  It  is  a  change  vastly  for  the  better.  Eng 
land  is  now  prosperous.  Her  commerce  thrives.  Her  manu 
facturing  interests  are  in  a  healthy  state.  Her  agriculture, 
though  landlords  do  not  get  as  large  profits  as  formerly,  diffuses 
wide-spread  prosperity  throughout  the  Kingdom.  The  English 
nation  is  now  better  fed  and  better  clothed  than  it  has  been  at 
any  time  for  fifty  years.  There  is  destitution  and  suffering,  as 
must  needs  be,  but  it  is  greatly  diminished  in  extent  and  squalor. 
Instead  of  having,  as  many  suppose,  enjoyed  all  there  was  for 
her  of  4  rise  and  progress,'  England  is  going  on  with  giant  strides 
to  increased  power,  wealth,  greatness,  and  munificence. 

"Much  of  her  prosperity  is,  of  course,  the  fruit  of  a  long 
peace.  But  not  all.  England  has  been,  for  fifteen  or  more 
years,  wisely  governed.  The  '  Iron  Duke,'  the  late  Sir  Robert 
Peel,  Lord  John  Russell,  Lord  Aberdeen,  and  others  of  her 
leaders  are  enlightened  and  patriotic  statesmen.  The  Queen, 
4  take  her  for  all  in  all,'  has  qualities  which  render  her  a  blessing 
to  the  nation.  With  a  knowledge  which  enables  her  to  discrim 
inate  between  good  and  bad  measures,  and  a  faculty  of  sur 
rounding  herself  with  experienced  and  upright  counselors,  she 
steadily  exerts  her  power  to  uphold  the  right.  It  is  the  opinion 
of  the  wisest  men  here  that  no  king,  however  able,  could  have 
reigned  so  usefully  as  has  Queen  Victoria.  .  .  . 

"  When  here  before,  I  was  struck  by  the  circumstance  that 


1851.]  ENGLAND  REVISITED.  201 

London  had,  in  the  sense  we  understand  the  term,  no  suburbs  ; 
that  there  were  no  miserable  shanties  or  windowless  huts,  and 
no  starving  women  or  ragged  children  upon  the  outskirts  of  the 
city.  The  grounds  are  highly  cultivated,  and  everything  looks 
most  palmy,  up  to  the  gas-lights.  The  reason  did  not  then 
occur  to  me,  though  it  is  apparent  enough.  Land  is  too  valu 
able  to  be  wasted.  Every  available  rod  or  foot  is  needed  for 
cultivation.  London  cannot  afford  to  let  the  idle  and  vicious, 
or  even  the  unfortunate,  vegetate  where  vegetables  can  be 
grown.  The  poor  and  the  destitute,  along  with  the  profligate 
and  pestilential,  are  driven  into  the  heart  of  the  city,  to  tenant 
cellars  and  garrets  in  lanes  and  courts. 

"  And  in  one  respect  there  is  a  marked  difference  between  the 
agricultural  districts  of  England  and  America.  Heretofore  our 
farmers  have  had  few  or  no  high-blooded  animals.  They  have 
not  been  able  to  purchase  c  Durhams,'  '  Herefords,'  '  South- 
downs,'  etc.,  etc.  With  us  grain  has  been  cheap ;  we  could  best 
afford  to  fatten  common  herds.  Here  nothing  pays  but  blooded 
stock  —  the  purest  paying  the  best.  The  English  cannot  afford 
to  pay  anything  for  bones,  legs,  snouts,  and  ears.  They  go  for 
flesh,  and  they  get  it,  too,  with  the  smallest  possible  proportion 
of  bone  or  garbage.  There  is  precious  little  '  coarse  meat '  in 
John  Bull's  beef  and  mutton.  .  .  . 

"Kossuth  is  now,  I  suppose,  in  America.  He  created  a  stir 
here,  and  is  regarded  as  a  man  of  decided  ability.  But  he  has 
no  thought  of  retirement  or  repose.  He  is  cast  for  a  part  in  the 
world's  drama,  and  means  to  '  play  out  the  play.'  With  a  tem 
perament  which  requires  action,  I  do  not  believe  he  will  content 
himself  long  in  America,  especially  if  events  in  the  Old  World 
invite  his  return.  .  .  . 

"  The  Queen,  with  her  Court,  is  at  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and 
London  is  out  of  town.  Our  Minister,  Mr.  Lawrence,  is  at  his 
post.  He  resides  in  Piccadilly,  fronting  St.  James'  Park,  with 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  for  his  near  neighbor  on  one  side,  and 
the  great  heiress,  Miss  Burdett-Coutts,  on  the  other.  He  has 
sustained  himself  most  creditably. 

"  The  Hon.  Robert  J.  Walker,  who  is  rightfully  regarded  as 
the  father  of  the  tariff  of  1846,  is  receiving  marked  attentions 
here  —  attentions  to  which  he  is  well  entitled,  for  England  is 
now  profiting  largely  by  the  policy  of  the  Polk  administration. 


202  MEMOIR.  [1851. 

The  British  manufacturers  are  reaping,  and  will  continue  to 
reap,  a  rich  harvest  from  the  tariff  of  '46.  They  paid  hand 
somely,  if  what  I  hear  be  true,  for  that  tariff ;  but  it  is  repaying 
them,  in  its  operation,  fifty-fold.  After  adhering  for  centuries 
to  a  rigidly  restrictive  policy,  England  has  attained  a  position 
which  enables  her,  with  superabundant  capital  and  cheap  labor, 
to  become  the  world's  workshop.  There  is  a  fable,  I  believe, 
of  a  fox  who,  having  lost  his  own  tail,  persuaded  his  friends  that 
tails  were  quite  useless.  England  has  got  to  the  end  of  Protec 
tion,  and  is  now  endeavoring  to  persuade  America,  a  nation  that 
possesses,  like  England,  all  the  elements  required  for  manufac 
turing  independence,  that  as  she  can  manufacture  for  us,  we 
should  abandon  the  Protective  policy.  She  does  not  tell  us, 
however,  that  when,  deluded  by  the  popular  theory  of  Free 
Trade,  we  shall  have  withdrawn  the  pressure  of  American  com 
petition,  John  Bull,  generous  as  he  is,  will  consult  his  own  rather 
than  our  interests,  in  his  prices. 

"  I  do  not  urge  a  high  tariff.  We  collect  quite  enough  revenue 
now.  But  let  us  have  a  discriminating  duty,  with  one  eye  to 
revenue  and  another  to  protection,  keeping  the  latter  eye  a  little 
widest  open.  I  hope  to  see  the  closest  commercial  relations 
cherished  and  perpetuated  between  America  and  England.  We 
want  much  that  she  makes,  and  she  needs  some  things,  many,  in 
deed,  which  we  produce.  But  when  the  balance  of  trade  is  so 
much  against  us  as  to  require  the  shipment  of  nearly  a  million 
of  dollars  a  week,  making  some  fifty  millions  a  year,  I  venture 
to  hazard  the  opinion  that  we  cannot  stand  it  long.  ...  I  met 
ex-Secretary  Walker  at  the  house  of  an  English  friend  the  even 
ing  before  we  went  to  Manchester.  He  is  even  more  zealous 
for  Free  Trade  than  when  in  the  Treasury  Department,  insisting 
that  our  true  interests  lie  in  that  direction.  '  It  was  urged,'  he 
said,  '  that  the  tariff  of  1846  would  break  down  the  iron  inter 
ests,  and  yet  Pittsburg,  the  only  exclusively  iron  working  city 
in  the  Union,  was  never  so  prosperous.'  But  he  very  frankly 
admitted  that  this  was  owing  principally  to  the  fact  that  the  raw 
material  was  obtained  at  rates  so  low  that  it  was  destructive  to 
that  interest,  which  is  large  and  important.  .  .  . 

"  I  was  quite  fortunate  in  the  canvas-back  ducks  that  I 
brought  over  for  some  friends.  Four  brace  went  to  the  Amer 
ican  Minister,  three  to  Mr.  George  Peabody,  three  to  Joseph 


1851.]  FRANCE  AND  HER   PEOPLE.  203 

Parkes,  Esq.,  and  three  to  Mr.  Steelev  of  Manchester.  Mr. 
Lawrence  divided  with  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  Mr.  Peabody 
sent  some  to  Mr.  Sturgis,  of  the  house  of  Baring  Brothers  & 
Co.,  and  Mr.  Parkes  divided  with  other  friends.  Mr.  Lawrence 
tells  me  that  he  never  ate  them  in  finer  order,  even  in  Washing 
ton.  The  Duke  was  delighted  with  this  specimen  of  Yankee 
game.  I  partook  of  them  myself  at  the  hospitable  table  of  Mr. 
Peabody  (the  'American  merchant  prince  '),  and  of  Mr.  Parkes, 
and  certainly  never  ate  finer  ones  at  the  Astor  House,  or  at  Bar- 
nuni's.  Ducks,  therefore,  shot  in  the  Chesapeake  Bay  on  the 
21st  day  of  November,  were  on  the  7th  of  December  gracing  the 
best  tables  in  London,  having  traveled  3,600  miles.  So  much 
for  steam  and  ice." 

PARIS,    December  21,  1851. 

"  The  people  of  France  are  now  deciding  the  question,  by 
ballot,  whether  Louis  Napoleon  shall  be  their  ruler  for  ten 
years.  Or  rather,  they  are  ratifying  the  act  by  which  he  de 
clared  himself  supreme.  I  have  been  yesterday  and  to-day  to 
the  polls  in  several  districts.  Inspectors  and  clerks  preside,  as 
with  us ;  and  each  elector  takes  with  him  the  evidence  that  he 
is  a  voter.  A  man  stands  at  the  entrance  of  each  poll  dis 
tributing  ballots,  and  for  this  he  is  paid  by  the  government. 
Each  poll  is  protected  by  two  sentinels.  The  question  is  de 
cided  by  "  yes "  and  uuo."  Tickets  with  "yes"  only  are 
printed,  so  that  those  who  vote  "  no  "  write  their  ballots.  There 
is  no  other  candidate,  and  there  will,  it  is  supposed,  be  but  few 
negative  votes.  Instead,  therefore,  of  an  independent  expres 
sion  of  public  sentiment,  it  is  but  an  act  of  acquiescence.  .  .  . 

"  Such  of  the  French  people  as  you  hear  talk  on  the  subject 
are  in  favor  of  the  change.  This  grows  out  of  a  desire  for 
some  form  of  government  strong  enough  to  give  repose  and 
security ;  and  so  long  as  the  army  is  with  Napoleon  they  feel 
sure  of  both,  while  without  this  influence,  it  is  said,  all  would 
go  wrong.  There  is,  how  rightfully  I  will  not  undertake  to  say, 
a  great  dread  of  Socialism  here.  It  is  not  believed  that  society 
can  be  reformed  upon  that  plan.  It  is  difficult  to  conquer  the 
prejudices,  reform  the  habits,  and  subdue  the  passions  of  ages. 
However  attractive  as  a  theory,  most  people  doubt  whether  such 
a  reconstruction  of  society  is  practicable.  The  system  would 
stand  a  better  chance,  or,  at  least,  a  fairer  experiment  could  be 


204  MEMOIR.  [1851. 

made,  by  commencing  .with  a  community  whose  habits  of  civili 
zation  are  unformed. 

"  There  is,  also,  among  the  aristocracy  of  France,  a  systematic 
effort  making  to  cure  the  working  classes,  especially  of  Paris, 
of  their  penchant  for  Eepublicanism.  Paris,  since  the  down 
fall  of  Louis  Philippe,  has  lost  its  accustomed  gayeties.  The 
fetes,  balls,  etc.,  etc.,  that  formerly  rendered  the  city  so  attrac 
tive,  have  been  discontinued.  The  nobility  and  aristocracy  live 
cheap,  purchasing  as  little  as  possible  of  shopkeepers,  and  giv 
ing  few  entertainments.  The  city  is  consequently  less  interest 
ing  to  strangers,  and  business  is  dull.  Paris,  to  be  prosperous, 
must  be  brilliant.  Her  palaces  must  be  occupied,  and  her  sa 
loons  open.  The  wealthy  and  fashionable  must  be  drawn  here 
by  royalty,  whose  atmosphere  cannot  be  breathed  except  by 
those  in  costly  attire.  A  very  large  proportion  of  the  inhab 
itants  of  Paris  derive  their  support  from  occupations  which 
minister  to  the  luxuries  rather  than  the  necessities  of  life.  In 
almost  everything  the  ornamental  predominates  over  the  useful. 
And  in  everything  ornamental  —  in  all  that  charms  the  eye, 
gratifies  the  ear,  or  delights  the  palate,  the  French  are  unrivaled. 
The  shopkeepers,  milliners,  confectioners,  and  perfumers,  sigh 
for  a  restoration.  .  .  . 

"  That  Napoleon  has  the  sympathies,  and  will  have,  if  he  de 
sires  it,  the  support  of  the  Legitimists  of  Europe,  is  quite  cer 
tain.  If  by  doing  for  them  what  they  could  not  do  for  them 
selves,  their  friendship  could  be  won,  he  is  well  entitled  to  it. 
It  is  easier  to  mould  and  govern  France  now  than  it  ever  was 
before.  There  are  fewer  master-spirits  to  deal  with,  fewer 
rivals  to  encounter,  and  a  less  excitable  population.  The  spirit 
of  the  age  is  pacific.  Even  those  who  love  freedom  rationally 
are  disposed  to  count  the  cost.  They  are  even  willing  to  forego 
the  enjoyment  of  its  blessings,  if  the  boon  is  to  be  purchased 
with  blood  and  treasure.  But  this,  probably,  grows  out  of  the 
circumstance  that  here  in  France,  after  having  overthrown 
despotisms  and  representative  monarchies  for  the  sake  and  in  the 
name^of  freedom,  they  fail  to  get  a  genuine  article.  So  far,  the 
French  political  crucible  has  given  the  people  bogus  instead  of 
the  pure  metal,  and  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  they  begin 
to  distrust,  if  not  to  weary  of  false  pretenses. 

"  The  success  of  Napoleon's  demonstration  will,  in  defiance  of 


1851.]  THE  FRENCH  CAPITAL.  205 

the  maxim,  roll  back  the  wheels  of  revolution.  It  will  put  out 
the  fires  and  crush  the  spirit  of  freedom  all  over  Europe. 
There  is  no  hope  for  Switzerland  or  Sardinia,  and  less  than 
none  for  Hungary.  The  people  of  Prussia  and  Belgium,  who 
obtained  installments  of  liberty  from  their  monarchs  will  be 
required  to  yield  them  back.  .  .  . 

PARIS,  December  29,  1851. 

"  The  best  informed  persons  here  are  ignorant  of  Napoleon's 
intentions.  The  movement  which  overthrew  the  recent  govern 
ment  was  a  perfect  surprise.  Ministers  and  generals  who  found 
themselves  in  prison  on  the  morning  of  the  3d  instant  went  to 
sleep  wholly  unconscious  and  unsuspecting.  All  was  admirably 
arranged.  The  Minister  of  the  Interior,  the  officer  destined  to 
the  command  of  the  army,  and  the  chief  of  police,  were  alone  in 
Bonaparte's  councils.  The  entire  police  force  was  on  duty,  with 
extra  pay,  all  night.  Eesistance  was  apprehended  only  from 
the  National  Guard.  To  avoid  this  possibility,  the  drum-majors 
of  each  brigade  were  directed  to  repair  with  all  their  drummers 
and  drums  to  a  large  court  in  the  Place  Yend6me  at  eleven 
o'clock  at  night.  Here  they  were  placed  under  a  sufficient 
guard,  and  supplied  bountifully  with  refreshments  for  the  night. 
This  and  similar  precautionary  steps  were  taken  so  adroitly  as 
to  escape  observation.  .  .  . 

"  France,  as  you  know,  has  a  common  centre  to  which  every 
thing  tends  and  all  are  attracted.  With  us,  many  to  whom  the 
restraints  of  law  are  inconvenient,  go  to  Texas,  or  Canada,  or 
California ;  but  in  France,  all  persons  of  enterprise  and  genius 
come  to  Paris.  This,  of  course,  makes  a  mixture  of  good  and 
bad,  in  which,  however,  there  is  a  strong  infusion  of  the  latter 
ingredient.  Of  persons  condemned  through  a  series  of  years  to 
the  galleys,  some  five  hundred,  who  had  either  been  pardoned 
or  had  served  out  their  terms,  returned  to  Paris.  They  were  re 
stricted  to  certain  quarters,  though  not  very  rigidly  watched. 
These  discharged  convicts,  or  some  of  them,  were  engaged  in 
barricading  the  city  on  the  3d  instant,  with  a  view  to  pillage 
and  spoils.  Orders  were  therefore  given  to  the  chief  of  police 
to  arrest  all  who  had  thus  broken  their  ban.  Several  hundred 
have  been  taken  and  sent  to  Cayenne,  where  a  colony  of  con 
victs  is  to  be  established." 


206  MEMOIR.  [1852. 

AVIGNON,  January  14,  1852. 

"  Provence,  through  which  we  passed  to-day,  is  apparently 
very  poor.  Everything  looked  old  and  dilapidated.  We  saw 
but  few  cattle,  and  no  sheep.  There  was  everywhere  an  ab 
sence  of  domestic  comfort.  The  people  lacked  the  cheerfulness 
which  belongs  to  the  French  character.  The  buildings  are  all 
of  stone,  with  apartments  for  families  and  horses  under  the 
same  roof.  For  full  a  hundred  miles  we  encountered  a  race  of 
unwashed  women.  We  did  not  see  for  hours,  either  in  villages 
or  at  farm-houses,  a  woman  or  child  with  clean  face  or  hands. 

"  But  as  we  approached  Avignon,  both  the  face  of  Nature 
and  the  faces  of  '  Heaven's  best  gift '  manifested  a  gratifying 
improvement ;  so  much  so,  that  it  is  not  at  all  difficult  to  imag 
ine  that  Laura's  charms  and  virtues  were  worthy  of  Petrarch's 
muse  and  devotion.  On  inquiring,  however,  for  Laura's  tomb, 
we  were  informed  that  but  a  single  stone  of  it  remains." 

MARSEILLES,  January  15,  1852. 

"Marseilles  is  peculiar  for  its  confusion  of  costumes  and  Ian- 
gun  ges.  In  its  harbor  all  sorts  of  craft  are  seen,  and  on  its 
wharves  you  meet  people  of  all  nationalities.  I  saw  in  half  an 
hour's  stroll,  in  their  respective  costumes,  Turks,  Moors,  Greeks, 
and  Arabs.  Among  the  latter  were  a  hundred  of  the  most 
miserable  looking  objects  I  had  ever  met.  They  were  going 
from  a  dirty-looking  vessel  to  a  steamer  destined  for  Algiers, 
but  why  to  Algiers  I  could  not  learn.  They  were  filthy  and 
half  naked,  looking  haggard  and  ill.  The  Moors  are  well- 
dressed,  fine-looking  fellows. 

"  There  is,  except  in  its  fine  harbor,  but  little  of  interest  for 
the  stranger  here.  We  rode  to  the  Prado,  a  beautiful  prome 
nade,  from  which  we  had  our  first  view  of  the  Mediterranean, 
now  calm  and  unmoved,  with  a  mild  sun  shining  upon  its  bright 
waters.  Here,  too,  we  immediately  recognized  the  '  Chateau 
d'lf,'  to  which  Dumas  imparts  such  thrilling  interest  in  his 
4  Monte  Christo.'  " 

GENOA,  January  24,  1852. 

"  Sardinia  is  now  the  only  constitutional  asylum  for  fugitives. 
Thousands  of  Italian,  Hungarian,  and  French  refugees  are  here 
trembling.  Unfortunately,  Sardinia  has  to  encounter  not  only 
civil  despotism,  but  has  incurred  the  displeasure  of  the  Church 


1852.]  LIFE  IN  ITALY.  207 

of  Rome,  by  denying  its  civil  supremacy.  That  Church,  I  am 
pained  to  see,  is  now  the  ally  of  despotism.  How  far  it  is  to  be 
blamed  for  this,  I  will  not  undertake  to  say.  The  present  head 
of  the  Church  signalized  his  accession  to  power  by  acts  worthy 
of  the  highest  commendation.  His  government,  at  once  enlight 
ened  and  parental,  looked  alike  to  the  civil  and  religious  welfare 
of  his  people.  It  seemed,  for  a  season,  like  the  dawning  of  a 
brighter  day  for  Italy.  But  the  Romans,  like  the  French,  were 
either  unfitted  for,  or  are  unworthy  of,  good  government.  Not 
satisfied  with  privileges  which  they  had  not  enjoyed  for  ages, 
and  ungrateful  for  favors  which  a  philanthropic  ruler  had,  at 
great  hazard  to  himself,  granted,  they  took  advantage  of  the 
installments  of  freedom  given  them  to  overthrow  their  benefactor 
and  drive  him  into  exile.  Betrayed  by  those  to  whom  he  desired 
to  be  a  father,  is  it  strange  that  the  Pope  should  act  with  those 
by  whom  he  was  restored  to  authority  ?  I  believe  that  the  prin 
ciples  and  sympathies  of  Pius  IX.  were  for  freedom,  and  with 
the  people.  But  the  good  things  he  did,  as  an  earnest  of  good 
things  to  come,  served  only  to  make  the  people  his  enemies.  So 
now  he  'puts  his  trust  in  princes.'  " 

FLORENCE,  February  4,  1852. 

"  If  Florence  could  exchange  climates  with  the  island  of 
Madeira,  there  would  be  at  least  one  Paradise  on  earth,  — 
that  is,  if  Paradise  be  that  place  of  beautiful  perfections  with 
which  it  is  invested  by  hope  and  faith.  The  bountiful  soil  of 
Tuscany  supplies  all  wants  of  man.  Genius  has  adorned  the 
galleries  of  Florence  with  attractions  which  continue  to  charm 
through  never  so  long  a  life  ;  for,  like  the  plays  of  Shakespeare, 
I  am  sure  these  pictures  may  be  studied  forever.  And  as  for 
palaces,  there  are  more  than  enough  for  all  who  wish  to  occupy 
them,  and  that,  too,  at  rents  marvelously  low.  Why,  you  may 
live  in  a  palace,  with  ample  grounds  (including  garden  and  vine 
yard),  for  less  rent  than  is  paid  for  any  two-and-a-half  story 
building  in  our  immediate  Hudson  Street  neighborhood.  And 
the  prices  of  all  needful  articles  correspond,  provisions,  fuel, 
wine,  service,  etc.,  being  more  than  reasonably  cheap.  A  person 
with  a  small  income  at  home,  well  invested,  may  come  here  to 
enjoy  the  '  fat  of  the  land,'  and  become  rich,  without  working, 
if  he  lives  long  enough. 

"Take  an  example.     The  villa  and  palace  of   the  Salviati 


208  MEMOIR.  [1852. 

family  is  situated  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  city,  and  joins 
that  of  their  great  rival  family,  the  De'  Medici.  Besides  its 
ample  gardens,  orangery,  etc.,  there  are  several  hundred  acres 
of  vineyards,  olive  orchards,  meadow  and  pasture  lands.  In 
out-houses,  there  are  all  that  befit  a  palace.  In  the  gardens 
there  are  statuary  and  fountains.  The  saloons,  dining-hall, 
library,  and  boudoir  of  the  palace  are  hung  with  paintings  by 
old  Italian  masters.  From  the  palace  you  have  fine  views 
of  Fiesole,  the  ancient  city  of  the  Etruscans,  Yal  d'Arno  (in 
viewing  which  both  Milton  and  Washington  Irving  fertilized 
their  classic  spirits  with  beautiful  imagery),  and  of  the  city  of 
Florence,  which  spreads  out  like  a  mosaic  carpet  at  your  feet. 
This  fine  old  palace,  with  its  appropriately  rich  furniture  and 
its  broad  grounds,  is  occupied  by  Colonel  Winthrop,  of  New 
Orleans,  who  pays  for  all  these  luxuries  the  sum  of  $1,200  per 
annum. 

"  Again,  Mr.  Tweedy  and  wife,  and  Miss  Knower,  of  Albany, 
occupy  pleasant  furnished  apartments  on  the  Arno,  with  a  large 
open  corridor,  from  which  you  have  a  fine  view  of  the  river,  the 
Corsini  and  surrounding  villas,  for  which  they  pay  $1GO  a 
year.  Dinners  are  served  from  an  excellent  hotel,  for  them 
selves  and  two  servants  for  $  1  per  day.  Their  breakfasts  cost 
less  than  half  a  dollar.  Wood  costs  $6  a  cord ;  wine,  of  Tus 
cany  (pure  and  delicious),  from  ten  to  twenty  cents  a  bottle." 

NAPLES,  February  16,  1852. 

"  This  city  contains  more  than  four  hundred  thousand  inhabi 
tants.  Its  harbor  and  bay  are  claimed  to  be  the  most  beauti 
ful  in  the"  world,  though  the  palm  is  disputed  by  the  admirers 
of  Constantinople  and  Valparaiso,  while  others,  as  they  well 
may,  place  that  of  New  York  in  competition.  In  scenery  and 
associations  we  cannot  claim  for  New  York  the  magnificent 
features  which  Naples  presents.  We  have  no  Vesuvius,  with 
its  ever-smoking,  and  sometimes  fiery  eruptions.  Nor  have  we, 
as  in  view  of  Naples,  islands  that  have  shot  up  mountains  high 
out  of  the  sea.  Nor  can  we  point,  as  Neapolitans  do,  to  the 
spot  where  St.  Paul  landed  on  his  way  to  Rome  ;  where  Ti 
berius  died,  and  Virgil  was  entombed.  But  in  place  of  these 
memorials  of  antiquity  we  can  boast  of  high  moral  achieve 
ments.  New  York,  with  a  bay  almost  as  broad  and  during  the 


1852.]  ROME  AT  EASTER-TIDE.  209 

summer  months  as  bright  and  beautiful  as  this,  looks  out  upon 
mighty  ships  and  splendid  steamers  wafting  the  products,  the 
luxuries,  and  the  treasures  of  the  world  to  and  from  nearly 
twenty-five  millions  of  enlightened,  prosperous,  happy  freemen. 
How  gladly  would  any  or  all  the  hoary  and  decayed  nations  of 
Europe  exchange  their  memories  and  their  miseries,  their  pal 
aces  and  their  prisons,  for  the  freshness  and  fertility,  the  privi 
leges  and  the  bounties  enjoyed  in  America  !  " 

ROME,  April  11,  1852. 

"  Rome  rejoices  to-day  in  a  risen  Saviour.  The  Church,  hav 
ing  passed  her  season  of  fasts,  and  laid  aside  her  sables,  as 
sumes  her  gayest  vestments.  All  is  life  and  animation.  Nu 
merous  religious  processions  and  ceremonies  took  place  at  break 
of  day.  We  repaired  to  St.  Peter's  at  eight  o'clock,  where  a 
great  multitude  had  already  assembled.  Soon  after  nine  o'clock, 
the  Pope's  procession,  preceded  by  the  Pope's  guard,  entered 
the  church.  It  was  far  more  imposing  than  those  which  pre 
ceded  it.  There  was  a  larger  number  of  ambassadors,  noble 
men,  military  officers,  bishops,  archbishops,  cardinals,  and 
other  dignitaries,  and  they  were  all  most  richly  decorated.  The 
services  which  followed,  occupying  more  than  two  hours,  were 
deeply  impressive.  These  over,  everybody  rushed  to  the  great 
square  in  front  of  St.  Peter's  to  receive,  from  its  balcony  the 
Pope's  benediction.  For  half  an  hour  St.  Peter's  discharged, 
through  its  four  side-doors,  a  dense  mass  of  human  beings,  num 
bering,  I  judge,  from  thirty  to  forty  thousand.  These,  added 
to  more  than  as  many  more,  previously  in  front  of  the  church, 
along  with  five  or  six  thousand  troops,  swelled  the  aggregate  to 
nearly  a  hundred  thousand.  There  all  stood  under  a  bright 
sun  and  cloudless  atmosphere,  with  eyes  directed  to  the  balcony 
until  his  holiness  appeared.  Then  all  was  hushed  to  breath 
less  silence,  all  knelt ;  and  the  scene,  at  this  moment,  was  more 
solemn  and  sublime  than  can  be  described.  The  blessing  over, 
various  bands  commenced  playing,  and  the  various  regiments 
moved  off.  All  was  now  life  and  spirit.  Carriages  rattled 
off  ;  but  this  was  no  easy  task.  Ours,  though  dragoons  were 
busy  in  preventing  confusion  and  opening  avenues,  was  over  an 
hour  in  getting  out  of  the  square.  The  streets,  on  our  way  to 
our  hotel  were  lined,  like  Broadway  on  the  4th  of  July,  with 
14 


210  MEMOIR.  [,1852. 

people  decked  in  their  gayest  attire.  .  .  .  Thus  closes  the 
morning  of  Easter  Sunday.  We  go  in  the  evening  to  see  St. 
Peter's  illuminated." 

Nine  o'clock,  P.  M. 

"  We  have  seen  St.  Peter's  illuminated.  It  was  a  sight  that 
richly  compensates  for  a  long  journey  to  Rome.  The  effect  is 
truly  magnificent  —  much  more  so  than  can  be  imagined  from 
all  the  descriptions  or  views  we  had  seen.  In  comparison,  all 
that  I  had  ever  witnessed  in  the  way  of  illuminations  was  tame 
and  common-place. 

"  We  drove  to  the  church  at  seven  o'clock.  The  lighting  of 
nine  thousand  lamps  took  ten  minutes.  These  illuminated  St. 
Peter's  from  its  base  to  the  brass  at  the  top  of  the  dome,  to 
gether  with  the  corridors  011  either  side  of  the  square,  showing 
the  church  to  great  advantage.  But  brilliant  as  this  was,  that 
which  succeeded  was  far  more  so.  At  eight  o'clock  precisely, 
and  as  the  great  bell  tolled  the  hour,  instantaneously  the 
"  golden  illumination "  occurred.  Thousands  of  additional  and 
even  more  radiant  lights  appeared  as  by  magic,  and  now  the 
scene  was  one  of  gorgeous  beauty.  The  mighty  cathedral  was 
in  a  blaze  of  glorious  light.  Several  bands  Avere  all  the  while 
discoursing  soft,  mellow  music  around  the  square,  in  which  were 
from  fifty  to  seventy-five  thousand  spectators.  Having  feasted 
our  eyes  on  this  beautiful  scene,  we  drove  to  the  Pincian  Hill 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  another  and  more  distant  view. 
This,  too,  was  grand.  Having  devoted  two  hours  to  the  illumi 
nation  we  returned,  deeply  impressed  with  .recollections  of  a 
spectacle  of  unsurpassed  magnificence." 

IN  THE  APENNINE  MOUNTAINS,  April  20,  1852. 
"  Rome  follows  me,  day  and  night,  with  her  precious  mem 
ories.  Oh,  what  bright  visions  of  her  faded  glories  come  teem 
ing  back  !  One  could  live,  I  am  sure,  a  long  life  of  happiness 
upon  the  mental  treasures  garnered  up  in  a  month  at  Rome. 
In  her  ruins,  in  her  villas,  and  in  her  galleries,  emotions  are  ex 
cited  that  will  make  the  heart  bound  as  long  as  its  pulsations 
last.  You  bring  away  from  Rome  impressions  that  will  endure 
through  life.  In  the  recollections  of  the  Eternal  City  there  is  a 
fund  of  enjoyment  worth  far  more  than  the  money  it  costs.  To 
say  nothing  of  many  other  great  pictures,  I  would  not,  for  many 


V852.]  FEATURES   OF  EUROPEAN  TRAVEL.  211 

golden  dollars,  have  foregone  the  exquisite  pleasure  of  seeing, 
again  and  again,  Guide's  4  Cenci,'  a  picture  of  such  surpassing 
excellence  that  the  whole  world  is  paying  it  the  homage  of  ad 
miration.  That  picture,  with  the  'Fornarina'  of  Raphael,  in 
the  palace  of  the  Barberini,  if  money  could  purchase  them, 
would  command  almost  any  sum  demanded." 

LAYBACH,  April  30,  1852. 

"  European  travel  has  its  novelties,  especially  to  an  Amer 
ican.  Its  exactions  try  the  temper  of  all,  though  we  stand  them 
better  than  the  English,  many  of  whom  scold  and  chafe  from 
the  moment  they  cross  the  Channel.  If  you  travel  by  post, 
every  post-boy  claims  his  buona-mano.  If  by  vetturini,  your 
driver  claims  his  at  the  end  of  the  journey.  At  hotels,  though 
4  service '  constitutes  an  item  in  your  bill,  the  waiters,  chamber 
maids,  and  porters,  all  stand  ready  to  wish  you  a  bon  voyage,  in 
such  polite  and  gentle  terms  that  the  appeal  is  irresistible.  And 
then  the  '  secretary '  has  such  consummate  skill  in  working 
upon  a  bill,  that  while  you  know  beforehand  what  your  apart 
ments,  breakfast,  and  dinner  are  to  cost,  the  total  frequently 
startles  you.  These  extortions  lead  to  practices,  in  the  way 
of  indemnity,  which  are  at  least  ludicrous.  If,  for  example, 
four  want  dinner,  you  order  fish  for  two,  butter  for  two,  sugar 
for  two,  and  dessert  for  two,  because  of  these  things  you  are 
sure  to  get  enough  for  four.  In  a  fashionable  hotel,  if  you  are 
to  stay  but  one  night,  four  wax  candles  are  lighted  in  your  par 
lor,  and  one,  sometimes  two,  in  each  of  your  bed-rooms.  These 
are  charged  at  the  rate  of  twenty  cents  each.  You  must,  there 
fore,  either  submit  to  the  imposition  or  pocket  the  candles.  The 
practical  result  is,  that  your  Countess  and  your  Baroness,  as  well 
as  ladies  without  titles,  who  at  home  would  scorn  to  trouble 
themselves  about  candle  ends,  quietly  slip  them  into  their  trunks 
or  carpet  bags.  They  also  fob  various  articles,  for  which  they 
pay  roundly,  but  in  a  manner  so  stealthily  that  it  has  a  petty- 
larceny  appearance. 

"  While  my  hand  is  in,  let  me  make  a  clean  breast  of  it.  At 
our  hotel  in  Vienna  the  charge  for  tea  was  forty  cents.  As  we 
were  paying  six  dollars  a  day  for  apartments,  and  as  the  tea 
consisted  simply  of  a  cup  of  tea  and  a  roll,  we  ordered  for  two 
only,  though  our  party  consisted  of  four.  And  this  is  so  com- 


212  MEMOIR.  [1852. 

mon  that  those  who  do  not  practice  it  are  exceptions  to  the  rule. 
Some  travelers,  it  is  said,  hide  enough  of  their  breakfast  to 
make  a  dinner.  We  content  ourselves  with  pilfering  a  lunch 
from  our  breakfast-table.  The  justification  for  all  this  is,  that 
you  pay  separately  for  each  and  every  thing,  and  most  exorbi 
tantly  for  small  '  rations.'  " 

VIENNA,  Sunday  Evening,  May  9,  1852. 

"  Keturning  late  from  the  Prater,  we  went  for  our  dinners  to 
the  coffee-room  of  our  hotel  (the  Archduke  Charles,  and  the 
best  in  Vienna),  where  a  dozen  or  fifteen  tables  were  spread, 
and  groups  of  from  three  to  ten  seated,  some  just  taking  their 
soup,  others  going  through  their  meat  courses,  and  others  again 
at  their  dessert.  Most  of  the  persons  at  table  were  officers, 
with  some  of  whom  were  ladies.  But  the  peculiarity  which 
struck  me  was  that  gentlemen  who  finished  their  dinners  first 
invariably  lighted  cigars,  and,  without  rising,  smoked  away  in 
the  faces  of  those  sitting  by  them,  whether  ladies  or  gentlemen, 
who  went  on  with  their  dinners  quite  undisturbed.  To  me,  the 
worst  feature  of  this  vile  habit  was  that  the  cigars  were  infer 
nally  bad." 

PRAGUE,  May  11, 1852. 

"  We  could  learn  one  lesson  from  Austria  with  great  ad 
vantage  to  our  people.  This  is  the  art  of  making  good  bread, 
which  is  universal  here,  and  is  really  a  great  national  blessing. 
We  were  struck  first  at  Trieste  by  the  fine  quality  of  the  bread 
at  our  hotel.  At  all  the  eating-houses  between  Trieste  and 

O 

Vienna  we  remarked  the  excellence  of  the  bread.  Here  we 
enjoy  the  same  luxury.  Nor  is  it  a  luxury  for  the  rich  alone. 
The  same  light,  sweet  bread  is  in  all  the  bake-shops,  at  prices 
which  enable  all  classes  to  purchase.  England  has  contrived, 
humanely,  to  give  'cheap  bread'  to  her  people,  but  Austria 
affords  it  still  cheaper  and  of  an  excellent  quality. 

"  I  do  not  know  that  the  secret  of  making  good  bread  can  be 
communicated.  Perhaps  it  is  owing  to  some  peculiarity  in  the 
flour  or  in  the  water ;  but  I  do  know  that  the  art  of  making  for 
American  people  such  bread  as  is  eaten  throughout  Austria 
would  be  an  acquisition  of  incalculable  value.  A  Vienna  baker 
who  should  go  to  the  city  of  New  York  and  vend  such  bread  as 
we  get  here  would  be  able  to  ride  in  his  coach  and  reside  on 


1852.]  FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN.  213 

Fifth  Avenue  in  two  years,  providing  Yankee  bakers  did  not 
find  out  his  secret." 

FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN,  May  16. 

"  Frankfort  is  one  of  the  free  cities  whose  representatives 
constitute  the  German  Diet.  It  is  situated  on  the  Kiver  Main, 
which  forms  a  junction  with  the  Rhine,  twelve  miles  below.  It 
contains  seventy  thousand  inhabitants,  who,  if  every  outward 
sign  and  all  the  usual  indications  be  not  deceptive,  are  a  pros 
perous  and  happy  people  ;  or  if  not  a  happy,  they  must  be 
an  ungrateful  people,  for  of  all  the  beautiful  cities  I  have 
seen  this  is  the  most  beautiful.  There  are  many  rich  people,  — 
many  more  with  a  competencv,  —  still  more  who  are  growing 
rich,  —  and  yet  more  who  live  well  upon  their  earnings.  The 
hackmen  and  porters  are  well  off.  Waiters  at  the  hotels  are 
intelligent  and  gentlemanly.  If  there  be  any  poor  here,  they 
keep  or  are  kept  out  of  sight.  ...  I  do  not  know  that  the  pros 
perity  of  Frankfort  has  anything  to  do  with  its  form  of  govern 
ment,  but  the  fact  that  it  has  been  for  centuries  a  free,  repre 
sentative  city,  is  significant.  Where,  as  is  the  case  here,  the 
people  are  intelligent  and  virtuous,  they  ought  to  be  invested 
with  the  responsibilities  of  government ;  and  there  are  such 
places,  scattered,  like  green  spots  in  a  desert,  throughout  op 
pressed  and  benighted  Europe. 

"  Though  not  agreeing  with  Pope  to  the  extent  of  his  senti 
ment  that  that  government  which  is  best  administered  is  best, 
yet  there  is  a  great  deal  of  truth  and  good  sense  in  the  remark. 
The  best  possible  form  of  government  can  be  abused,  and  the 
worst  can  be  rendered  tolerable.  Belgium,  for  example,  under 
a  monarchy,  is  among  the  most  prosperous  and  happy  nations 
upon  the  earth." 

LONDON,  June  15,  1852. 

"  Here  I  enjoyed  again  the  real  luxury  of  listening  to  a  '  proud 
representative '  of  the  legitimate  drama ;  not  in  the  person  of 
Charles  Kean,  but  in  that  of  his  gifted  wife,  so  well  known  to 
us  as  Ellen  Tree.  All  my  former  impressions  of  this  accom 
plished  woman's  talent  were  confirmed.  She  is  truly  great; 
and  if  things  in  this  respect  had  not  changed,  if  it  were  pos 
sible  to  do  so,  she  would  restore  the  drama  to  its  former  dig 
nity  and  glory.  But  this  is  impossible.  The  drama  has  had 
its  day.  Its  glories  have  faded  out. 


214  MEMOIR.  [1852. 

"  In  Charles  Kean  you  catch  glimpses,  and  glimpses  only,  of 
his  illustrious  father.  With  the  elder  Kean  the  representative 
of  Shakespeare's  heroes  died.  Nor  will  there,  while  the  world 
is  busy  with  railroads,  electric  telegraphs,  Californian  and  Aus 
tralian  gold  mines,  cheap  literature,  etc.,  be  any  lineal  heir  suc 
ceeding." 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

1852-1854. 

THE  WHIG  NATIONAL  CONVENTION  AT  BALTIMORE. — GOVERNOR  HUNT'S 
MISTAKE.  —  BUOYANCY  OF  THE  WHIG  CANDIDATE.  —  COLLAPSE  OF 
THE  PIERCE  ADMINISTRATION.  —  THE  KANSAS-NEBRASKA  CONTEST.  — 
REPEAL  OF  THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE.  —  SHIFTING  POLITICAL  FORCES. 
—  THE  KNOW  NOTHING  PARTY.  —  NEW  YORK  WHIGS  IN  COUNCIL.  — 
MR.  GREELEY  DISAPPOINTED.  —  ELECTION  OF  MYRON  H.  CLARK. 

WHILST  Mr.  Weed  was  in  Europe,  Mr.  Greeley's  confidence 
in  the  possibility  of  Whig  success  continued  unabated.  The 
particular  preliminary  result  which  he  most  desired  was  accom 
plished,  for  at  the  national  convention  of  the  Whigs,  which 
met  at  Baltimore  on  the  16th  of  June,  1852,  Mr.  Fillmore  and 
Mr.  Webster  "used  each  other  up"  in  the  most  effectual  man 
ner.  The  President  was  supported  by  only  nine  out  of  the 
seventy-five  Whig  newspapers  in  New  York  ;  but  he  had  gained 
some  strength  at  the  South,  which  was  now  utilized  in  such  a 
way  as  to  counterbalance  the  forces  arrayed  for  his  Secretary 
of  State.  Foiled  in  1840  and  in  1848,  Mr.  Choate  and  other 
prominent  friends  of  Mr.  Webster  felt  that  they  would  not 
again  be  disappointed.  There  was  a  long  debate  about  minor 
questions,  before  the  balloting  began.  Fifty-two  ineffectual 
attempts  were  made  to  name  a  candidate.  Then  came  the  de 
cisive  vote  :  For  Mr.  Webster,  21 ;  for  Mr.  Fillmore,  112 ;  for 
General  Scott,  159.  That  ballot  was  a  formal  announcement  to 
the  world  that  Daniel  Webster  would  never  be  President.  His 
disappointment  was  more  than  the  great  man  could  bear.  He 
retired  to  Marshfield  and  advised  his  friends  to  vote  for  Frank 
lin  Pierce,  who  had  been  nominated  by  the  Democrats. 

Mr.  Weed  was  dining  at  George  Peabody's,  in  London,  on 
the  day  when  General  Scott  was  nominated.  He  would  have 
been  better  pleased  had  Mr.  Fillmore  been  permitted  to  face  an 
indignant  party ;  but  his  friends  had  kept  him  advised  of  the 
drift  of  events,  and  this  result  was  not  unexpected.  During  his 


216  MEMOIR.  [1852. 

absence  Mr.  Greeley's  letters  were  particularly  cordial  and  en 
tertaining. 

[MR.    GREELEY    TO   MR.    WEED.] 

NEW  YORK,  April  IS,  1852. 

FRIEND  WEED,  —  I  have  just  opened  a  most  welcome  letter  from 
you  at  Rome,  25th  ult.,  and  must  leave  everything  else  to  write  a  word 
in  reply.  True,  no  steamship  will  leave  for  three  days,  but  if  I  put 
this  aside  now  I  fear  I  shall  find  no  time  to  resume  it  before  steamship 
day. 

I  was  at  your  house  last  Sunday,  and  sat  with  them  at  dinner,  — 
Mrs.  Weed,  Emily  and  husband,  Fred  Seward,  and  the  little  girl. 
They  had  just  heard  of  your  arrival  in  Rome,  but  were  concerned 
about  Harriet's  health,  and  still  more  for  fear  of  the  effect  upon  you 
of  the  death  of  Maria's  daughter,  which  (they  apprehend)  will  hurry 
your  return.  They  seemed  all  in  fair  health. 

But  about  politics.  Our  legislature  was  weak  beyond  precedent, 
and  had  no  guidance  beyond  a  little  that  Raymond  tried  to  exercise, 
and  he  was  out  of  his  depth.  I  did  n't  try.  "  Bray  "  Dickinson  at 
tempted,  but,  though  all  right,  was  so  mixed  up  with  canal  contracts 
that  he  could  do  nothing.  The  consequence  is  that  we  are  out  at  sea 
in  the  wildest  confusion,  and  have  no  compass  or  port  in  sight.  We 
shall  carry  the  State  for  Scott,  but  lose  the  legislature,  and  probably 
everything  at  home.  We  would  if  our  adversaries  were  not  even  worse 
cut  up  than  we  are.  The  bold  attempt  of  the  state  officers  to  re 
pudiate  and  break  down  the  canal  enlargement,  their  impudent  dis 
avowal  of  their  last  fall's  pledge  to  uphold  and  prosecute  the  canal 
enlargement,  saying  they  never  signed  it,  though  they  knew  that  it 
was  circulated  all  through  the  canal  region  and  confided  in,  has  irre 
coverably  damaged  them.  I  don't  see  how  they  could  live  but  for  our 
troubles. 

Chief  among  these  is  the  Maine  law.     That  need  not  have  been  a 

O 

trouble.  If  some  sort  of  an  act  had  been  passed  and  sent  to  the  peo 
ple,  all  would  have  been  easy.  If  there  is  any  fear  of  its  immediate 
operation,  it  might  have  been  made  to  take  effect  far  ahead  —  say  the 
1st  of  May,  1853  —  and  meantime  submitted  to  the  people  at  the  fall 
or  a  special  election.  Now  it  goes  square  into  the  fah1  contest  and 
ruins  our  chance  for  the  legislature. 

It  seems  to  me  that  we  must  run  Patterson  for  Governor.  He  is  an 
old  temperance  man,  but  not  known  to  be  anywhere  on  the  Maine  law. 
We  can  get  through  with  him  if  anybody.  I  could  have  run  myself, 
and  should  have  rather  liked  to  but  for  this  question.  Now  it  is  out 
of  the  question.  But  Raymond,  who  would  like  it  is  equally  unavail- 


1852.]  THE   GOSSIP   OF  POLITICS.  217 

able.  He  is  identified  with  the  twaddling  operations  of  this  winter, 
and  would  be  killed  by  one  side  as  I  would  by  the  other.  Perhaps  he 
may  do  for  Lieutenant,  though  we  ought  to  carry  that  too,  as  the 
Senate  continues  tied,  and  is  ugly  about  confirmations. 

You  are  not  well  posted  as  to  the  presidency.  Scott  will  be  nom 
inated  "  all  to  nothing."  The  only  danger  is  that  he  will  be  forced  to 
shoulder  the  fugitive  slave  law,  and  be  crushed  by  it.  No  convention 
can  be  packed  so  as  to  nominate  anybody  else,  but  one  may  be  that 
will  pass  a  Brooks-ish  resolve.  That  is  our  only  danger. 

Nor  will  Cass  be  nominated  on  the  other  side,  as  you  infer.  Cass  lias 
had  a  look,  but  it  has  vanished.  All  the  traders  are  against  him.  The 
South  will  be  nearly  solid  against  him  ;  Pennsylvania  quite  ditto,  Ohio 
divided,  Illinois  and  Vermont  for  Douglas,  Indiana  in  the  market,  and 
a  majority  from  New  York  ditto.  How,  then,  do  you  nominate  Cass  ? 
He  has  just  strength  enough  to  kill  all  his  opponents,  and  that  he  will 
probably  do.  It  is  "  anybody's  row  "  as  yet,  though  I  think  Dickinson 
has  as  good  a  look  as  anybody.  He  is  making  a  great  show  of  zeal 
for  Cass,  but  I  can  see  the  under-tow.  The  calculation  is  that  nobody 
can  get  two  thirds,  and  that  at  the  end  of  a  fight  the  Cass  men  will  be 
offered  their  choice  apart  from  Cass,  and  will  take  Dickinson.  At  all 
events,  it  will  be  a  man  that  we  can  beat  if  Scott  is  not  overloaded. 

Ohio  has  just  elected  delegates  by  districts  —  every  one  for  Scott. 
Pennsylvania  by  general  ticket  —  all  ditto.  Indiana  ditto.  Illinois 
nearly  or  quite  ditto.  California  anti-Fillmore  —  will  be  for  Scott. 
Mudd  says  the  State  can  be  carried  for  Scott  or  Webster.  Mangura 
is  openly  for  Scott ;  Stanly  and  Jones  of  Tennessee  privately  ditto. 
Bell  never  was  for  'anybody  else.  This  State  will  choose  30  Scott 
men  out  of  35,  and  the  other  five  only  waiting  an  offer  or  a  pretext  to 
come  over.  Beside,  a  convention  never  nominates  a  candidate  to  get 
beaten,  or  never  one  its  betting  men  dare  not  bet  on.  I  told  Jim 
Lawrence  at  Syracuse  last  Tuesday  that  they  might  choose  a  full  con 
vention  of  Fillmore  men,  and  I  would  bet  on  its  nominating  Scott. 
And  it  would. 

Our  flax  investment  (with  Reed,  Leavitt  &  Co.)  in  Onondaga  prom 
ises  well. 

Thank  you  for  your  care  and  kindness  about  the  sculpture  at  Flor 
ence.  No  doubt  your  judgment  (or  Harriet's)  is  right. 

Please  call  at  the  Wofman's  for  my  sake.  Also  see  for  me  Faust's 
Bible  in  the  British  Museum,  which  I  forgot. 

Yours,  HORACE  GKEELEY. 

P.  S.  —  You  will  be  glad  to  hear  that  the  "  Tribune  "  is  doing  well 
—  never  better.  I  am  personally  out  of  debt. 


218  MEMOIR.  [1852. 

1852. — Although  distinctively  pro-southern  candidates  were 
set  aside  by  the  Whig  national  convention,  the  platform  adopted 
was  weak  and  evasive.  Evidently  the  party  was  not  inclined  to 
live  up  to  General  Taylor's  advanced  convictions  concerning  the 
extension  of  slavery.  Many  of  the  wisest  in  the  land,  among 
whom  Governor  Hunt,  of  New  York,  was  not  the  least,  became 
unsettled  in  their  political  beliefs  during  this  period.  "  He  has 
begun  to  take  in  sail  for  a  place  in  some  one's  Cabinet,"  wrote 
George  Dawson  in  his  quaint  way  to  Mr.  Weed.  "The  closing 
paragraphs  of  his  message  are  a  beggarly  petition  to  the  South." 
But  despite  that,  or  perhaps  to  teach  the  Governor  a  lesson,  Mr. 
Hunt  was  renominated  in  the  fall.  "  With  this  I  send  you 
some  sherry,  which  survives  my  official  life,"  he  wrote,  as  his 
term  was  closing,  to  Mr.  Weed.  "  I  beg  you  to  accept  it  as  a 
slight  token  of  my  undying  friendship  and  gratitude."  The 
Governor  was  right,  if  he  felt  that  his  "  official  life  "  was  indeed 
to  end  forever  in  December  of  1852.  After  getting  off  on  the 
wrong  track  in  his  message,  he  was  unable  to  switch  back 
where  he  belonged  when  the  Republican  party  was  organized. 

"  My  apprehensions  in  regard  to  the  hopelessness  of  Whig 
success  in  1852,"  writes  Mr.  Weed,  "  were  fully  realized.  The 
intimate  political  friends  who  in  November  agreed  with  me  in 
believing  that  it  was  unwise  to  oppose  the  renomination  of  Mr. 
Fillmore  warmed  up  during  the  winter  in  favor  of  General 
Scott,  whose  nomination  by  the  Baltimore  "convention  was  re 
garded  by  them  as  a  great  triumph.  I  returned  from  Europe 
in  June,  and  entered  actively  into  the  canvass,  with  the  knowl 
edge  that  we  were  to  be  badly  beaten. 

"  An  incident  occurring  a  fortnight  before  the  election  seems 
worth  recording,  inasmuch  as  it  proves  what  has  frequently 
been  asserted,  that  candidates  themselves  are  often  the  worst 
possible  judges  of  their  chances  of  success.  General  Scott,  on 
his  return  from  a  western  tour,  ostensibly  to  find  a  suitable  site 
for  a  military  hospital,  but  really  to  see  and  be  seen  of  the 
people,  tarried  over  Sunday  as  the  guest  of  Governor  Hunt  at 
Albany.  The  Governor  stopped  at  my  house  on  his  way  from 
church,  and  asked  me  to  dinner.  I  begged  off  on  the  ground 
that  I  could  not  speak  cheeringly  about  a  contest  which  I  con 
sidered  utterly  hopeless.  But,  inasmuch  as  General  Scott  had 
expressed  a  wish  to  see  me,  there  was  no  escape.  My  appre- 


1853.]  PIERCE* S  RISE  AND  FALL.  219 

hension  of  embarrassment  was  quite  unfounded.  General  Scott 
needed  no  information  or  opinions.  He  looked  forward  buoy 
antly  to  an  easy  and  triumphant  victory.  He  was  in  fine 
health  and  spirits,  and  if  I  could  have  overcome  my  surprise 
and  regret  at  witnessing  the  deep  delusion  of  a  distinguished 
military  chieftain,  the  dinner  would  have  passed  off  pleasantly. 
These  delusions  were  soon  dispelled  by  an  inglorious  defeat. 
In  all  my  subsequent  intercourse  with  General  Scott,  that  polit 
ical  campaign  was  never  mentioned." 

1853.  —  Mr.  Pierce  was  swept  into  the  presidency  by  what 
is  called  a  "great  uprising  of  the  people."  Men  who  knew 
nothing  of  his  qualifications  or  his  history  rallied  to  his  support 
with  the  utmost  enthusiasm,  and  gave  him  the  largest  popular 
vote  which  up  to  that  time  had  ever  been  cast  in  the  United 
States  for  any  candidate.  He  began  his  administration  under 
the  most  promising  conditions.  The  Whigs  were  dismembered 
and  betrayed.  He  wras  the  chosen  leader  of  an  overwhelming 
majority.  Admiring  Democrats  classed  him  with  Thomas  Jef 
ferson  and  Andrew  Jackson.  When  he  took  the  oath,  on  the 
4th  of  March,  1858,  he  counted  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mil 
lion  of  supporters  in  New  York.  Within  one  year  this  then 
unparalleled  constituency  was  reduced  to  a  hundred  and  ninety 
thousand.  In  1854,  the  Democratic  state  convention  split  in 
two,  and  Greene  C.  Bronsoii  was  nominated  as  an  anti-Pierce 
candidate  for  Governor,  and  the  regular  Democratic  ticket  was 
defeated.  In  1855,  the  Democratic  vote  dropped  to  one  hun 
dred  and  forty-nine  thousand,  and  toward  the  close  of  the  year 
there  was  barely  a  prominent  administration  Democrat  in  the 
State.  Finally,  Preston  King,  James  W.  Nye,  Abijah  Mann, 
William  Cullen  Bryant,  Bradford  R.  Wood,  Philip  Dorsheimer, 
and  other  Democrats  of  the  old  school  formally  repudiated 
Pierce  and  united  with  free  soil  Whigs  in  organizing  the  Re 
publican  party. 

The  national  administration  was  so  conducted  as  to  unite  all 
elements  of  opposition.  The  President  first  conciliated  anti-slav 
ery  Whigs  by  a  speech  against  the  fugitive  slave  law,  and  then 
sought  to  recover  with  conservative  Democrats  by  promising  to 
discourage  every  species  of  agitation.  With  each  of  these  forces 
he  soon  broke  peace  by  yielding  abjectly  to  Slavery.  He  gave 
to  the  South  all  the  offices  and  territory  which  her  leaders  sought. 


220  MEMOIR.  [1854. 

He  built  forts  for  the  South  and  rejected  appropriations  for  the 
improvement  of  northern  harbors.  "  In  his  every  act,"  Mr. 
Weed  wrote,  "  he  has  been  the  facile,  docile,  supple  tool  of  Slav 
ery.  .  .  .  He  will  have  his  reward.  The  Slave  States  will  re 
fuse  him  a  renomination.  They  will  fling  him  aside  as  a  worn 
out,  useless  thing,  and  take  a  new  northern  dough-face  to  delude 
the  North  again,  serve  the  South,  and  then  be  flung  aside  in 
turn." 

[MR.    GREELEY   TO   MR.    WEED.] 

NEW  YORK,  August  8,  1853. 

FRIEND  WEED,  —  I  did  hope  that  the  last  Whig  had  been  or  soon 
would  be  out  of  office,  so  that  I  could  be  allowed  to  earn  my  living  un 
harmed  by  secret  stabs  or  back-handed  blows.  I  was  too  sanguine. 
One  appears  to  be  left  in  place  at  Albany,  and  he  has  just  dealt  with 
me  in  a  way  which  I  shall  remember. 

Some  months  since  I  wrote  to  St.  John  in  respect  to  the  bank  ad 
vertising.  He  misrepresented  it  as  a  petition  for  the  advertising,  as  an 
offer  to  do  it  for  nothing,  and  so  on,  no  part  of  which  is  true.  .  .  . 
Finally,  I  saw  him  in  Albany,  and  supposed  that  it  would  be  done,  but 
No.  The  returns  were  made  by  the  banks  yesterday,  were  all  in  the 
"  Times  "  office  in  good  season ;  but  were  studiedly  withheld  from  us 
until,  at  least  half  an  hour  before  midnight,  we  were  furnished  with  a 
part,  and  now  the  "  Times  "  comes  out  bragging,  as  you  see,  with  a  per 
fect  return,  and  we  are  beaten. 

Ought  I  not  to  remember  St.  John  for  this  ? 

Yours,  H.  GREELEY. 

The  proposition  was  made  in  Congress  in  1854  that  the 
people  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska  should  decide  for  themselves 
whether  or  no  slavery  should  exist  in  those  states,  when  ad 
mitted,  although  both  were  forever  barred  to  slavery  by  the 
compact  of  1820.  This  virtual  reopening  of  the  whole  question 
of  slavery  extension  called  out  excited  and  indignant  protests. 
When  brought  to  vote,  many  Democrats  joined  Free  Soilers  and 
anti-slavery  Whigs  in  opposition,  and  the  so-called  "  Kansas- 
Nebraska  "  bill  was  temporarily  blocked.  "  The  project  has 
been  abandoned  for  the  present,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed,  in  April, 
"  but  there  is  no  probability  that  it  will  sleep  long.  The  spirit 
of  slavery  extension  is  restless  and  persevering.  It  may  be  at 
this  session,  or  it  may  be  at  the  next.  It  may  be  in  this  shape, 
or  it  may  be  in  some  other  that  we  shall  have  the  next  manifes- 


1854.]          REPEAL   OF   THE  MISSOURI  COMPACT.  221 

tation,  but  such  manifestation  we  are  sure  to  have  in  some  shape. 
.  .  .  How  much  of  this  triumph  is  due  to  the  North,  and  how 
much  to  the  resistance  of  a  few  faithful  and  honorable  southern 
representatives  may  be  discussed  hereafter.  To  defeat  the  bill, 
friends  of  freedom  North  and  South  united.  In  all  future  agi 
tations  it  will  be  necessary  to  calculate  not  only  how  much  sup 
port  slavery  extension  can  gain  from  the  North,  but  also  how 
much  it  is  going  to  lose  at  the  South." 

In  May  the  Democratic  majority  in  Congress  passed  the 
Kansas-Nebraska  bill,  with  a  provision  abrogating  the  Missouri 
Compromise  in  toto,  and  leaving  new  territories  to  decide  by  a 
ballot  of  their  own  citizens  whether  or  no  they  would  permit 
slavery  within  their  own  borders.  Then  at  once  ensued  the 
long  struggle  for  the  possession  of  these  territories. 

1854.  — "  The  crime  is  committed,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed  on  the 
23d  of  May.  "The  work  of  Monroe,  Madison,  and  Jefferson  is 
undone.  The  wall  they  erected  to  guard  the  domain  of  liberty 
is  flung  down  by  the  hands  of  an  American  Congress,  and  slav 
ery  crawls  like  a  slimy  reptile  over  the  ruins. 

"  They  tell  us  that  the  North  will  not  submit.  We  hope  it 
will  not.  But  we  have  seen  this  same  North  crouch  lower  and 
lower  each  year  under  the  whip  of  the  slave-driver,  until  it  is 
hard  to  tell  what  it  will  not  submit  to  now.  Who,  seven  years 
ago,  would  not  have  derided  a  prophecy  that  Congress  would 
enact  the  kidnapping  of  free  citizens,  without  judge  or  jury? 
Who  would  have  believed  that  it  could  enact  that  white  men 
have  a  right  to  hold  black  in  slavery  wherever  it  is  their  sov 
ereign  will  and  pleasure  ?  Yet  now  that  prophecy  is  more  than 
realized. 

"It  was  fitting  that  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  should  be 
passed  as  it  was.  It  was  in  accordance  with  its  spirit  that  it 
should  be  conceived  in  treachery,  sprung  upon  the  House  by 
fraud,  and  forced  through  by  a  parliamentary  lie.  It  was  ap 
propriate  that  one  member  should  be  bribed,  another  bullied, 
and  another  bought,  until  the  ranks  of  slavery  were  full.  Had 
law,  or  order,  or  honesty,  had  aught  to  do  with  its  passage, 
there  would  have  been  a  strange  incongruity  between  the  means 
and  the  end. 

"  We  cannot  read  the  future.  We  cannot  predict  what  will 
be  the  consequences  of  this  last  and  most  fatal  blow  to  liberty. 


222  MEMOIR.  [1854. 

But  we  can  see  what  the  duty  of  freemen  is,  and  we  mean  that 
it  shall  be  through  no  fault  of  ours  if  it  is  left  undone. 

"  If  the  North  is  what  it  claims  to  be,  and  what  we  have,  of 
late,  had  gratifying  assurance  that  it  will  be,  this  day  ends  the 
era  of  compromise.  With  the  band  of  representatives  who  have 
nobly  resisted  the  consummation  of  this  iniquity,  for  its  stand 
ard-bearers,  it  will  declare  that  there  shall  be  no  more  new 
slave  states ;  that  there  shall  be  no  more  slave  territories ;  that 
there  shall  be  no  more  northern  Congressmen  '  with  southern 
principles.'  It  will  seek  the  immediate  colonization  of  Ne 
braska  by  settlers  who  can  yet  save  it  from  the  impending 
curse.  It  will  take  a  solemn  pledge  of  the  men  whom  it  sends 
to  Washington  that  their  first  and  last  votes  there  shall  be  cast 
for  Repeal  and  Freedom.  It  will  send  no  more  fugitives  back 
without  a  legal  trial.  It  will  sweep  slavery  out  of  every  nook 
and  corner  where  the  general  government  has  jurisdiction,  im 
prison  it  within  its  fifteen  states,  and  surround  it  there  with 
triple  bands  of  steel.  It  will  "  establish  justice,  promote  tran 
quillity,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  itself  and  to  its 
posterity."  This  the  United  States  will  do,  if  they  have  retained 
the  spirit  of  their  founders.  If  not,  then  God  help  the  Repub 
lic  ;  for  its  days  are  numbered.  Such  a  gigantic  confederacy  of 
crime  as  it  must  otherwise  become  never  existed  elsewhere,  can 
not  exist  here,  and  ought  not  to  exist  anywhere. 

"Those  who  have  passed  this  bill,  flushed  with  success,  al 
ready  announce  new  schemes.  They  will  send  mercenary  gov 
ernments  to  the  territories  to  establish  slavery  there,  even  if  the 
will  of  settlers  shall  oppose  it.  They  count  upon  Kansas  as 
a  slave  state  in  the  next  Congress,  and  Nebraska  as  a  slave 
state  before  the  next  presidential  election.  They  are  planning 
an  unprovoked  and  unjust  war  for  the  sole  purpose  of  forming 
slave  states  in  Cuba.  They  will  send  emissaries  to  Texas  and 
New  Mexico  with  instructions  to  form  slave  states  in  that 
region.  They  will  demand  as  the  natural  consequence  of  the 
recognition  of  slave  property  in  all  the  territories,  the  recogni 
tion  of  it  in  all  the  states.  They  believe  that  popular  discon 
tent  evoked  by  this  bill  will  die  out  before  November,  and  they 
know  that,  if  it  shall,  not  only  office  and  power,  but  the  whole 
future  policy  of  the  country  must  be  thrown  into  the  hands  of 
slaveholders. 


1854.]  "THE   STRUGGLE  BEFORE    US."  223 

"  This  is  the  struggle  before  us.  It  is  fraught  with  momentous 
results.  From  the  tone  and  temper  of  the  people  we  have 
everything  to  hope.  From  the  unbridled  folly  of  partisan  lead 
ers  we  have  everything  to  fear.  Believing  as  we  do,  that  the 
purposes  of  Eternal  Justice  are  not  to  be  cast  down  by  men's 
hands,  we  are  confident  that  in  the  end  the  right  will  triumph. 
But  whether  that  triumph  shall  be  slow  or  speedy,  whether  it 
shall  come  in  our  day,  or  be  postponed,  is  for  freemen,  north 
and  south,  to  determine.  .  .  .  Popular  sentiment  finds  expres 
sion  at  meetings  and  conventions  and  in  the  newspapers.  The 
exigency  requires  action.  Boston  has  suggested  a  practical 
plan.  Let  Kansas  and  Nebraska  be  immediately  settled  by 
freemen.  Let  meetings  be  called  and  efforts  concentrated  with 
this  object  in  view.  If  steps  are  taken  promptly,  the  tide  of 
emigration  may  be  turned.  Settlers  who  have  passed  through 
this  city  within  a  month  would  give  a  population  larger  than 
that  of  Texas  or  Florida,  when  they  were  admitted  as  states. 
New  England  sends  forth  into  the  West,  every  year,  a  body  of 
yeomen  whose  patriotism,  if  they  plant  themselves  in  these  ter 
ritories,  would  be  sufficient  guarantee  for  their  freedom." 

1854. — The  effort  to  populate  Kansas  and  Nebraska  with 
emigrants  who  would  vote  against  slavery  caused  a  general 
break-up  of  parties.  Those  who  engaged  in  the  work  on  behalf 
of  freedom  did  not  at  first  adopt  a  national  name.  They  were 
mostly  Whigs  who  had  contended  against  abrogating  the  Mis 
souri  Compromise.  But  many  Democrats  abandoned  the  ad 
ministration  and  their  party,  to  cooperate  with  this  force,  with 
which  there  was  also  soon  blended  the  "  Liberty  party  "  of  1840 
and  the  "  Free  Soil  party  "  of  1848.  Those  Whigs  who  sup 
ported  the  Nebraska  bill  were  repudiated  by  their  brethren  who 
opposed  it,  and  for  some  time  kept  up  a  separate  party,  claim 
ing  to  represent  the  old  organization,  but  they  finally  fused  with 
the  Democrats. 

While  politics  were  in  this  transition  state,  there  was  a  revi 
val  on  a  national  scale  of  the  "  Native  American  "  movement, 
which  in  1844  had  elected  James  Harper  Mayor  of  New  York. 
The  controlling  spirit  of  this  organization  was  opposition  to  the 
influence  upon  public  affairs  of  foreign-born  voters  and  politi 
cians.  An  elaborate  code  of  signals  and  passwords  was  adopted 
and  all  operations  of  the  "  Americans  "  were  wrapped  in  pro- 


224  MEMOIR.  [1854. 

found  secrecy.  If  a  member  of  the  order  was  asked  about  its 
practices  or  purposes,  lie  answered  that  he  knew  nothing  about 
them,  and  "  Americans,"  for  that  reason,  soon  came  to  be  called 
"  Know  Nothings."  In  1855  they  were  joined  by  the  "  Silver 
Grays,"  whom  Mr.  Fillmore  was  unable  to  guide  into  any  other 
harbor.  Politics  were  further  complicated  by  what  was  called 
a  "  Temperance  "  movement,  by  which  Prohibition  was  made  an 
issue,  and  by  the  division  of  the  Democrats  into  Pierce  and  anti- 
Pierce  factions. 

Mr.  Weed  was  consistently  opposed  to  the  "American"  party, 
in  all  its  phases.  He  was  against  it  because  its  work  was  done 
in  secret,  if  for  no  other  reason.  But  he  did  not  shut  his  eyes 
to  the  fact  that  there  was  much  in  the  conduct  of  our  adopted 
citizens  to  provoke  indiscriminate  ill  will.  "  Foreigners  come 
among  us,"  he  wrote,  "  with  imperfect  knowledge  and  exagger 
ated  ideas  of  the  advantages  to  be  enjoyed  in  the  United  States. 
Many  of  them  look  for  streets  lined  with  gold.  If  manufactur 
ers,  mechanics,  or  laborers,  they  go  to  work  and  make  themselves 
useful,  but  some  of  the  better  informed,  when  needy  and  restless, 
turn  politicians  and  make  party  merchandise  of  their  country 
men.  Through  the  influence  of  this  class,  Irishmen  and  Ger 
mans,  instead  of  becoming  Americans  in  their  feelings  and  sym 
pathies,  and  acting  as  they  acquire  knowledge  from  their  own 
convictions,  are  kept  banded  together  by  society  discipline,  to 
act  in  bodies  for  the  benefit  of  leaders.  In  this  way,  for  exam 
ple,  the  editor  of  an  Irish  newspaper  in  the  city  of  New  York 
has  kept  himself  and  his  son  in  office  for  twenty  years.  Be 
tween  the  Catholic  and  Protestant  world  there  has  been,  and 
there  is  to  be,  we  suppose,  perpetual  warfare.  The  excited  and 
ultra  on  either  side  will  go  on  probably  to  the  end  of  time 
mistaking  fanaticism  for  religion.  Sympathizing  with  neither 
to  any  extent,  and  believing  that  neither  will  become  dangerous 
while  reason  is  left  free  to  combat  both,  we  take  slight  interest 
in  their  controversy.  There  was  nothing  consistent  with  Chris 
tianity  or  civilization  in  the  destruction  of  the  convent  at  Boston, 
or  the  burning  of  churches  at  Philadelphia.  Out  of  the  ashes 
of  those  institutions  ten  convents  and  a  hundred  churches  have 
sprung  up  in  America.  On  the  other  hand,  to  the  folly  and 
blindness  of  certain  Catholic  journals,  Know  Nothingism  is 
largely  indebted.  These  papers  assiduously  fan  the  embers 


1854.]  SECRET  POLITICAL   ORGANIZATIONS.  225 

of  bigotry.  They  furnish  fruitful  themes  for  pulpits.  .  .  . 
There  are  no  political  evils  among  us,  nor  are  there  political 
reforms  required  which  cannot  be  best  cured  by  free  and  open 
discussion.  Tiled  doors,  passwords,  and  secret  obligations  to 
effect  political  objects,  are  in  their  nature  and  tendency  perni 
cious.  They  may  be  resorted  to  for  the  purpose  of  overthrowing 
despotisms  which  restrain  freedom  of  speech  and  action  ;  but 
time  and  reflection  will  ultimately  demonstrate  that  in  this 
country  secret  political  associations  invoke  worse  evils  than 
those  which  they  aim  to  remedy.  Jealousy  against  foreign  dic 
tation  originated  in  the  masses,  but  it  immediately  attracted  the 
attention  of  politicians.  It  was  by  them  that  the  Know  Nothing 
order  was  instituted.  It  is  they  who  now  demand  independent 
conventions  and  nominations." 

1854.  —  The  Whig  state  convention  met  in  the  fall  under 
new  and  peculiar  conditions,  some  of  which  are  pointed  out  in 
Mr.  Greeley's  last  letter.  It  was  thought  best  by  Mr.  Weed's 
friends  to  nominate  George  W.  Patterson  for  Governor.  In 
the  early  summer,  when  this  plan  was  suggested  to  that  gentle 
man,  he  showed  no  anxiety  to  be  a  candidate.  "  I  wish  to  say 
to  you  in  all  sincerity,"  he  wrote,  "  that  I  have  no  aspirations 
for  this  office.  My  friends  have  done  all  for  me  that  I  could 
ask  or  expect  (and  much  more  than  I  had  any  right  to  expect), 
for  which  I  feel  grateful ;  but  I  have  no  right  to  aspire  to  a 
place  once  filled  by  Clinton,  Tompkins,  and  Seward,  to  say 
nothing  of  many  other  distinguished  men  who  have  adorned  that 
position.  I  know  of  some  smaller  patterns  who  have  occupied 
the  c  chair  of  state '  who  were  not  true  to  the  friends  who  put 
them  there,  and,  in  my  judgment,  disgraced  the  office ;  but  I 
forbear  to  name  them.  .  .  .  There  is  a  general  impression  that 
Greeley  is  desirous  of  the  place,  but  his  position  on  the  temper 
ance  question  would  drive  away  thousands  of  Whig  votes,  and 
he  ought  to  know  enough  not  to  require  a  pledge  of  any  Whig 
candidate.  ...  I  liked  your  hit  at  Fillmore  a  few  days  ago ; 
but,  after  all,  the  policy  of  letting  him  alone  is  best." 

"  Mr.  Greeley  called  on  me  at  the  Astor  House,"  writes  Mr. 
Weed,  "  and  asked  if  I  did  not  think  that  the  time  and  circum 
stances  were  favorable  to  his  nomination  for  Governor  ?  I  re 
plied  that  I  did  think  the  time  and  circumstances  favorable  to 
his  election,  if  nominated,  but  that  my  friends  had  lost  the  con- 

15 


226  MEMOIR.  [1854. 

trol  of  the  state  convention.  This  answer  perplexed  him,  but  a 
few  words  of  explanation  made  it  quite  clear.  Admitting  that 
he  had  brought  the  people  up  to  the  point  of  accepting  a  temper 
ance  candidate  for  Governor,  I  remarked  that  another  aspirant 
had  'stolen  his  thunder.'  ^In  other  words,  while  he  had  shaken 
the  temperance  bush,  Myron  H.  Clark  would  catch  the  bird. 
In  addition  to  the  fact  that  Mr.  Clark  had  become  the  temper 
ance  candidate,  I  informed  Mr.  Greeley  that  Know  Nothing  or 
'Choctaw'  lodges  had  been  secretly  organized  throughout  the 
State,  by  means  of  which  many  delegates  for  Mr.  Clark  had 
been  secured.  Mr.  Greeley  saw  that,  to  use  an  expression  then 
well  understood,  the  '  slate '  had  been  broken,  and  cheerfully 
relinquished  the  idea  of  being  nominated.  But  a  few  days  af 
terward  Mr.  Greeley  came  to  Albany,  and  said  in  an  abrupt, 
but  not  unfriendly  way,  '  Is  there  any  objection  to  my  running 
for  Lieutenant-Governor  ?  '  I  replied  as  promptly,  '  Certainly 
not,  if  on  reflection  you  are  willing  to  take  the  nomination.' 
4  Why  should  I  not  be  willing  to  take  it  ?  You  say  that  I  have 
many  enemies.  I  know  that ;  and  if  they  should  all  fall  upon 
me  and  defeat  my  election,  the  office  is  not  important,  and  the 
party  would  not  be  injured.  I  should  rather  like  to  try  conclu 
sions  with  them.'  I  then  reminded  him  of  a  cry  raised  in  the 
Philadelphia  national  convention  when  Abbott  Lawrence,  of 
Boston,  was  named  for  Vice-President,  to  run  with  General 
Taylor  for  President,  and  when  a  dozen  men  sprang  to  their 
feet  and  shouted  that  it  would  not  do  to  have  '  cotton  at  both 
ends  of  the  ticket.'  Mr.  Greeley  laughed,  and  said,  '  I  suppose 
you  mean  that  it  would  n't  do  to  have  Maine  law  at  both  ends 
of  our  state  ticket  ? '  After  a  little  more  conversation,  Mr. 
Greeley  became  entirely  satisfied  that  a  nomination  for  Lieu 
tenant-Governor  was  not  desirable,  and  left  me  in  good  spirits." 
There  were  few  men  of  prominence  at  the  convention.  Many 
Know  Nothings  among  the  delegates  urged  the  nomination  of 
Daniel  Ullman  or  J.  W.  Savage.  The  prohibition  vote  was 
divided  between  E.  C.  Delavan  and  Mr.  Greeley.  There  was 
some  skirmishing,  and  then,  as  Mr.  Weed  expected,  Myron  H. 
Clark,  who  had  been  a  firm  Whig,  and  who  was  also  a  Prohibi- 
s  tionist,  was  nominated.  No  great  chagrin  was  felt  by  Mr. 
]bl  Greeley,  in  so  far  as  this  selection  was  concerned ;  but,  when 
lar<he  convention  named  Mr.  Raymond  for  Lieutenant-Governor, 


1854.]  A    COMPLICATED   CANVASS.  227 

he  was  pained  and  exasperated.  "  I  went  to  the  convention," 
Mr.  Weed  writes,  "  prepared  to  acquiesce  in  the  nomination  of 
Mr.  Clark  for  Governor,  and  caring  only  that  the  other  nomi 
nees  should  be  so  selected  as  to  strengthen  the  ticket.  No  can 
didate  for  Lieutenant-Governor  had  been  designated.  Many 
delegates  were  anxious  to  ballast  the  ticket  by  the  nomination 
of  a  candidate  for  Lieutenant-Governor  who  was  not  committed 
in  favor  of  prohibitory  or  Maine  law  legislation,  and  yet  who 
would  not  be  obnoxious  to  temperance  men.  Several  names 
were  canvassed,  but  none  seemed  to  unite  all  interests  until 
that  of  Mr.  Raymond  was  suggested.  That  nomination  wounded 
Mr.  Greeley  deeply.  He  had  cheerfully  withdrawn  his  own 
name,  but  he  could  not  submit  patiently  to  the  nomination  of 
his  personal,  professional,  and  political  rival.  Mr.  Greeley  not 
only  held  me  responsible  for  that  nomination,  but  supposed 
that  in  my  conversation  with  him  the  intention  to  urge  it  had 
been  concealed.  In  that  supposition,  however,  he  erred,  for  I 
had  not  thought  of  Mr.  Raymond  in  that  connection  until  his 
name  was  suggested  to  me  at  Syracuse." 

A  complicated  campaign  followed.  The  National  Democrats, 
or  "  Hard  "  anti-Pierce  men,  supported  Greene  C.  Bronson,  of 
New  York,  for  Governor.  The  Pierce  Administration  Demo 
crats,  or  "  Softs,"  supported  Horatio  Seymour.  The  Whigs 
were  joined  by  the  Prohibitionists  in  support  of  Mr.  Clark. 
Designing  Democrats  were  the  basis  of  a  movement  which  put 
Mr.  Ullman,  also,  in  the  field.  "  The  main  question  simply  is," 
wrote  Mr.  Weed,  "  whether  the  curse  of  servitude  shall  be  ex 
tended  ?  Freedom  in  all  new  states  and  territories  we  advocate 
not  as  a  temporary  issue,  not  as  a  mere  expedient  for  Kansas 
and  Nebraska,  but  as  an  enduring  principle  of  government  at  all 
times  and  in  all  cases  whatsoever.  We  advocate  it  in  behalf  of 
the  Constitution,  which  makes  it  incumbent  upon  the  majority  of 
Congress  to  regulate  the  institution  of  territories,  which  should 
be  so  regulated  as  to  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty." 

1854.  —  The  last  time  that  Mr.  Weed  ever  set  type  was  on 
the  8th  of  November  in  this  year.  His  paper  was  held  back 
from  the  press  on  the  afternoon  of  that  day  in  order  that  it 
might,  if  possible,  contain  the  result  of  the  election  in  New 
York.  It  is  a  tradition  of  the  office  that  word  was  received  at 
the  last  moment,  and  that  Mr.  Weed  rushed  up  stairs,  seized  a 


228  MEMOIR.  [1854, 

"  stick,"  and  himself  threw  into  "  brevier  "  these  expressive  sen 
tences  :  "  Let  the  eagle  scream  !    Myron  H.  Clark  is  elected !  " 1 

[THE  SECRETARY  OF  STATE  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  December  20th. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  have  cheerfully  complied  with  your  request 
for  letters  of  introduction  to  our  Ministers  at  London  and  Paris  for 
Mr.  Richardson,  though,  in  giving  them,  I  have  disregarded  a  rule  of 
the  Department.  A  regard  for  personal  friends  occasionally  makes 
exceptions  to  such  rules. 

Our  old  friend,  E.  Croswell,  is  here,  and  I  have  an  appointment  with 
him  to-night.  What  would  Bennett  say  if  he  knew  that  I  was  in  cor 
respondence  with  you  and  holding  friendly  chit-chats  with  Croswell  ? 

When  I  left  New  York  it  was  sound,  and  I  hope  you  will  make  it 
so  again  by  the  time  I  get  ready  to  return  to  it.2 

Yours  truly,  W.  L.  MARCY. 

1  The  vote  in  detail  stood  :  Clark,  156,804  ;  Seymour,  156,495  ;  Ullman, 
122,282  ;  Bronsou,  33,850.      In  other  words  a  change  of  155  votes  from 
Clark  to  Seymour  would  have  given  the  State  to  the  Democrats. 

2  When  Governor  Marcy  "  left  New  York  "  it  had  just  given  its  electoral 
vote  to  the  Democrats.     Of  course  he  hoped  for  another  Democratic  vic 
tory,  through  Republican  blunders,  in  1856. 


K.v.in  AJeii 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

1845-1855. 

A  TRANSITION  PERIOD.  —  DEATH  OF  MR.  WEBSTER  AND  MR.  CLAY. 

READJUSTMENT  OF  PERSONAL  RELATIONS.  —  PARTING  WITH  FRANCIS 
GRANGER.  —  KNOW  NOTHING  OPPOSITION  TO  MR.  SEWARD.  — AN  IN 
CIDENT  IN  THE  SENATORIAL  CANVASS.  —  FUSION  OF  WHIGS  WITH  FREE 
SOIL  DEMOCRATS.  —  MR.  WEED'S  WISH  TO  RETIRE  FROM  JOURNAL 
ISM. —"  No.  11 "  AT  THE  ASTOR. 

THE  Whig  party  was  rapidly  becoming  a  unit  against  the 
further  extension  of  slavery  when  Mr.  Webster's  7th  of  March 
speech  put  new  life  into  the  miserable  heresy  that  human  bond 
age  was  really  a  great  blessing,  which  ought  to  be  extended  and 
perpetuated.  For  a  time  that  renowned  oration,  followed  as  it 
was  by  the  death  of  General  Taylor,  paralyzed  the  cause  of  free 
dom.  There  ensued  at  once  what  was  like  a  sudden  truce. 
Then  everywhere  new  lines  of  division  appeared,  new  political 
combinations  began  forming.  Neither  Mr.  Webster  nor  Mr. 
Clay  lived  to  witness  the  outcome  of  their  crowning  compro 
mise.  Each  died  in  1852 :  Mr.  Clay  in  June,  Mr.  Webster  in 
October. 

It  was  while  this  state  of  transition  lasted,  slavery  remaining 
the  only  vital  issue,  that  Mr.  Weed  was  forced  into  conflicting 
relations  with  several  of  his  warmest,  oldest,  and  most  intimate 
friends.  Not  that  he  quarreled  with  them  capriciously.  Not 
that  in  each  case  the  separation  was  not  a  genuine  affliction. 
But  that  such  partings  were  compelled  by  the  new  demands  of 
progress  and  civilization.  The  defection  of  Francis  Granger 
seemed  particularly  unwarrantable  and  hard  to  bear.  It  was 
not  supposed  that  there  was  any  alienation  between  him  and 
Mr.  Weed  until  the  break  in  1850,  when  the  Silver  Grays 
were  organized ;  but,  so  to  speak,  Mr.  Granger  was  converted 
by  Mr.  Webster's  speech  before  it  was  delivered,  as  a  letter 
which  has  been  held  until  now,  so  that  its  significance  might 
be  fully  understood,  testifies  :  — 


230  MEMOIR.  [1845. 

[MR.  WEED  TO  FRANCIS  GRANGER.] 

ALBANY,  June  19, 1845. 

DEAR  GRANGER,  —  We  have  traveled  together  so  long  that  I  can 
not  consent  to  part  company  without  an  expression  of  regret  that  I 
should  have  lost  the  confidence  of  an  old  and  cherished  friend. 

I  not  only  appreciate  your  feelings  in  relation  to  the  perverse 
course  of  political  Abolitionists,  but  have  never  failed  to  hold  them 
responsible  for  the  evil  which  they  have  accomplished,  as  well  against 
the  country  as  the  cause  of  emancipation.  I  know  how  the  Whigs  of 
Madison  County  have  been  oppressed  by  the  falsely-styled  "  Liberty  " 
party,  and  I  respect  the  indignant  sentiments  entertained  there  by 
Whig  friends.  Nor  shall  I  omit  any  opportunity  to  vindicate  those 
friends  or  avenge  their  wrongs.  Demagogues  of  the  "  Liberty  "  fac 
tion  have  beguiled  ten  or  twelve  thousand  honest  men  and  true  Whigs 
from  allegiance  to  the  country.  The  base  uses  made  of  their  influ 
ence  over  these  voters  last  fall  has  opened  the  eyes  of  many,  and  will 
open  the  eyes  of  many  more. 

You  and  I  and  the  Whigs  with  whom  we  act  are  better  friends  to 
the  slave  and  truer  advocates  of  emancipation  than  the  "  Liberty " 
party  organs  and  editors.  Shall  we,  then,  allow  these  leaders  to  hold 
the  power  which  they  wield  year  after  year,  with  such  fatal  effect, 
against  the  country  ? 

Slavery  is  grasping  for  an  enlarged  boundary,  that  it  may  possess 
the  government,  and  crowd  a  new  issue  upon  the  North.  Ere  long 
we  shall  be  called  upon  to  discharge  duties  which  may  not  be  dis 
regarded,  and  in  relation  to  which  you  and  I  shall  think  and  act 
together.1  Shall  we  leave  this  field  to  the  "  Liberty  "  party,  or  shall 
we  preoccupy  the  ground,  defending  the  faith  and  upholding  the 
principles  of  freedom  ?  It  is  my  earnest  hope  to  disarm  agitators,  to 
expose  and  thwart  their  schemes,  to  devote  myself  faithfully  to  the 
cause  of  emancipation,  not  rashly  and  heedlessly,  but  rational  emanci 
pation.  I  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  William 
Slade,  and  Cassius  M.  Clay. 

Tell  me,  my  friend,  whom  do  "  Liberty  "  party  organs  hate  or  re 
vile  more  than  these  true  Whig  friends  of  freedom  ? 

I  should  do  injustice  to  my  feelings  to  deny  that  it  pains  me  to  lose 
a  friend  by  whom  I  have  been  so  long  and  so  generously  sustained, 
first  as  an  anti-Mason  and  then  as  a  Whig ;  but  I  am  sure  we  do  not 
part  in  unkindness.  I  am  consoled  with  the  reflection  that,  though 
now  misapprehended,  if  my  life  shall  be  spared,  time  and  truth  will 
ultimately  restore  me  to  your  confidence. 

1  These  references  were  verified  in  every  particular. 


1855.]  REELECTION  OF  MR.   SEWARD.  231 

That  you  will  always  stand  fast  in  the  cause  otf  our  country,  I 
know  full  well.  That  I  may  err  in  judgment,  as  I  have  often  erred, 
is  not  improbable  ;  but  when  I  cease  to  be  influenced  by  motives  as 
patriotic  as  those  I  know  guide  your  actions,  when  I  abate  in  zeal 
or  waver  in  fidelity  to  the  Whig  cause,  every  sympathy  of  my  nature, 
all  the  impulses  of  my  heart,  must  have  undergone  a  radical  change. 
Truly  and  gratefully  yours,  THURLOW  WEED. 

Mr.  Seward  had  now  been  in  public  life  for  nearly  twenty- 
five  years,  during  which  he  had  never  sought  power  by  ignoble 
means  or  used  it  for  unworthy  purposes.  Almost  immediately 
after  his  election  to  the  Senate  in  1849,  he  came  to  be  widely 
looked  upon  as  the  most  trustworthy  Whig  leader  in  Congress. 
Courageous,  high-minded,  eloquent,  and  patriotic,  he  adorned 
the  exalted  station  to  which  he  had  been  chosen  by  a  great 
people.  Mr.  Weed  by  no  means  stood  alone  when  he  lamented 
that  during  the  "omnibus  bill"  debate  of  1850,  "it  did  not 
happen  "  to  the  illustrious  Massachusetts  orator  "  to  make  such 
a  great  and  glorious  speech  "  as  the  representative  of  New  York. 
Mr.  Se ward's  term  was  to  expire  in  February,  1855,  and  in 
January,  when  the  legislature  met,  and  Know  Nothings  op 
posed  his  reelection,  all  resources  at  Mr.  Weed's  command  were 
employed,  with  wonted  vigor,  in  his  friend's  behalf.  The 
caucus  of  the  Whigs  was  held  on  the.  1st  of  February,  1855, 
and  Mr.  Seward  received  nearly  a  unanimous  vote.  On  the 
6th  of  February,  1855,  he  was  reflected. 

"  I  snatch  a  few  moments,"  he  wrote  from  Washington,  "  to 
express  not  so  much  my  deep  and  deepening  gratitude  to  you, 
as  my  amazement  at  the  magnitude  and  complexity  of  the  dan 
gers  through  which  you  have  conducted  our  shattered  bark,  and 
the  wonderful  sagacity  and  skill  with  which  you  have  saved  us 
all  from  so  imminent  a  wreck.  It  was  well  that  I  did  not  know 
any  sooner  that  the  principle  of  secret  combinations,  which  we 
only  scotched  in  1830,  had  been  recovering  vitality  and  vigor, 
and  extending  itself  ever  since,  until  it  had  secured,  practically, 
an  oath-bound  majority  of  the  legislature,  and  concentrated  all 
its  energies  upon  the  unholy  purpose  of  defeating  all  our  hopes 
for  the  benefit  of  our  state,  our  country,  and  mankind.  I  am 
overwhelmed  with  obligations,  and  shall  need  all  your  wisdom 
to  save  myself  from  proving  unworthy  of  its  great  benefit." 


232  MEMOIR.  [1855. 

[MR.  GREELEY  TO  GEORGE   E.    BAKER.] 

NEW  YORK,  February  8,  1855. 

FRIEND  B.,  —  Weed  is  a  giant.  I  went  up  to  Albany  to  see  if  I 
could  be  of  any  use,  but  I  could  nat.  I  could  do  more  good  here. 

Weed  can  be  swindled  by  men  who  are  fair  to  his  face,  but  I  think 
he  will  be  more  cautious  hereafter.  It  is  hard  for  him  to  realize  that 
men  can  "  smile  and  smile  and  be  a  villain,"  —  and  he  loves  those  who 
seem  never  to  oppose  his  will,  —  but  he  is,  after  all,  the  greatest  man 
we  have  left,  Seward  not  excepted.  .  .  . 

Lieutenant-Governor  Raymond  is  quietly  and  industriously  laying 
pipe  for  the  next  step.  I  hope  he  has  been  convinced  that  he  cannot 
be  both  the  Seward  and  the  Hindoo  candidate.  If  he  has  not,  Sam l 
will  enlighten  him  on  that  point. 

Ah,  well ;  the  struggle  is  over,  and  I  am  no  longer  anybody's  parti 
san.  I  don't  care  a  button  whether  Seward  stops  where  he  is  or  goes 
higher.  Yours,  HORACE  GREELEY. 

The  late  Hugh  Hastings  used  to  tell  an  amusing  story  in  con 
nection  with  this  senatorial  canvass  :  — 

During  the  Know  Nothing  excitement  of  1855  [Mr.  Hastings 
writes]  Seward  was  a  candidate  for  reelection  to  the  United  States 
Senate  on  our  side  of  the  house.  The  Know  Nothings  were  oppos 
ing  him  with  great  spirit  and  were  in  the  majority.  It  therefore  be 
came  necessary  to  capture  a  few  of  our  opponents,  which  was  no  easy 
task.  At  that  time  I  was  Secretary  of  the  Senate,  —  the  last  one 
elected  under  Whig  rule,  by  the  way.  Mr.  Weed  was  a  noted  and 
liberal  entertainer.  He  was  accustomed  to  give  great  dinner  parties 
at  his  residence,  to  which  were  invited  not  only  the  various  state  offi 
cers,  but  such  distinguished  visitors  as  chanced  to  be  in  the  city.  The 
premises  were  not  large  enough  to  accommodate  the  entire  legislature 
at  once,  and  so  he  used  to  invite  the  members  in  alphabetical  platoons. 

Well,  upon  one  of  these  occasions  he  had  asked  three  or  four  Know 
Nothings,  who  we  thought  had  come  over  to  our  side  in  the  Seward 
matter,  to  be  present.  He  received  them  with  that  splendid  cordiality 
of  his  which  seldom  lost  its  effect,  and  then  turned  them  over  to  me, 
to  be  shown  through  the  house.  I  dragged  them  here  and  there,  show 
ing  them  pictures,  statuettes,  bricabrac,  and  everything  I  thought 
would  be  of  interest.  At  last  we  suddenly  came  upon  the  portrait  of 
Bishop  Hughes,  and  one  of  the  party  asked  me  who  that  was.  Here, 

1  As  here  used,  this  word  is  equivalent  to  "  the  Hindoos  "  or  "  the  Know 
Nothings." 


1855.]  AN  AWKWARD   SITUATION.  233 

by  the  way,  it  should  be  said,  that  after  their  return  from  Europe  the 
Bishop  sat  for  his  picture,  at  Mr.  Weed's  request,  and  this  was  the 
result  of  that  sitting,  showing  the  distinguished  prelate  in  all  his  pon 
tifical  vestments.  I  will  admit  that  the  situation  staggered  me.  I 
knew  that,  if  they  discovered  whom  the  portrait  represented,  our 
chances  were  gone,  and  for  the  life  of  me  I  could  think  of  no  way  out 
of  the  dilemma.  But  finally,  as  matters  were  becoming  very  embar 
rassing,  a  thought  flashed  upon  me.  It  was  a  happy  one.  "  Why,"  I 
said,  feigning  surprise,  "  don't  you  know  who  that  is  ?  That  portrait 
represents  George  Washington  in  his  Continental  robes.  It  was  pre 
sented  to  Mr.  Weed's  father  by  George  Washington  himself."  That 
carried  the  day  for  us,  and  Seward  was  triumphant. 

1855. — New  York  was  now  divided  politically  into  regular 
Democrats,  Whigs,  free  soil  Democrats,  Know  Nothings,  and 
Abolitionists.  In  order  to  weld  Whigs  and  anti-slavery  men 
of  other  parties  together,  it  was  agreed  to  hold  two  conventions 
at  Syracuse  on  the  same  day.  A  conference  was  held  between 
Mr.  Weed  and  his  immediate  friends  on  the  one  hand,  and  free 
soil  leaders  on  the  other,  at  which  details  were  discussed  and 
arranged.  Double  delegations  went  to  Syracuse,  and  two  con 
ventions  were  held.  Preston  King,  representing  the  free  soil 
element,  was  nominated  for  Secretary  of  State,  and  James  M. 
Cook,  Whig,  was  nominated  for  Comptroller.  In  the  election 
which  followed,  the  Know  Nothing  ticket,  headed  by  J.  T.  Head- 
ley  and  Lorenzo  Burrows,  carried  the  State  by  12,000  plurality. 

To  Mr.  Fillmore  this  result  was  particularly  gratifying.  Al 
though  brought  into  public  life  because  he  was  outspoken  in 
opposition  to  the  interference  of  a  secret  society  with  political 
affairs,  he  had  now  become  a  Know  Nothing,  and,  true  to  the 
law  of  apostasy,  surpassed  in  zeal  the  very  founders  of  his  newly- 
chosen  sect. 

[PRESIDENT  FILLMORE  TO  COLLECTOR  MAXWELL.] 

BUFFALO,  March  10,  1855. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  owe  you  many  thanks  for  your  kind,  frank, 
and  I  may  add  flattering  letter  of  the  21st  ult.  I  regret  exceedingly 
that  you  did  not  visit  me  as  you  had  intended.  Should  I  remain  at 
home,  I  hope  to  see  you  the  ensuing  summer.  But  I  have  reflected 
much  on  what  you  say  of  my  taking  a  journey  to  Europe,  and  have 
delayed  answering  until  I  could  consult  some  friends  who  were  absent 
from  the  city. 


234  MEMOIR.  [1855. 

I  notice  what  you  say  of  the  desire  of  my  enemies  to  draw  my 
name  into  the  seething  cauldron  of  politics.  That  you  are  right  in 
this  I  cannot  doubt,  and  that  they  would  have  less  inducement  to  do 
it,  if  I  were  absent,  seems  very  probable.  Yet  I  have  a  spice  of  ob 
stinacy  that  makes  me  unwilling  to  act  from  any  apprehension  of  that 
kind.  I  think  I  may  safely  defy  their  machinations.  I  will  not  say 
with  Brutus  that,  — 

"  I  am  armed  so  strong  in  honesty 
That  they  pass  by  me  as  the  idle  wind  ;  " 

but  I  will  say  that,  though  they  have  pursued  me  with  unremitting 
rancor  and  envious  malice  for  years,  yet  they  have  seldom  disturbed 
the  equanimity  of  my  temper,  however  they  may  have  impaired  my 
reputation. 

You  seem  to  think  that  something  said  by  Mr.  Dickinson  requires 
a  response  from  me.  This  may  be  so,  but  I  really  know  not  what 
it  is,  as  I  have  not  read  a  speech  of  his  during  the  season.  My  at 
tention  was  called  to  some  letters  from  Messrs.  Weed,  Clowes,  and 
others,  that  were  said  to  conflict  with  a  statement  made  by  me  to  Mr. 
Brooks  in  answer  to  an  inquiry  of  his  about  the  famous  Taylor  meet 
ing  at  Albany  in  1848,  and  some  thought  that  I  had  better  write  out 
the  history  of  the  whole  transaction  ;  but  that  looked  like  entering  the 
lists  with  these  men  on  a  question  of  veracity.  The  bare  suggestion 
was  revolting,  and  I  refused,  although  I  have  the  most  ample  materi 
als  in  writing,  made  at  the  time,  to  verify  the  truth  of  my  letter ;  but 
Mr.  Weed's  own  statement  in  his  own  paper  at  the  time  of  the  occur 
rence  is  ample  to  sustain  me,  regardless  of  what  he  or  those  under  his 
influence  may  now  pretend  to  recollect  of  a  transaction  that  took  place 
more  than  six  years  since.  I  am  determined  not  to  disgrace  myself 
by  putting  my  reputation  for  truth  and  veracity  in  conflict  with  such 
men.  Let  Mr.  Weed  and  his  compurgators  be  heard,  and  then  let  the 
world  judge  between  us. 

Nor  will  I  be  driven  from  my  country  by  their  mendacity.  If  I 
visit  Europe,  it  will  be  for  reasons  wholly  independent  of  this,  or  any 
thing  of  a  personal  character  connected  with  future  political  events. 
While  I  cannot  feel  otherwise  than  flattered  to  have  my  name  occa 
sionally  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  highest  office  in  the  gift  of 
the  people,  yet  an  election  could  confer  no  new  honors  on  me  ;  and 
the  vexatious  cares  and  heavy  responsibilities  of  that  office  might  tar 
nish  those  which  I  now  wear.  Being  fully  impressed  with  this,  I  have 
no  aspirations.  Every  ambitious  wish  of  my  heart  has  been  more 
than  gratified,  and  I  am  content.  But  do  not  misunderstand  me.  I 
do  not  underestimate  the  honors  connected  with  that  exalted  station. 
They  are  beyond  price  or  comparison ;  but  I  have  enjoyed  them,  and 


1855.]  MR.   FILLMORE'S   COGITATIONS.  235 

while  my  heart  is  filled  with  gratitude,  my  judgment  tells  me  that  if  I 
would  consult  my  own  happiness  or  even  my  future  reputation,  I  should 
not  venture  again  upon  that  sea  of  troubles.  I  have  escaped  wreck 
once,  though  tempest  tost  for  many  a  weary  day  and  anxious  night. 
Prudence  says,  tempt  not  the  treacherous  element  again,  where  the 
reputations  of  so  many  great  and  good  men  have  been  lost.  Pardon 
me,  my  dear  sir,  but  would  not  my  illustrious  successor  give  the  same 
advice  ? 

But  still  I  am  rather  inclined  to  make  the  tour  of  Europe,  if  I  can 
accomplish  it.  I  am  chiefly  impelled  to  this  by  an  apprehension  that 
my  health  may  be  impaired  by  changing  so  suddenly  from  a  very  ac 
tive,  to  a  totally  inactive  life.  I  am  well  now.  I  spend  my  time 
mostly  in  reading,  and  very  pleasantly,  — yet  neither  the  body  nor 
the  mind  has  that  exercise  to  which  it  has  been  accustomed,  and  a 
long  settled  habit  has  become  a  second  nature,  —  and  I  fear  that  so 
torpid  a  state  may  cause  paralysis  of  body  or  stagnation  of  intellect. 
I  believe  with  Adam  Clark  that  it  is  better  to  wear  out  than  rust 
out,  and,  as  my  political  life  has  unfortunately  deprived  me  of  my  pro 
fession,  perhaps  I  can  do  nothing  better  than  diversify  my  pursuits  by 
traveling.  Within  the  past  year  I  have  journeyed  over  the  greater 
part  of  the  United  States.  I  enjoyed  these  journeys  very  much,  but 
that  source  of  instruction  and  amusement  is  nearly  exhausted.  I 
must,  therefore,  if  I  pursue  it  further,  cross  the  Atlantic,  and  compare 
the  Old  World  with  the  New. 

There  are  some  things  of  which  I  wish  to  know  more  before  I  re 
solve  to  undertake  so  long  a  journey.  And  as  my  means  are  limited, 
the  first  and  most  important  is,  the  probable  expense  for  a  year  that 
.should  carry  me  southeast  to  Constantinople,  and  northeast  to  St. 
Petersburg.  Next,  would  my  position  be  such,  in  my  intercourse 
with  the  titled  dignitaries  of  Europe,  as  to  subject  my  country  to  any 
indignity  through  me  in  our  social  intercourse;  and  if  this  be  so, 
could  it  be  avoided  by  refusing  all  invitations  to  festive  entertain 
ments  ;  or  would  it  be  possible,  or  if  possible,  would  it  be  advisable, 
to  travel  incog.  ?  You  will  understand  that  while  I  have  no  personal 
pride  for  any  social  distinction  in  Europe,  I  would  not  knowingly 
place  myself  in  a  position  where  my  country  would  be  degraded  or 
insulted  through  me.  And  lastly,  what  servants  should  I  want,  and 
where  would  it  be  best  to  provide  them ;  and  when  should  I  leave 
New  York? 

Your  recent  tour  will  enable  you  to  give  me  valuable  advice  on  all 
these  subjects  ;  and  in  the  mean  time  please  to  keep  the  matter  a  pro 
found  secret.  Truly  your  friend,  MILLARD  FILLMORE. 


236  MEMOIR.  [1855. 

Mr.  Weed's  health  still  remained  good,  but  in  1855  he  had 
reached  what  is  usually  regarded  as  the  "evening  of  life." 
Younger  men  were  ready  to  assume  the  burden  of  office  work, 
which  he  still  performed,  but  from  which  he  naturally  wished 
to  be  relieved. 

More  than  a  year  ago  [lie  wrote,  in  August],  when  changes  were 
made  in  the  proprietorship  of  this  paper,  its  senior  editor  intimated 
his  desire  and  intention  to  withdraw.  In  reference  to  time  and  man 
ner,  it  was  and  is  his  purpose  to  have  regard  to  the  interests  of  his 
party,  and  to  consult  the  views  and  claims  of  those  to  whom  lie  is 
linked  by  common  sentiments  and  sympathies,  and  by  lifelong  obliga 
tions. 

Public  rather  than  personal  considerations  suggested  the  propriety 
of  retirement.  We  love  and  honor  a  profession  with  which,  as  printer 
or  editor,  our  hands,  head,  and  heart  have  been  busy  for  forty-four 
years.  If  moderately  qualified  for  any  duties,  it  was  for  those  which 
we  have  endeavored  to  discharge.  Nor  is  the  "  wish  "  of  retirement 
"  father  to  the  thought."  It  is  alone  prompted  by  the  consciousness 
that  men,  like  that  noble  animal  whose  spirit  and  muscle  we  task,  grow 
old  and  wear  out ;  or,  like  garments,  go  out  of  fashion.  With  our  day 
and  generation  our  season  of  usefulness  passes.  We  are  a  fast  people, 
and  this  a  fast  age  —  so  fast  that  "  old  fogies  "  cannot  hope  and  should 
not  attempt  to  keep  up  with  either. 

We  regard  the  "  Evening  Journal  "  with  an  affection  kindred  to 
that  which  a  parent  feels  for  his  child.  It  is  of  our  own  procreation. 
During  the  first  two  years  of  its  existence  we  were  the  sole  x  editor, 
reporter,  and  news  collector  for  a  sheet  which  has  been  our  constant 
charge  and  care  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  .  .  . 

Our  services  have  been  more  than  requited,  our  wishes  more  than 
gratified,  by  the  confidence,  munificence,  fidelity,  and  kindness  of  par 
tisans  and  friends.  In  all  these  relations  we  have  been  peculiarly 
happy.  Few  men  have  had  their  pathway  through  life  brightened  by 
so  many  beautiful  manifestations.  The  remembrance  of  all  this  con 
stancy  and  truth,  all  the  generosity  and  warmth  of  "  troops  of  friends," 
brings  with  it  an  oppressive  sense  of  gratitude.  We  cannot  ex 
pect,  nor  do  we  ask,  strangers  to  comprehend  the  feeling  of  obligation 
that  weighs  us  down.  These  audible  pulsations  of  a  burthened  heart 
address  themselves  only  to  those  with  whom  we  commune  through 
these  columns.  Those  whose  lives  have  been  sweetened  and  solaced 
by  enduring  friendships  ;  whom  its  flowers  and  fragrance  have  blessed  ; 
whose  households  are  consecrated  by  its  souvenirs,  will  pardon  tne 
weakness  which,  in  view  of  separation,  whether  immediate  or  remote, 
finds  relief  in  the  indulgence  of  long  welled-up  emotions. 


1855.]  MR.   WEED'S  ROOM  IN  NEW  YORK.  237 

But,  if  we  contemplate  divesting  ourselves  of  all  pecuniary  inter 
est  in  this  paper,  it  is  not  our  intention  to  shirk  any  political  duty, 
avoid  any  labor,  desert  any  friend,  or  abate  any  effort  required  to  ad 
vance  the  cause  and  maintain  the  principles  which  it  represents.  On 
the  contrary,  with  the  advantage  of  having  neither  aspirations,  inter 
ests,  nor  wishes,  other  than  such  as  concern  the  general  welfare,  we 
shall  linger,  from  habit  and  inclination,  around  the  old  political  shrine, 
working  freely  and  cheerfully  for  those  to  whom  we  are  so  largely  a 
debtor,  until  we  discover  the  secret  which  Gil  Bias  imparted  to  the 
Archbishop  of  Grenada. 

There  was  reserved  for  Mr.  Weed's  exclusive  use  during 
these  years  of  active  leadership  a  room  in  the  Astor  House, 
New  York,  which  he  always  occupied  when  called  to  that  city. 
It  was  on  the  Vesey  Street  side,  up  one  flight,  and  under  the 
old  administration  was  known  as  "  No.  11."  I  can  remember 
well  when  he  took  me  there,  as  a  boy,  in  John  Brown  times, 
and  how  I  was  thrilled  by  the  majestic  presence  of  Lieutenant- 
General  Scott,  six  feet  four  in  his  stockings,  and  every  inch  a 
soldier. 

"  He  retained  Room  11  until  1868,"  writes  one  who  knew 
him  well,  "  when  failing  health  compelled  him  to  give  up  par 
ticipation  in  the  affairs  of  the  nation.  Could  that  room  but 
speak,  what  a  story  it  might  tell !  It  was  an  audience  chamber 
and  council  closet,  where  all  sorts  of  persons  went  month  after 
month,  year  after  year.  In  it  caucuses  were  held,  campaigns 
arranged,  senators,  members  of  the  cabinet,  governors,  minis 
ters,  and  even  presidents  were  made  and  unmade.  For  nearly 
a  quarter  of  a  century  more  political  power  and  influence  prob 
ably  emanated  from  that  little  apartment  than  from  any  other 
source  in  the  entire  Republic. 

"  Mr.  Weed  was  ever  accessible,  not  only  to  politicians  of 
every  grade  and  complexion,  but  to  mere  strangers,  land  hunt 
ers,  place  seekers,  and  solicitors  of  charity.  An  extraordinarily 
good-hearted  man  he  was,  always  willing  to  interest  himself  in 
the  cause  of  any  one,  however  humble,  and  to  give  time  and 
money  to  whomsoever  asked  for  both,  or  either.  During  the 
long  period  that  he  occupied  Room  11,  there  was  a  ceaseless 
stream  of  humanity  flowing  in  and  out  of  the  door,  and  it  is 
believed  that  no  one  ever  left  him  with  a  heavier  heart  than  lie 
carried  into  his  presence. 


238  MEMOIR.  [1855. 

"  But  sometimes  he  would  deny  himself  to  all,  perhaps  to  take 
a  nap,  and  great  men  might  importune  in  vain.  On  one  occa 
sion,  when  several  eminent  gentlemen  were  thus  waiting,  they 
were  surprised,  and  at  first  much  vexed,  by  seeing  a  negro 
promptly  admitted.  The  negro  soon  reappeared,  and  hastily 
left  the  house,  when  it  was  learned  that  he  was  a  runaway  slave, 
and  had  been  aided  in  his  flight  for  liberty  by  the  man  who  was 
too  busy  to  attend  to  cabinet  officers,  but  had  time  to  say  words 
of  encouragement  and  present  means  of  support  to  a  flying  fugi 
tive." 


CHAPTER  XYIII. 

1854-1856. 

THE  KANSAS-NEBRASKA  CONTEST.  —  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  REPUBLICAN 
PARTY.  —  THE  PITTSBURG  CONVENTION.  —  ITS  PURPOSE.  —  PROGRESS 
OF  THE  MOVEMENT  IN  VARIOUS  STATES.  —  MR.  WEED  A  REPUBLICAN.  — 
His  CONSISTENT  RECORD  AGAINST  SLAVERY.  —  AN  "  OLD  LINER'S  " 
DOUBTS  AND  FEARS.  —  THE  PRESIDENTIAL  QUESTION.  —  MR.  SEWARD. 
—  MR.  FILLMORE.  —  JOHN  A.  KING.  —  RESULTS  ANALYZED. 

THE  Missouri  Compromise  was  now  repealed,  and  it  was  left 
with  the  people  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska  to  determine  whether 
they  would  range  themselves  on  the  side  of  slavery  or  of  freedom. 
Kansas  held  the  first  election  under  the  new  law  on  the  29th  of 
November,  1854,  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  Congress.  It  was  a  short, 
brisk  skirmish,  in  which  the  free  soilers  were  easily  defeated  by 
pro-slavery  settlers,  reinforced  by  desperadoes  from  Missouri. 
"Border  Ruffians"  rallied  at  the  polls  with  rifles  and  pistols, 
and  those  who  voted  the  anti-slavery  ticket  did  so  at  the  peril 
of  their  lives. 

The  great  battle  was  yet  to  come.  An  election  was  called  at 
which  the  first  state  legislature  was  to  be  chosen.  To  meet 
the  requirement  of  Congress,  that  none  but  actual  settlers  should 
be  allowed  to  vote,  "  Emigrant  Aid  Societies  "  had  been  formed 
at  the  North,  and  had  engaged  actively  in  the  work  of  populat 
ing  the  proposed  state  with  free  soil  voters,  whilst  the  South 
had  engaged  as  actively  in  an  endeavor  to  secure  a  constitutional 
majority  for  slavery.  The  election  was  held  on  the  30th  of 
March,  1855.  Thousands  of  armed  Missourians  invaded  the 
territory  in  the  interests  of  slavery  and  took  possession  of  the 
polls.  They  assaulted  citizens  who  tried  to  vote  the  free  soil 
ticket.  They  destroyed  the  crops  and  set  fire  to  the  homes  of 
free  state  settlers.  The  entire  proceeding  was  no  more  than 
a  riot.  No  such  outrage  upon  popular  sovereignty  had  ever 
before  been  perpetrated  in  this  country. 

Four  months  passed.     In  July  a  gathering  which  claimed  to 


240  MEMOIR.  [1855. 

be  the  legislature-elect  assembled  at  Pawnee,  and,  with  sardonic 
consistency,  decreed  that  the  Constitution  of  Missouri  should  be 
the  Constitution  of  Kansas.  It  was  provided,  further,  that  any 
person  who  should  "  write  or  print  any  book,  paper,  argument, 
opinion,  advice,  or  innuendo  calculated  to  produce  a  disorderly 
disaffection  "  among  the  slaves  of  the  territory  should  be  im 
prisoned  at  hard  labor  for  a  term  of  not  less  than  five  years  ; 
while  for  such  a  crime  as  aiding  a  slave  to  procure  his  freedom 
the  punishment  was  fixed  at  death.  Other  provisions,  equally 
arbitrary  and  barbarous,  were  enacted,  and  election  laws  were 
so  arranged  that  Missourians  might  continue  to  sway  the  terri 
tory  in  case  slavery  settlers  again  required  outside  assistance. 

So  glaring  were  the  frauds  connected  with  the  establishment 
of  the  Pawnee  legislature  that  Governor  Reeder  refused  to  rec 
ognize  it.  He  ordered  new  elections  in  six  districts.  Such 
elections  were  accordingly  held,  and,  as  Missouri  ruffians  de 
scended  upon  only  one  district,  five  free  soil  representatives  were 
chosen.  Subsequently,  however,  when  their  credentials  were 
presented  by  these  free  soil  representatives,  they  were  all  ruled 
out,  in  favor  of  pro-slavery  men,  who  suddenly  appeared  as  con 
testants.  In  this  emergency  free  soil  settlers  assembled  in  con 
ventions  at  Topeka  on  the  5th  of  September,  1855,  and  a  free 
state  Constitution  was  framed  and  adopted,  by  virtue  of  which 
state  officers  were  elected  in  the  following  January. 

Thus  Kansas  began  the  year  1856  with  dual  state  govern 
ments,  each  claiming  to  represent  her  people  and  neither  in 
clined  to  yield  its  position. 

President  Pierce  now  entered  actively  into  the  contest.  He 
sent  a  message  to  Congress  on  the  24th  of  January,  asserting 
that  the  Pawnee  legislature  was  properly  constituted,  and  that 
its  authority  must  not  be  denied.  A  few  days  afterwards  he 
supplemented  this  message  with  another,  declaring  that  the 
meeting  of  the  Topeka  legislature  was  an  act  of  insurrection, 
denouncing  all  attempts  to  resist  the  laws  enacted  at  Pawnee, 
and  warning  all  persons  engaged  in  such  attempts  that  they 
would  be  dealt  with  as  rebels,  not  only  by  local  militia,  but, 
if  necessary,  by  the  regular  army  of  the  United  States.  Mr. 
Pierce  then  removed  Governor  Eeeder,  and  appointed  a  new 
Governor,  with  strict  orders  to  enforce  the  intolerable  laws 
passed  by  the  pro-slavery  legislature. 


1856.]          THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY  ORGANIZED.          241 

1856.  —  It  was  at  this  juncture  that  the  national  Republican 
party  sprang  into  life.  Freedom  and  progress  demanded  its 
formation.  It  was  the  response  of  a  great  people  to  the  ques 
tion,  Shall  there  ever  be  an  end  to  the  exactions  of  the  slave 
power  ?  It  was  an  organized  protest  against  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise  and  the  wrongs  inflicted  upon  free  soil 
settlers  in  "  bleeding  Kansas."  Not  only  had  the  solemn  agree 
ment  of  1820  been  ruthlessly  abrogated,  at  a  time  when  the 
North,  silenced,  if  not  convinced,  by  the  eloquence  of  Mr.  Web 
ster  and  Mr.  Clay,  was  disposed  to  regard  the  slavery  ques 
tion  as  settled,  but  an  irregular  legislature,  foisted  upon  one  of 
the  sisterhood  of  states  by  intimidation  and  violence,  was  now 
sustained  by  the  national  administration,  and  the  army  of  the 
United  States  was  invoked  to  perpetuate  this  shameful  usurpa 
tion.  The  Whig  party  had  already  demonstrated  its  unfitness 
to  deal  with  slavery.  New  rallying-cries,  new  principles,  new 
courage,  and  UBW  morality,  were  needed  to  grapple  with  the  hy 
dra-headed  monster  at  the  South. 

Maine,  Wisconsin,  and  Michigan  have  claimed  the  honor  of 
originating  the  Republican  organization,  and  statesmen  have 
disputed  for  the  distinction  of  having  suggested  its  name.  On 
the  last  day  of  February,  1854,  there  was  held  in  the  town  of 
Ripon,  Wisconsin,  a  meeting  of  Whigs  and  Democrats,  who 
distinctly  resolved  that  in  case  Congress  should  pass  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill  they  would  throw  old  affiliations  to  the  winds, 
and  join  in  a  movement  having  for  its  single  aim  opposition  to 
the  extension  of  slavery.  Similar  meetings  were  held  about  the 
same  time  in  other  towns  and  cities,  at  which,  although  the  res 
olutions  adopted  were  not  precisely  the  same,  participants  were 
actuated  by  an  identical  purpose  and  spirit.  Boston  had  an 
"  anti-Nebraska "  meeting  February  23d ;  New  Market,  New 
Hampshire,  February  27th ;  and  New  York,  May  13th,  —  ten 
days  before  the  bill  was  passed. 

The  first  Republican  state  convention  was  held  in  Michigan 
on  the  6th  of  July,  1854,  and  Kinsley  S.  Bingham,  who  was 
nominated  for  Governor,  was  elected.  Ohio  held  a  Republican 
state  convention  during  the  same  summer,  at  which  a  ticket  was 
nominated  which  carried  that  State  in  the  fall.  "  Whig  "  was  a 
cherished  word  in  New  York.  It  was  not  formally  repudiated 
in  the  mixed  canvass  of  1854,  when  Mr.  Clark  defeated  the 

16 


242  MEMOIR.  [1856. 

other  three  candidates,  nor  was  it  wise  to  force  an  independent 
beginning  until  1855,  when  joint  meetings,  which  practically 
amounted  to  one  convention,  were  held  at  Syracuse.  In  several 
states  the  new  party  took  root  slowly.  It  was  to  perfect  and 
strengthen  it  in  all  its  parts,  that  a  national  council  was  called 
to  meet  at  Pittsburg  on  the  22d  of  February,  1856.  At  this 
meeting  nothing  was  said  about  candidates.  The  crisis  in  Kan 
sas  was  discussed,  a  platform  of  principles  was  promulgated,1 
and  a  formal  call  was  issued  for  representatives  of  the  party  to 
assemble  in  national  convention  at  Philadelphia  on  the  17th  of 
June  to  make  nominations  for  the  Presidency.  Thus  even  by 
the  dates  of  its  first  meetings  the  new  party  was  consecrated  to 
patriotic  endeavor. 

That  Mr.  Weed  should  be  a  Republican  was  inevitable.  He 
had  protested  from  the  first  against  the  passage  of  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill,  —  no  one  more  strenuously.  On  the  same  day 
when  that  measure  received  the  approval  of  Congress  he  called 
for  action  to  rescue  these  territories  from  the  enemies  of  free 
dom.  Nor  were  these  the  earliest  or  the  only  assertions  of  posi 
tion  which  led  him  consistently  and  resistlessly  up  to  the  con 
summation  of  1856.  Before  he  was  of  age  he  was  opposed  to 
slavery.  Not  a  few  of  his  editorial  articles,  written  when  James 
Monroe  was  President,  are  full  of  the  spirit  of  Lincoln  and 
Whittier.  When  Texas  was  to  be  annexed,  he  opposed  that 
project  with  all  his  power.  When  the  Wilmot  Proviso  was  at 
stake,  the  state  resolutions  which  he  "  crowded  through "  — 
such  were  Governor  Hunt's  words  — "  compelled  men  to  toe 
the  mark."  While  the  fugitive  slave  law  was  pending,  he  as 
sailed  that  measure  with  unsparing  bitterness,  and  when  it  was 
passed,  with  redoubled  bitterness  demanded  its  repeal. 

"  It  seems  to  be  foreordained,"  wrote  Governor  Hunt,  in  a 
letter  which  graphically  portrays  the  feelings  of  an  "  Old-Line 
Whig,"  in  January,  1856,  "  that  our  party  is  to  be  swallowed 
up  in  fusion.  I  regret  that  it  is  so,  but  that  is  of  no  avail. 
In  every  proper  way  I  want  to  do  right  and  prevent  wrong  on 
the  slavery  question.  But  you  know  I  never  could  make  it  the 
sole  object  of  my  thoughts  to  the  exclusion  of  more  practical 

1  The  Pittsburg  address,  of  which  Mr.  Raymond  was  the  author,  dis 
claimed  any  intention  of  interfering  with  slavery  in  states  where  it  already 
existed. 


1856.]          AN  "OLD-LINE  WHIG"    TO  MR.    WEED.  243^ 

concerns.  I  should  be  good  for  nothing  in  a  party  which  pro 
poses  nothing  but  to  struggle  and  talk  about  one  and  only  one 
everlasting  topic.  Since  the  new  party  movement  was  set  on 
foot  I  have  been  continually  harassed  by  inquiries  from  various 
quarters  as  to  whether  I  am  for  it  or  against  it.  ...  I  have 
written  a  letter  to  Webb,  approving  his  course  and  declaring 
my  purpose  to  remain  a  Whig  even  after  that  party  has  been 
dispersed.  I  know  you  will  consider  me  a  '  fogy,'  but  I  hope 
you  will  not  feel  vexed  with  me.  I  understand  perfectly  that 
my  views  of  duty  will  separate  me  from  all  political  movements 
of  the  day,  but  you  know  that  private  life  has  neither  pains  nor 
penalties  for  me.  Between  my  trees  and  books  and  family 
I  can  find  agreeable  occupation,  and  this  satisfies  my  mind.  I 
have  made  myself  Robert's  schoolmaster,  —  the  largest  office  I 
desire  ever  to  hold.  This  sectional  contest  must  come  to  an  end 
at  some  time,  in  some  way.  When  it  is  over  and  other  objects 
engage  the  public  mind,  something  may  remain  to  be  done 
where  you  and  I  will  be  found  side  by  side.  .  .  .  No  party  on 
earth  can  change  or  weaken  my  feelings  of  personal  friendship 
and  gratitude  towards  you.  Memory  will  oft  recall  the  past, 
and  dwell  upon  our  pleasing  intercourse  —  so  kind  and  harmo 
nious  from  first  to  last  —  through  all  the  varied  scenes  in  which 
we  have  cooperated  for  the  service  of  friends  and  for  the  good 
of  the  country.  In  truth,  my  object  in  this  letter  is  to  assure 
you  that  your  generous  friendship,  counsel,  encouragement,  and 
support  are  treasures  in  my  heart,  and  will  remain  there  till  it 
rests  from  its  pulsations.  Thank  God,  4  the  past  is  secure  ! '  .  .  . 
I  have  often  wished  that  one  idea  were  less  potent  over  your 
mind, — or  more  powerful  in  mine.  We  don't  differ  much 
about  the  idea,  but  rather  the  practical  duties  it  imposes  upon 
us.  I  know  the  sincerity  of  your  convictions.  You  must  never 
doubt  the  integrity  of  mine." 

"  Kansas,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed,  in  April,  "  stands  at  the  door 
of  the  Union,  knocking  for  admission.  But  the  latch-string  is 
drawn  in,  because  she  presents  herself  with  a  free  Constitution. 
When  Arkansas  and  Florida  came  with  constitutions  holding 
men,  women,  and  children  in  subjection,  no  obstacles  were  en 
countered.  In  their  admission  the  Free  States  acquiesced.  Then 
Texas,  wrested  from  Mexico  by  filibusters,  was  forced  into  tfie 
confederacy.  .  .  .  Shall  the  door  of  the  Union  be  closed  now 


244  MEMOIR.  [1856. 

\ 
against  a  state  because  that  state  desires  to  enjoy  the  freedom 

to  which  she  is  entitled  by  a  solemn  compact  ?  Let  us  hear  from 
the  people  at  primary  meetings,  in  our  conventions,  and  by  peti 
tion.  Is  it  not  time  to  make  the  experiment  whether  concessions 
to  freedom  are  not  as  effective  in  saving  the  Union  as  conces 
sions  to  slavery?  "... 

"I  find,"  wrote  Seth  C.  Ilawley  to  Mr.  Weed,  from  Cin 
cinnati,  on  the  1st  of  May,  "  that  Seward  has  grown  immensely 
popular  in  this  section.  He  is  allowed  to  be  the  great  man  of 
Congress  and  the  great  power  at  Washington,  second  only  to 
the  power  of  slavery.  In  this  he  has  no  competitor.  And  it  is 
worthy  of  observation  that  this  idea  is  openly  expressed  by  ex 
treme  Hunkers,  Democratic,  and  Whig.  ...  Is  it  not  possible 
that  we  are  mistaken  in  supposing  that  he  is  not  our  best  candi 
date  ?  .  .  .  Governor  Raymond  tells  the  Native  Americans  that 
you  say  that  Republicans  cannot  nominate  the  same  man  they 
take ;  and  it  makes  them  very  uncomfortable  to  hear  it.  He 
should  not  quote  you  to  that  effect,  whatever  the  fact  may  be." 

[MR.    SEWARD    TO    MR.    WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  May  4, 1856. 

DEAR  WEED,  —  I  do  not  intend  to  question  or  doubt  in  any  way 
the  wisdom  of  any  one  in  regard  to  the  nomination,  but  what  seems  to 
me  unnecessarily  hard  is  that  I  am  made  by  my  friends  to  stand  in 
the  way  of  a  candidate  they  want  to  nominate.  Nor  can  I  yet  under 
stand  why  I  must  be  set  up  as  a  candidate  to  be  beaten  in  the  conven 
tion,  instead  of  being  allowed  to  practice  the  moderation  and  gen 
erosity  of  giving  a  clear  field. 

Perhaps  I  shall  find  out  that  this  is  a  necessary  course  on  the  part 
of  political  friends ;  but  I  do  not  expect  to  be  satisfied  that  it  is  gen 
erous  or  kind  towards  me.  You  alone,  however,  will  know  of  this 
sensibility  on  my  part.  For  the  future  I  am  not  over-anxious  ;  but  it 
is  very  decidedly  my  impression  that  the  time  has  come  for  me  to 
give  up  public  life  altogether,  and  retire  with  dignity  at  the  close  of 
this  session  of  Congress,  when  my  policy  will  have  been  inaugurated, 
and  Republicans  will  feel  it  a  relief  to  be  discharged  of  fancied  claims 
of  mine  for  reward. 

Yours  faithfully,  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 

These  letters  suggest  a  question  which  has  often  been  asked . 
Why  was  not  Mr.  Seward  the  Republican  candidate  for  Presi 
dent  in  1856  ? 


1856.]  THE   OUTLOOK  ANALYZED.  245 

Mr.  Weed  did  not  believe  that  the  Republicans  could  succeed 
in  their  first  national  canvass.  The  party  was  in  its  infancy. 
It  was  not  "  in  running  order."  Its  strength  was  uncertain. 
The  Democrats  were  compact  and  hopeful.  Their  nomination 
of  James  Buchanan  gave  them  every  southern  electoral  vote, 
and  was  believed  to  ensure  their  success  in  Pennsylvania.  They 
were  certain  to  increase  their  popular  vote,  as  cast  for  Mr. 
Pierce  in  1852,  while  it  was  doubtful  if  Republicans  could  in 
crease  the  vote  cast  by  the  Whigs  for  General  Scott.  The 
Know  Nothings  were  a  troublesome  factor,  partly  because  of 
their  platform,  which  prevented  a  fusion  of  all  forces  opposed 
to  slavery,  and  partly  because  of  their  mysterious,  oath-bound 
operations,  which  Mr.  Weed  detested  cordially,  and  by  which 
he  was  to  a  certain  extent  perplexed.  In  session  at  Philadel 
phia,  in  February,  four  months  before  the  other  parties  took 
the  field,  the  Know  Nothings  nominated  Millard  Fillmore  as 
their  candidate  for  President. 

It  has  been  said  that  "  his  failure  to  nominate  Mr.  Seward  in 
185G  was  a  great  disappointment  to  Mr.  Weed."  Nothing 
could  be  farther  from  the  truth.  Had  Mr.  Weed  consented  to 
the  plan,  Mr.  Seward  would  have  been  nominated.  It  was  with 
difficulty  that  he  prevailed  upon  his  friends  to  bide  their  time 
until  the  next  national  canvass.  He  reasoned  that  the  Know 
Nothings,  were  Mr.  Seward  nominated,  would  ensure  the  elec 
tion  of  Mr.  Buchanan.  Even  as  against  any  other  Republican, 
Mr.  Buchanan  was  almost  sure  to  be  elected,  and,  if  elected, 
Mr.  Weed  thought,  absolutely  certain  to  make  so  many  mis 
takes  that  nothing  could  prevent  Republican  ascendancy  in 
18GO.  It  was  only  four  years  to  wait,  and  under  the  circum 
stances  nothing  was  to  be  gained  by  precipitancy. 

When  he  reached  this  conclusion,  having  no  preference  for 
any  special  candidate,  he  watched  for  indications  of  popular  sen 
timent,  as  between  Speaker  Banks,  Colonel  Fremont,  or  Judge 
McLean.  "  In  May,"  he  writes,  "  the  way  opened  too  bright 
and  clear  to  mislead  any  political  pathfinder.  I  then  became 
assured  that  Fremont  was  the  best  man  to  put  in  nomination." 

Virginia,  Kentucky,  Delaware,  and  Maryland  joined  the  Free 
States  in  sending  delegates  to  the  national  convention,  in  June. 
Kansas,  Nebraska,  and  Minnesota,  then  territories,  and  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia,  also  responded  to  the  Pittsburg  call.  Henry 


246  MEMOIR.  [1856. 

S.  Lane,  of  Indiana,  presided,  and  nearly  a  thousand  delegates 
were  present.  John  Charles  Fremont,  a  native  of  Georgia,  re 
ceived  the  vote  of  New  York  and  was  nominated  on  the  first 
ballot.  Mr.  Seward  wrote  a  letter  withdrawing  his  own  name, 
which  was  not  presented.  Among  candidates  for  Vice-President 
were  William  L.  Dayton,  Abraham  Lincoln,  Charles  Sunnier, 
General  Banks,  and  David  Wilmot.  Mr.  Dayton  was  nomi 
nated. 

The  New  York  "  Democratic-Republican  "  convention  met  at 
Syracuse  011  the  24th  of  July.  The  call  was  signed  by  Elbridge 
G.  Lapham,  Ward  Hunt,  James  S.  Wads  worth,  Edward  Wade, 
Lucius  Robinson  and  A.  S.  Devin.  This  assemblage  refused 
to  acknowledge  the  Buchanan  convention  as  an  exponent  of 
true  Democratic  doctrine,  on  account  of  its  pro-slavery  attitude, 
and  an  address,  written  by  David  Dudley  Field,  of  New  York, 
was  adopted,  setting  forth  what  was  understood  to  be  the  creed 
of  Jackson,  Jefferson,  and  Silas  Wright.  This  convention 
endorsed  the  nomination  of  Fremont  and  Dayton.  Among  del 
egates  were  Charles  J.  Folger,  of  Geneva ;  George  W.  Luther, 
of  Albany ;  D.  D.  S.  Brown  and  Roswell  Hart,  of  Rochester ; 
and  John  M.  Francis,  of  Troy. 

An  "  Old-Line  Whig  "  convention  met  at  Albany  011  the  14th 
of  August.  The  delegates  were  mainly  from  New  York  city. 
They  came  up  by  the  night  boat,  which,  according  to  Mr.  Weed's 
article  the  next  day,  "  got  lost  somewhere  down  the  river  in  a 
fog,  so  that  the  Old-Liners  felt  perfectly  at  home,  as  they  have 
been  in  a  political  fog  now  for  three  years."  Among  these 
gentlemen  were  Francis  Granger,  Daniel  B.  St.  John,  James 
Kidcl,  and  James  R.  Lawrence.  The  design  of  their  meeting 
was  to  correct  the  impression  that  the  Whig  party  was  defunct. 

The  Republican  state  convention  met  at  Syracuse  on  the 
17th  of  September.  The  call  was  signed  by  Edwin  D.  Morgan, 
Simeon  Draper,  John  L.  Schoolcraft,  Samuel  P.  Allen,  and 
others.  Among  delegates  were  Theodore  F.  Humphrey  and 
Hale  Kingsley,  of  Albany ;  N.  M.  Allen,  of  Cattaraugus  ;  John 
T.  Hogeboorn,  of  Hudson ;  W.  G.  Waite,  of  Johnstown  ;  Moses 
Taggert,  of  Batavia  ;  Burt  Van  Horn,  of  Niagara ;  Owen  W. 
Brennan,  Andrew  Bleakley,  Isaac  Dayton,  of  New  York ;  Bloom- 
field  Usher,  of  St.  Lawrence ;  and  Charles  Hughes,  of  Sandy 
Hill.  On  the  first  ballot,  John  A.  King  received  ninety-one 


1856.]  JOHN  A.  KING  FOR    GOVERNOR.  247 

votes ;  James  S.  Wads  worth  seventy-two ;  Simeon  Draper 
twenty-three;  Myron  H.  Clark  and  Ira  Harris,  each  twenty- 
two.  Among  the  scattering  were  votes  for  George  "W.  Patterson 
and  E.  W.  Leavenworth.  On  the  next  ballot  Draper,  Leaven- 
worth,  and  Patterson  withdrew,  and  King  received  one  hundred 
and  fifty-eight  votes,  Wadsworth  seventy-three,  and  Clark  ten. 
Mr.  King's  nomination  was  then  made  unanimous.  An  effort 
was  made  to  nominate  Mr.  Wadsworth  for  Lieutenant-Gover 
nor,  but  it  was  stated,  by  authority,  that  he  would  not  accept 
that  position,  for  which  Henry  L.  Selden  was  then  nominated. 

Thus  at  the  first  Republican  gubernatorial  convention  in  New 
York,  although  the  candidate  whose  nomination  was  urged  by 
Mr.  Weed  was  successful,  a  good-sized  minority  which  dis 
puted  his  leadership  was  developed.  Their  difference  with  Mr. 
Weed,  however,  was  entirely  a  matter  of  principle.  Votes 
cast  for  Governor  Clark  represented  a  radical  sentiment  on  the 
liquor  question ;  votes  cast  for  General  Wadsworth,  a  radical 
sentiment  concerning  slavery.  On  account  of  the  attitude  which 
these  candidates  held,  respectively,  in  regard  to  prohibition  and 
abolition,  either  would  have  been  overwhelmingly  defeated,  had 
he  received  the  nomination. 

John  A.  King  was  elected.  He  represented  the  sound  judg 
ment  and  morality  of  the  people.  They  knew  his  record,  and 
it  was  approved,  as  it  deserved  to  be.  His  public  life  began  in 
1819,  when  he  went  to  the  Assembly,  to  which  he  was  re  elected 
six  times.  Subsequently  he  served  in  Congress,  where  he  was 
a  consistent  exponent  of  Whig  principles.  When  the  Repub 
lican  party  was  formed,  he  was  among  the  first  to  join  in  that 
movement,  and  presided  over  its  first  state  convention,  at  Syra 
cuse.  A  man  of  culture,  who  inherited  aristocratic  position,  as 
youth  and  man  he  was  ever  an  unostentatious,  true-hearted  gen 
tleman.  He  and  Mr.  Weed  had  been  friends  for  thirty  years. 

After  abandoning  his  own  party  because  it  had  become 
"tainted  with  free  soil,"  Mr.  Fillmore  now  proclaimed  that 
the  South  ought  to  dissolve  the  Union  in  case  of  Fremont's 
election.  This  threat  incensed  Mr.  Weed  beyond  measure.  It 
was  a  little  more  than  he  was  able  to  condemn  in  the  formal 
language  of  polished  controversy.  Forgetting  Governor  Patter 
son's  advice,  "  to  leave  him  alone,"  he  attacked  Mr.  Fillmore 
without  mercy.  "Deserter,"  " Backslider,"  and  "  Decoy  duck 


248  MEMOIR.  [1856. 

for  slavery,"  were  among  the  mildest  epithets  which  he  hurled 
day  after  day  at  the  Know  Nothing  candidate.  "  Mr.  Bu 
chanan,"  he  wrote,  "  expects  to  receive  the  united  vote  of  the 
Slave  States.  Why  then  does  Mr.  Fillmore  remain  in  the  field, 
except  to  divide  the  vote  of  the  North  ?  " 

In  November  Mr.  Buchanan  carried  the  fourteen  Slave  States, 
and  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  California. 
He  received  1,838,169  votes.  Colonel  Fremont  carried  the  re 
maining  eleven  Northern  States,  and  had  a  popular  vote  of 
1,341,264,  —  50,000  less  than  were  polled  for  General  Scott  in 
1852.  Mr.  Fillmore  secured  the  electoral  vote  of  Maryland, 
and  a  popular  vote  of  874,534, — the  largest  ever  polled  for 
a  "  third  party  "  candidate.  ' 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

1857-1859. 

MR.  WEED'S  READINESS  TO  ABDICATE.  —  PROGRESS  OF  THE  KANSAS  CON 
TEST.  —  DECISION  IN  THE  DRED  SCOTT  CASE.  —  THE  REPUBLICAN  STATE 
CONVENTION  OF  1858.  —  NOMINATION  OF  E.  D.  MORGAN.  —  GOVERNOR 
HUNT'S  DECISION.  —  MR.  SEWARD'S  TRIP  TO  EUROPE.  —  LOOKING  FOR- 
WARD  TO  THE  NEXT  NATIONAL  CAMPAIGN. — ELECTION  RESULTS. — 
JOHN  BROWN. 

"  OBEDIENCE  to  the  law  of  nature,"  to  use  his  own  phrase, 
suggested  to  Mr.  Weed  in  1855  the  propriety  of  withdrawal 
from  active  editorship,  but  his  friends  would  not  think  of  consent 
ing  to  such  a  step,  and  he  was  now  working  as  regularly  and 
industriously  as  ever  in  his  old  seat.  He  often  expressed  cheer 
ful  readiness,  however,  to  resign  paper  and  pen  to"  any  successor 
whom  his  party  or  his  friends  might  indicate. 

His  solicitude  lest  he  might  seem  to  be  holding  on  to  power 
beyond  the  time  when  he  could  render  useful  service  was  gra 
tuitous.  At  the  age  of  sixty  he  had  not  lost  that  elasticity, 
mental  and  physical,  which  is  required  for  intelligent  dealing 
with  public  affairs.  Indeed,  he  had  never  before  been  so  well 
qualified  to  lead  a  great  party.  But  there  was  a  certain  gran 
deur  in  the  way  he  had  of  disdaining  considerations  such  as 
would  have  been  rated  all-important  by  men  who  from  time  to 
time  have  set  themselves  up  as  censors.  He  filed  no  claim  for 
a  pension.  He  not  only  never  sought,  but  steadfastly  refused 
the  places  of  public  distinction  and  emolument  which  are  com 
monly  striven  after  and  prized  as  the  realization  of  high  political 
ambition.  He  chose  to  have  his  friends  governors,  senators, 
presidents.  For  the  paper  which  was  of  his  "  own  procreation," 
he  did  not  care  ten  groats,  so  long  as  it  did  not  pass  into 
faithless  hands.  The  benefit  of  his  matchless  political  ability 
was  always  reaped  by  others.  He  was  equally  willing  that 
others  should  take  the  property  upon  which  he  had  lavished 
unstinted  labor  for  thirty  years. 


250  MEMOIR.  [1857. 

1857. — Throughout  the  later  portion  of  the  administration 
of  Franklin  Pierce  a  desultory  sort  of  civil  war  continued  to 
ravage  Kansas.  The  Topeka  legislature  attempted  to  reassem 
ble,  but  the  members  were  dispersed  by  United  States  troops. 
The  towns  of  Lawrence  and  Ossawatomie  were  sacked.  Mr. 
Buchanan's  term  began  on  the  3d  of  March,  1857.  Soon  after 
wards  free  soil  settlers  were  induced  to  recognize  the  Pawnee 
authorities,  so  far  as  to  participate  in  an  election  which  they 
had  ordered,  and  the  majority  in  the  accredited  legislature  was 
thus  reversed.  But  a  convention  to  which  members  had  been 
elected  in  the  interests  of  slavery,  before  this  result,  assembled 
at  Lecompton,  on  the  4th  of  September,  and  submitted  a  new 
Constitution  to  the  people,  who  were  granted  the  privilege  of 
adopting  it  "  with"  or  "  without"  slavery.  This  option  afford 
ing  no  opportunity  for  rejecting  the  Constitution  altogether, 
free  soilers  generally  abstained  from  voting,  and  the  Constitu 
tion  "  with  "  slavery  received  a  majority.  The  legislature  then 
ordered  a  new  election,  which  permitted  voters  to  pass  upon  the 
entire  question,  and  the  Lecompton  Constitution  was  rejected. 
It  was  held  by  Democrats,  however,  that  this  verdict  was  irreg 
ular,  as  the  legislature  had  no  power  to  order  such  an  election. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Kansas  question  was  angrily  debated  at 
Washington,  where,  in  the  heat  of  the  excitement,  Charles  Sum- 
ner,  of  Massachusetts,  was  asaulted  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  by 
Congressman  Brooks,  of  South  Carolina,  a  relative  of  Senator 
Butler,  whom  Mr.  Sumner  had  criticised.  The  House  censured 
Mr.  Brooks,  who  resigned  and  returned  home,  whereupon  his 
constituents  presented  him  with  a  gold-headed  cane  and  re 
turned  him  to  Congress. 

"  The  enemies  of  freedom  never  yet  saw  such  a  battery  as  the 
'Journal'  mounted  yesterday,"  wrote  his  friend  Charles  A. 
Stetson  to  Mr.  Weed.  "  Let  them  keep  their  distance." 

"  I  remained  in  Kansas  until  I  was  satisfied  that  it  was  as 
sure  for  freedom  as  Massachusetts,"  wrote  George  W.  Patter 
son  to  Mr.  Weed.  .  „  .  "  Buchanan  did  a  very  clever  thing  for 
us  in  removing  Wier  as  District- Attorney  and  appointing  Davis. 
Wier  received  news  of  his  removal  at  St.  Louis,  on  his  return 
from  Washington,  and  went  •immediately  home  and  helped  the 
two  Republicans  of  the  board  to  appoint  two  free  state  men, 
and  one  pro-slaver  as  judges  of  election  in  every  election  dis- 


1857J  JUDGE   TANEY'S  DECISION.  251 

trict  in  the  territory,  except  three  new  ones,  where,  not  know 
ing  their  men,  they  had  to  4  pick  them  up '  by  guess  work,  but 
in  those  districts  they  will  be  closely  watched.  All  the  appoint 
ments  were  made  before  Davis's  commission  was  received." 

Two  days  after  Mr.  Buchanan  was  sworn  into  office  Chief 
Justice  Taney,  of  the  Supreme  Court,  handed  down  a  decision 
in  the  Dred  Scott  case,  holding,  according  to  a  popular  inter 
pretation,  that  "  negroes  have  no  rights  which  white  men  are 
bound  to  respect."  Scott  had  been  a  slave  in  Missouri.  In 
1834  he  went  with  his  master  to  Illinois,  and  then  to  Minne 
sota,  where  he  lived  five  or  six  years.  He  then  went  back  with 
his  master  to  Missouri,  where  he  was  soon  afterwards  whipped. 
Claiming  that  he  had  secured  freedom  by  residence  in  a  state 
and  territory  both  of  which  forbade  slavery,  he  brought  suit  for 
assault  and  battery,  and  the  case  ,went  to  the  court  of  last  re 
sort.  Judge  Taney's  verdict  was  a  great  victory  for  the  slave 
power.  It  not  only  practically  reduced  blacks  at  the  South  to 
a  level  with  inanimate  property,  but  incidentally  decided  that, 
as  slavery  was  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution,  no  slaveholder 
could  be  prevented  from  settling  in  any  part  of  the  country, 
with  his  slaves  or  without  them,  as  he  might  elect. 

In  the  summer  of  1858  the  Republicans  of  New  York  were 
to  designate  a  candidate  to  succeed  Mr.  King  as  governor.  Mr. 
Weed's  earliest  choice  was  Simeon  Draper.  Arrangements 
were  on  foot,  looking  to  his  nomination,  when,  a  few  weeks 
before  the  convention,  Mr.  Draper  became  so  seriously  embar 
rassed  in  business  enterprises  as  to  occasion  a  sudden  and  un 
expected  failure.  All  his  time,  therefore,  was  engrossed  in  the 
adjustment  of  his  own  affairs.  The  name  of  James  M.  Cook, 
of  Saratoga,  who  had  served  creditably  to  himself  and  usefully 
to  the  State  as  Senator,  Bank  Superintendent,  and  Comptroller, 
was  then  hastily  canvassed.  Mr.  Weed's  friends  generally  re 
ceived  it  with  favor,  and  for  a  brief  interval,  it  was  confidently 
expected  that  he  would  be  the  candidate.  But  circumstances, 
in  no  way  reflecting  upon  General  Cook's  personal  qualities, 
demanded  a  sudden  change  of  front,  and  it  became  Mr.  Weed's 
painful  duty  to  inform  his  expectant  friend  that  he  could  not 
be  nominated. 

Contrary  to  his  usual  custom,  Mr.  Weed  went  as  a  delegate 
to  the  state  convention,  and  named  Edwin  D.  Morgan,  of  New 


252  MEMOIR.  [1858. 

York,  as  his  choice  for  Governor.  The  convention  contained 
all  the  opposition  votes  which  Know  Nothings,  Radicals,  and 
remnants  of  the  Prohibition  party  were  able  to  muster,  and 
they  were  all  united  upon  one  aspirant ;  but  Mr.  Morgan  was 
nominated,  and  elected.  He  had  been  an  uncompromising  op 
ponent  of  the  Fillmore  administration,  and  had  a  clear  record, 
by  votes  in  the  state  legislature,  against  the  fugitive  slave  law 
and  outrages  in  Kansas.  Mr.  Weed  formed  a  high  estimate  of 
his  executive  ability  during  the  canvass  of  1856,  when  Mr.  Mor 
gan  was  chairman  of  the  national  Republican  committee. 

[GOVERXOR  MORGAN  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

ALBANY,  January  16,  1850. 

DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  I  am  glad  to  know  the  policy  to  be  pursued 
by  the  administration.1  As  for  prohibiting  slavery  in  territory  now 
free,  I  agree  with  you  that  Whigs  must  assert  that  principle  clearly 
and  firmly.  Being  in  a  minority  in  the  House,  and  with  but  two 
majority  in  the  Senate,  it  is  in  the  latter  alone  that  we  can  assist  this 
principle.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  private  wishes  of  those  in 
the  southern  part  of  the  State,  where  at  all  times  we  have  had  less  of 
the  free  soil  feeling,  we  shall  now  without  exception  give  our  aid  to 
our  party. 

...  I  shall  be  pleased  to  have  your  suggestions  as  often  as  you 
can  possibly  find  leisure  to  write. 

Truly  yours,  E.  D.  MORGAN. 

It  was  not  until  after  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Morgan  that 
the  relations  between  Mr.  Weed  and  Washington  Hunt,  which 
had  been  growing  for  some  time  less  and  less  friendly,  owing 
to  the  ex-Go vernor's  refusal  to  join  the  Republican  movement, 
finally  became  inimical.  Soon  after  the  state  canvass  began, 
it  was  announced  that  Governor  Hunt  intended  to  support  Lo 
renzo  Burrows,  the  Know  Nothing  candidate.  To  Mr.  Weed 
this  decision  seemed  absolutely  indefensible,  in  view  of  Gover 
nor  Hunt's  record  and  past  affiliations  ;  and  it  was  all  the 
harder  to  bear  when  the  Democrats  had,  in  Judge  Parker,  of 
Albany,  an  exceptionally  strong  candidate.  But  every  effort 
to  induce  the  ex-Governor  to  unite  with  the  Republicans  proved 
unavailing. 

1  This  letter  was  written  to  Mr.  Weed  at  Washington.  President  Taylor 
was  still  alive. 


1858.]      THE  EX-GOVERNOR'S  POSITION  DEFINED.        253 

[GOVERNOR   HUNT  TO  MR.   WEED.] 

LOCKPORT,  November  15,  1858. 

MY  DEAR  WEED,  —  I  read  your  letter  with  mingled  regret  and 
astonishment.  It  took  me  by  surprise.  I  see  in  it  another  instance 
of  the  malign  influence  of  partisan  excitement  working  upon  a  mind 
naturally  just  and  generous. 

After  weighing  your  complaints  with  perfect  candor,  I  deny  em 
phatically  and  without  "  circumlocution  "  that  there  is  any  sufficient 
ground  for  them.  They  are  not  justified  either  by  my  conduct  or  my 
intentions.  I  persuade  myself  that  a  calm  survey  of  the  whole  ground 
will  bring  you  to  the  same  conclusion.  Let  us  begin  at  the  beginning. 

We  were  Whigs  together.  The  Republican  party  was  formed  in 
1855.  I  declined  to  join  it  for  reasons  which  were  frankly  expressed 
in  advance.  Personal  feeling  and  cherished  attachments  impelled  me 
to  follow  the  majority  of  my  Whig  associates  into  the  new  organiza 
tion.  If  any  desire  for  personal  advancement  could  have  influenced 
me,  certainly  my  interests  were  in  that  direction.  But  I  was  re 
strained  by  honest  convictions  of  duty.  I  could  not  bring  my  mind  to 
approve  the  basis  of  the  new  party,  and  I  decided  the  question  against 
myself  upon  principles  which  governed  my  judgment.  You  consid 
ered  my  opinions  wrong,  but  conceded  my  right  to  entertain  them.  It 
was  no  lack  of  gratitude  towards  old  associates  that  kept  me  from 
joining  in  the  Republican  movement.  .  .  .  The  Whig  party  was  dis 
solved  against  my  judgment,  and  I  was  not  responsible  for  it. 

I  am  told  that  I  placed  myself  ''  in  a  false  position."  I  knew  very 
well  that  I  was  taking  the  weaker  side,  —  but  that  sacrifice  was  made 
deliberately,  in  the  belief  that  there  are  worse  things  than  being  in  the 
minority.  If  you  did  not  deem  it  ground  for  personal  offense  in 
1855,  why  be  offended  because  I  could  not  join,  or  appear  to  join,  the 
Republicans  of  1858  ?  Why  impute  it  to  lack  of  gratitude,  or  appre 
ciation  of  your  former  services?  Why  do  yourself  and  me  the  injus 
tice  to  .say  that  I  "  spurned  your  advice  "  ?  It  was  no  disrespect  for 
Mr.  Weed,  no  forgetfulness  of  former  relations,  no  distrust  of  his  sin 
cerity  or  friendship  which  determined  me  to  stand  where  I  have  stood 
and  where  I  stand.  Far  from  it.  ... 

You  object  to  the  tenor  of  my  Albany  letter.  What  there  was  in 
that  letter  to  cause  "  pain  "  or  "  mortification  "  to  you  or  to  any  other 
mortal  man  is  to  me  incomprehensible.  It  contained  no  unkind  word 
or  allusion.  It  breathed  a  spirit  of  conciliation,  which  was  commended 
by  many  Republicans.  You  assume  that  Mr.  Morgan  was  my  friend 
and  supporter,  and  that  Mr.  Burrows  was  not.  Of  course  you  think 
so ;  but  it  is  an  erroneous  impression.  I  always  regarded  them  both 


254  MEMOIR.  [1859. 

as  friends  and  supporters.  .  .  .  Shall  it  be  said  that  I  could  not  vote 
for  one  of  these  gentlemen  without  ingratitude  to  the  other,  or  that  I 
cannot  speak  well  of  one  without  injustice  to  the  other  ?  I  aimed  to 
speak  kindly  of  Mr.  Morgan,  and  to  show  that  nothing  separated  us 
but  a  mere  difference  of  political  opinion  and  action.  ...  I  call  this 
honor  and  fair  dealing,  not  "  circumlocution,"  —  a  word  which  I  dis 
dain  and  repel. 

But  you  say  my  letter  was  drawn  from  me  by  two  of  your  personal 
enemies.  Here  again  you  labor  under  a  misapprehension.  I  wrote 
through  no  agency  of  those  enemies,  or  of  anybody  in  Albany.  After 
the  nominations  at  Syracuse  it  seemed  to  me,  in  looking  over  the  pro 
ceedings,  that  the  American  convention  had  made  a  fair  effort  for 
union,  and  had  not  been  met.  When  friends  inquired  of  me,  I  re 
plied  that  I  should  vote  for  Mr.  Burrows.  A  friend  of  his  (not  a  resi 
dent  of  Albany)  applied  to  me  to  address  a  meeting  in  your  city.  I 
declined,  but  finally  promised  to  write  a  letter  declaring  my  intention 
to  vote  for  Burrows.  Therefore,  in  writing  that  letter  I  simply  kept 
my  word.  I  informed  you  of  this  fact,  and  certainly  you  did  not  ask 
or  desire  me  to  violate  my  promise.  .  .  . 

But  why  write  a  letter  for  publication  if  I  feel  but  little  concern  in 
political  affairs  ?  My  indifference  is  not  of  that  degree  which  leads 
one  to  renounce  the  rights  and  duties  of  a  private  citizen.  I  expect  to 
vote  and  express  my  opinion  sometimes,  if  any  man  asks  for  it  in  a 
civil  way.  My  real  meaning  was  that  political  concerns  occupy  but 
a  small  share  of  my  thoughts.  .  .  .  You  thought  I  could  induce  the 
American  candidates  to  withdraw.  I  deemed  it  impracticable.  I  had 
no  power  to  accomplish  it,  even  if  I  could  have  multiplied  myself  a 
hundred  times.  I  did  n't  belong  to  their  party.  ...  I  did  n't  expect 
to  write  so  long  a  letter.  I  have  written  it  because  I  was  unwilling 
that  you  should  remain  under  impressions  which  are  unjust  to  me  and 
unworthy  of  you.  I  have  not  forgotten  the  past.  I  have  never  as 
sailed  you,  or  encouraged  anybody  in  so  doing.  In  fine,  I  have  done 
nothing  to  merit  reproaches  or  to  sunder  the  ties  of  personal  friend 
ship.  You  assure  me  that  there  is  no  unkindness  in  your  heart.  You 
know,  or  ought  to  know,  that  there  is  none  in  mine  ;  and  that  when 
my  opinions  have  compelled  me  to  dissent  from  yours,  it  has  been  in 
sorrow,  and  never  in  anger.  If,  however,  you  adhere  to  all  the  senti 
ments  expressed  in  your  last  letter,  I  shall  be  angry,  as  in  duty  bound. 
Yours  sincerely,  WASHINGTON  HUNT. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1859,  Democratic  papers  at  the 
South  began  to  hint  vaguely  that  "  the  candidate  of  the  Black 
^Republicans  "  was  going  to  Europe  "  in  search  of  material  aid 


1859.]       THE  LOGICAL  REPUBLICAN  CANDIDATE.         255 

to  advance  his  presidential  prospects."  This  stupid  slander 
sprang  from  the  fact  that  Mr.  Seward,  worn  out  by  a  decade  of 
contention  against  the  majority  at  Washington,  entertained  the 
hope  of  taking  a  few  months'  rest  abroad.  "With  the  exception 
of  the  first  few  months  of  his  service,  at  no  time  since  his  elec 
tion  to  the  Senate  had  he  been  on  friendly  terms  with  the  na 
tional  administration;  there  had  not  been  even  a  temporary 
truce  between  him  and  a  President  since  the  death  of  Taylor. 
President  Fillmore  dragooned  all  the  appointees  of  his  adminis 
tration  into  his  effort  to  destroy  Mr.  Seward.  But  Mr.  Fill- 
more  was  himself  destroyed  by  his  own  folly  and  ingratitude. 
After  him  came  President  Pierce,  and  then  President  Buchanan, 
both  of  whom  were  bitterly  opposed  to  the  Senator  from  New 
York.  But  the  more  insolent  and  vindictive  his  enemies  be 
came,  the  clearer  rang  out  Seward's  glowing  pleas  for  freedom. 
All  eyes  now  turned  toward  him  as  the  logical  Kepublican  can 
didate  in  the  approaching  presidential  contest. 

[MR.  GREELEY   TO   GEORGE   E.    BAKER.] 

NEW  YORK,  April  28,  1859. 

FRIEND  BAKER,  —  I  lack  faith  that  the  anti-slavery  men  of  this 
country  have  either  the  numbers  or  the  sagacity  required  to  make  a 
President.  I  do  not  believe  there  are  a  hundred  thousand  earnest 
anti-slavery  men  in  this  State,  or  a  million  in  the  Union.  If  they 
ever  do  choose  a  President,  it  will  be  in  spite  of  themselves,  with  Ger- 
rit  Smith  and  all  such  doing  their  utmost  to  throw  the  country  into 
the  hands  of  the  slavery  propagandists,  as  they  did  in  1844,  and  as 
Gerrit  did  last  fall. 

Slavery  has  not  another  body  of  servitors  half  so  useful  aucl  efficient 
as  the  most  rabid  Abolitionists. 

I  never  said  I  would  vote  for  Crittenden,  but  I  am  willing  to  go 
even  lower  than  that  —  to  support  Sam  Houston  (do  you  know  a  more 
unprincipled  old  wretch  ?)  —  if  I  may  thereby  elect  a  President  in 
opposition  to  the  slavery-extending  party. 

I  hope  Seward  or  Chase  will  be  nominated  on  the  platform  of 
1856,  and  then  I  will  go  to  work  for  him  with  a  will,  but  with  perfect 
certainty  that  we  are  to  be  horribly  beaten.  I  only  want  to  be  in 
such  a  shape  that,  when  the  tiling  is  over,  I  can  say  "  I  told  you  so." 
I  don't  believe  the  time  ever  has  been  (or  soon  will  be)  when,  on  a 
square  issue,  the  Republicans  could  or  can  poll  one  hundred  electoral 
votes.  But  let  her  drive.  Yours,  H.  GREELEY. 


256  MEMOIR.  [1859. 

[MR.    SEWARD    TO    MR.    WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  April  29,  1859. 

DEAR  WEED,  —  The  southern  and  western  politicians  have  habits 
and  usages  different  from  ours.  They  come  upon  me  with  a  directness 
which  confounds  me.  I  have  two  or  three  subjects  submitted  by 
them  which  I  propose  to  you  now,  because  in  the  hurry  of  preparing 
my  business  for  departure  for  Europe  I  must  save  time.  You  can 
keep  this  letter  at  hand  and  refer  to  it  at  leisure. 

Many  southern  gentlemen  express  to  me  a  wish  that  the  national 
convention  may  be  held  somewhere  on  the  border.  Without  express 
ing  any  opinion  about  it  as  an  abstract  question,  I  think  our  friends 
ought  to  know  that  it  was  understood  at  Washington  that  Humphrey 
Marshall  intends  to  go  over  to  the  Democrats.  If  Louisville  should 
be  suggested  as  the  place,  the  committee  would  of  course  consider 
Mr.  Marshall's  position  in  connection  with  the  subject.  It  might  have 
a  bearing  against  such  a  selection. 

The  Baltimore  " "  is  in  trouble.  Mayor  Swayne,  Judge  Lee, 

Mr.  Cole,  and  others  there  want  to  have  the  paper  reorganized  and 
brought  into  the  position  of  an  organ  in  that  State  and  for  the  country 
south  of  the  Potomac,  of  the  Republican  party.  They  had  Simon  Cam 
eron  over  there  a  week  or  two  ago  to  confer.  They  think  they  will 
need  some  funds  from  the  North,  but  I  am  satisfied  that  if  they  only 
had  the  benefit  of  your  advice  and  Cameron's,  they  would  be  able  to 
subscribe  all  the  funds  they  want,  and  would  promptly  do  so.  Came 
ron  and  I  promised  them  that  we  would  ask  you  to  meet  him  there. 
Cameron  knows  them  all,  and  he  will  go  at  any  time. 

Speaking  of  Cameron,  I  promised  him  when  he  left  Washington  to 
spend  a  day  or  so  with  him  on  my  way  home.  He  took  me  to  his 
house,  told  me  all  was  right.  He  was  for  me,  and  Pennsylvania 
would  be.  It  might  happen  that  they  would  cast  the  first  ballot  for 
him,  but  he  was  not  in,  etc.  He  brought  the  whole  legislature  of 
both  parties  to  see  me,  feasted  them  gloriously,  and  they  were  in  the 
main  so  generous  as  to  embarrass  me. 

I  have  Stetson's  letter  to  you.  Corwin  is  uneasy  and  fidgety  ;  but 
persons  who  live  in  Ohio  have  excuses.  They  are  inheritors  of  a 
noble  reversion,  and  they  would  like  to  extinguish  the  present  estate 
without  being  able  or  willing  to  pay  its  cost.  He  wrote  me  a  month 
ago,  inclosing  a  pitiful  piece  of  twaddle  from  a  correspondent  of  the 
"  Express,"  saying  that  he  was  against  me  as  everybody  else  was. 
He  contradicted  the  allegation,  and  said  that  the  Cincinnati  "  Gazette  " 
would  contain  an  authorized  denial.  .  .  . 

You  will  find  John  S.  Pendleton,  of  Virginia,  bold  enough  and  well 


1859.]  MR.    SEWARD    TO  MR.    WEED.  257 

disposed  for  anything.  The  man  in  the  District  of  Columbia  is 
Henry  Addison,  now  Mayor  of  Georgetown.  He  is  wise,  honest,  in 
domitable  and  unreserved.  You  may  send  him  safely  anywhere. 

Yours  faithfully,  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 

I  stayed  in  London  [wrote  Mr.  Seward  from  Leeds,  Yorkshire,  in 
July,]  so  long  as  it  seemed  necessary  to  learn  the  interests  and  the 
men  concerned  in  the  government.  I  found  that  the  element  of  re 
form,  progress,  democracy,  —  call  it  by  what  name  you  will,  —  is 
developed  only  in  the  manufacturing  districts.  I  have  come  out  here 
for  the  purpose  of  studying  that  force.  Birmingham,  Glasgow,  and 
Leeds  are  the  only  towns  I  have  yet  seen,  but  they  are  enough  to 
astonish  and  confound  me.  I  had  no  conception  of  the  greatness 
which  America  has  thrust  upon  England  for  the  purpose  of  saving  the 
institution  of  slavery  for  a  few  years  more. 

1859.  —  "The  victories  achieved  last  Tuesday,"  wrote  Mr. 
Weed,  in  October,  "  thrill  the  hearts  of  the  people  like  the 
sound  of  a  trumpet.  Six  million  freemen  have  spoken.  Their 
utterance  is  that  of  unequivocal '  condemnation  of  the  principles 
and  policy  of  the  administration,1  and  of  the  party  which  sus 
tains  it. 

"  Nor  is  this  a  spasmodic  uprising.  Year  after  year  the 
same  voice  has  been  heard  —  growing  in  strength,  and  volume, 
and  significance,  with  every  reiteration.  Victory  has  followed 
victory,  from  Maine  to  Iowa,  until  now  hardly  a  state,  whose 
soil  is  not  blackened  by  the  footprints  of  slavery,  is  so  poor  as 
to  do  reverence  to  a  party  whose  policy  is  at  war  with  the  fun 
damental  principles  of  the  Republic.  .  .  . 

"  The  importance  of  these  triumphs  cannot  be  over-estimated. 
They  do  not  simply  indicate  hostility  to  the  bad  principles  of 
the  Democratic  party ;  but  that  that  hostility  is  so  inflexible,  so 
4  irrepressible,'  that  it  will  find  utterance  on  every  available 
occasion.  They  sho.w  that  Republicanism  has  its  seat  in  the 
heart  of  the  people  ;  and  it  is  that  fact  which  renders  the  Repub 
lican  party  the  most  formidable  which  has  ever  had  an  existence 
in  this  country.  .  .  . 

"  Republicans  of  New  York :  What  our  brethren  in  other 
states  have  done,  we  must  do.  It  would  be  a  disgrace  to  falter 
when  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and  Iowa  stand  firm.  New  York 
must  hold  her  place  on  the  right  of  the  glorious  army  of  free 
dom." 

1  That  of  James  Buchanan. 
17 


258  MEMOIR.  [1859. 

John  Brown  left  Kansas  in  July,  1859,  and  settled  in  Mary 
land,  with  the  desperate  intention  of  exciting  an  uprising 
among  negroes  in  the  Slave  States. 

On  the  17th  of  October  he  raided  Harper's  Ferry  and  seized 
the  United  States  Arsenal,  which  was  well  supplied  with  arms 
and  ammunition.  Of  course,  he  was.  taken  prisoner.  Shortly 
afterwards  a  Virginia  tribunal  sentenced  him  to  death. 

"  Virginia  justice,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed,  "  has  a  quick  tongue 
and  a  sharp  sword.  Committal,  indictment,  and  trial,  follow 
one  another  with  dramatic  celerity.  A  wounded  man  is  carried 
into  court  within  a  week  after  his  offense.  He  asks  a  day's 
delay,  that  he  may  have  counsel  not  appointed  by  the  tribunal 
before  which  he  is  arraigned.  His  request  is  denied. 

"  In  the  court  of  the  Doges  of  Venice,  there  was  but  the 
'  Bridge  of  Sighs '  between  the  victims  and  the  scaffold.  In 
the  French  reign  of  terror  the  man  imprisoned  to-day  found  his 
door  chalked  for  the  guillotine  to-morrow.  On  board  the  Som- 
ers  there  was  but  a  'short  shrift'  between  an  imagined  mu 
tiny  and  the  yard-arm.  Old  Ossawattomie  Brown  raises  his 
voice  to  exclaim,  in  the  spirit  which  animated  Kobert  Emmet : 
'  You  are  mine  enemy,  and  make  my  challenge ;  you  shall  not 
be  my  judge.'  Since  the  day  when  Paul  spoke  to  Agrippa  we 
have  heard  nothing  more  truly  sublime  than  his  response  to  the 
tribunal  before  which  he  stood  to  receive  sentence  of  death.  .  .  . 

"  We  regret  that  Governor  Wise  persists  in  his  determina 
tion.  Neither  the  dignity  nor  the  safety  of  the  State  of  Vir 
ginia  demands  this  sanguinary  termination  of  the  affair  at 
Harper's  Ferry.  But  John  Brown  and  his  associates  will  un 
doubtedly  be  hanged,  and  thus,  instead  of  being  remembered  as 
imprisoned  criminals,  they  will  be  shrined  as  martyrs ;  and  their 
acts,  instead  of  being  characterized  as  insurrectionary,  will  be 
tortured  into  deeds  of  chivalric  heroism.  The  execution  of  this 
man  will  do  more  to  intensify  anti-slavery  agitation  than  the 
arrest  and  imprisonment  of  ten  thousand  other  men,  insane  and 
criminal  enough  to  attempt  to  run  off  negroes  from  the  South. 
Already  the  muttered  thunder  of  pent-up  sympathy  is  heard."  ) 


CHAPTER  XX. 

1860. 

THE  DEMOCRATIC  CONVENTION  AT  CHARLESTON.  —  PLAN  OF  THE  SB- 
CESSION  LEADERS.  —  MR.  WEED  AND  THE  SEWARD  CANVASS. — LETTER 
FROM  MR.  BOWLES.  —  THE  CHICAGO  CONVENTION  OF  I860.  —  WITH 
DRAWAL  OF  MR.  CAMERON.  —  NOMINATION  OF  MR.  LINCOLN.  —  THE 
DECISIVE  BALLOT  IN  DETAIL.  —  POSITION  OF  PROMINENT  DELEGATES. 
—  HANNIBAL  HAMLIN  FOR  VICE-PRESIDENT. 

THE  leading  candidate  for  the  presidential  nomination  at  the 
hands  of  the  Democratic  party  in  1860  was  Stephen  A.  Dong- 
las,  of  Illinois.  In  Congress  he  had  been  one  of  the  ablest 
defenders  of  the  fugitive  slave  law,  and  had  voted  steadily 
against  the  Wilmot  Proviso.  But  he  had  not  been  absolutely 
subservient  to  the  South,  and  thus  lost  the  support  of  that  sec 
tion.  Other  candidates  were  named,  when  the  convention  was 
about  to  meet,  among  whom  Vice-President  Breckenridge,  Jef 
ferson  Davis,  Mr.  Guthrie,  of  Kentucky,  Senator  Lane,  of  Ore 
gon,  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  and  General  Houston,  of  Texas, 
were  the  most  prominent. 

The  convention  was  held  at  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  on 
the  23d  of  April.  Sprinkled  generously  among  the  delegates 
were  many  rabid  pro-slavery  men,  who,  alarmed  by  the  tempest 
which  was  fast  gathering  on  the  northern  horizon,  saw,  or  pre 
tended  to  see,  no  security  for  slavery  except  in  the  establishment, 
of  a  new  national  government,  to  be  composed  entirely  of 
slave-holding  states.  With  these  men  the  presidential  contest 
was  only  an  episode  in  the  grand  tragedy  of  disunion.  Still,  it 
was  an  episode  of  tremendous  consequence,  upon  which  the  fate 
of  the  whole  conspiracy  turned.  To  have  Mr.  Davis,  or  Mr. 
Breckenridge,  or  Mr.  Stephens  nominated  over  Mr.  Douglas, 
and  elected,  was  by  no  means  what  these  extremists  desired. 
They  did  not  want  to  make  any  Democrat  President ;  but,  by 
insuring  the  election  of  a  "  Black  Republican,"  to  furnish  the 
Slave  States  a  pretext  for  rebellion. 


260  MEMOIR.  [1860. 

In  order  to  carry  out  this  design,  it  was  necessary,  first,  to 
defeat  Senator  Douglas  at  Charleston,  and  next  to  render  his 
election,  in  case  of  his  nomination  by  any  other  convention,  im 
possible.  Whom  the  Eepublicans  might  nominate  mattered 
little.  It  was  necessary  only  that  the  Republican  candidate 
should  succeed.  Then,  it  was  reasoned,  the  Slave  States  could 
be  plunged  into  secession,  on  the  plea  that  thus  only  were  their 
rights  secure.  And  so  the  Charleston  convention  was  deliber 
ately  split,  one  section  subsequently  nominating  Mr.  Douglas, 
of  Illinois,  and  the  other  Mr.  Breckenridge,  of  Kentucky. 

1 860.  —  By  no  one  were  these  proceedings  watched  more 
closely  or  more  intelligently  than  by  Mr.  Weed.  And  when  it 
became  altogether  probable,  as  it  now  did,  that  the  nominee  of 
the  Republicans  was  to  win,  solicitude  was  intensified.  The 
Republican  convention  was  to  assemble  at  Chicago  on  the  16th 
of  May.  Mr.  Weed's  interest  in  it  was  more  profound  than  he 
had  ever  felt  in  any  other  political  gathering.  The  far-off  can 
vass  of  1824,  in  which,  according  to  Mr.  Greeley,  "  he  rendered 
services  but  for  which  John  Quincy  Adams  would  not  have 
been  President,"  seemed  like  child's  play  in  comparison.  The 
Harrison  triumph  was  nipped  in  the  bud  ;  the  promise  of  Gen 
eral  Taylor's  time,  "  like  Dead  Sea  fruit,  had  turned  to  ashes  on 
the  lips."  Now  came  the  crowning  opportunity  of  a  life-time ; 
not  to  make  a  man  President  because  he  was  a  personal  friend, 
but  to  raise  to  that  splendid  station  one  who  was  greater  than 
Adams  or  Harrison  or  Taylor,  and  at  a  time  when  the  very 
existence  of  the  nation  was  trembling  in  the  balance. 

[SAMUEL  BOWLES  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

SPRINGFIELD,  MASS.,  March  5. 

MY  DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  The  reaction  in  favor  of  Seward  is  very 
marked  in  this  State.  Our  delegation  would  have  been  satisfactory  to 
you  any  way.  Now  it  will  be  so  strong  for  Seward  as  to  be  against 
anybody  else.  All  the  New  England  delegates,  save  Connecticut's, 
will  be  equally  satisfactory.  I  hear  of  ultra  old  Whigs  in  Boston  who 
say  they  are  ready  to  take  up  Mr.  Seward  upon  his  recent  speech. 
Banks  writes  me  that  he  is  greatly  impressed  with  it,  and  that  it  must 
and  should  enhance  Seward's  prospects. 

I  want  to  thank  you,  my  dear  sir,  for  the  very  interesting  afternoon 
you  gave  me  at  your  house.  I  have  long  desired  to  know  you,  for 


I860.]  MR.  BOWLES   TO  MR.    WEED.  261 

myself,  as  well  as  through  others  ;  and  I  treasure  that  opportunity,  its 
confidences,  and  its  impressions,  as  among  the  most  agreeable  incidents 
of  my  life. 

There  are  few  men  I  care  to  know  well.  Not  all  in  political  life 
will  bear  close  observation.  But  my  faith  in  human  nature  and  in  you 
was  warmed  and  cheered  by  that  interview.  It  is  of  small  conse 
quence  to  you  to  know  this,  but  it  is  a  pleasure  to  me  to  say  it,  and  so 
I  have.  I  feel  now  that  I  have  an  independent  opinion  of  Thurlow 
Weed,  and  I  treasure  it. 

Pray  excuse  this  indulgence  in  personality  and  believe  me, 

Yours  very  truly,  SAMUEL  BOWLES. 

[MR.    SEWARD    TO    MR.    WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  March  15,  1860. 

DEAR  WEED,  —  Mr.  Cameron  claims  all  the  delegates  in  Philadel 
phia  but  one.  He  says  he  wants  to  see  you,  and  will  meet  you  here  or 
at  Philadelphia  at  any  time  you  may  suggest.  He  said  he  would  write 

you  so,  but  it  seemed  well  enough  for  me  to  tell  you.     says  that 

he  must  go  to  Chicago,  and  that  I  must  see  that  he  is  sent.  I  am  sure 
that  you  will  either  send  him  or  see  that  my  skirts  are  free  from  blame. 
If  he  is  sent,  I  should  be  delighted,  but  you  will  do  what  is  wise.  .  .  . 

You  know  all  about  Mr.  Carl  Schurz,  and  the  important  and  re 
sponsible  part  he  is  acting  in  the  Republican  cause.  Please  give  him 
your  confidence. 

All  New  England  advices  justify  what  Mr.  Bowles  wrote  you. 

I  wonder  continually  how  you  get  through  with  such  labors  and 
bear  up  under  such  responsibilities. 

Yours  faithfully,          WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 

With  a  unanimity  of  purpose  never  paralleled  before  or  since, 
the  Republicans  of  New  York  State  presented  as  their  choice 
for  President  the  name  of  William  H.  Seward.  His  ability, 
eloquence,  and  patriotism  were  everywhere  recognized  and  ad 
mired.  From  him  thousands  of  Republicans  had  come  to  love 
the  party  and  its  principles.  It  was  he  who  had  boldly  pro 
claimed  in  the  Senate,  when  Mr.  Webster  and  Mr.  Clay  were 
rocking  the  old  Whig  party  to  sleep  in  the  arms  of  treaties  and 
compromises,  the  "  great  and  glorious "  doctrine  of  a  "  higher 
law."  "  It  was  he,"  I  once  wrote,  "  who  had  pronounced  at 

1  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  the  national  domain  is  ours.  It  is  true  that  it 
was  acquired  by  the  valor  and  with  the  wealth  of  the  whole  nation.  But  we 
hold,  nevertheless,  no  arbitrary  power  over  anything,  whether  acquired  law- 


262  MEMOIR.  [1860. 

Rochester,  in  1858,  an  '  irrepressible  conflict '  against  slavery. 
On  the  stump,  before  the  courts,  in  the  legislature  of  New  York, 
as  Governor  of  the  State,  his  career  was  a  succession  of  brilliant 
triumphs,  without  a  blunder,  defeat,  or  stain.  There  were  never 
two  men  in  politics  who  worked  together  or  understood  each 
other  better  than  Mr.  Seward  and  Mr.  Weed.  Neither  con 
trolled  the  other  in  any  objectionable  sense.  One  did  not  always 
lead,  and  the  other  follow.  They  were  friends,  in  the  best,  the 
rarest,  and  the  highest  sense.  They  were  like  two  brothers  with 
whom  nearly  all  interests  are  common.  Their  names  had  be 
come  almost  like  synonymous  terms,  but  each  was  so  different 
from  the  other,  and  each  was  so  much  of  a  man  himself,  that  it 
used  to  be  said  that  some  day  they  must  clash  and  separate. 
That  day  never  came.  Mr.  Weed's  hand  directed  all  the  move 
ments  of  the  canvass,  and  his  advice  was  followed  with  unques 
tioning  confidence.  For  weeks  his  whole  heart  and  brain  were 
absorbed  in  the  thought  of  putting  Mr.  Seward  at  the  head  of 
the  Chicago  ticket.  So  well  were  arrangements  made  for  that 
result  that  defeat  seemed  out  of  the  question.  Mr.  Seward 
looked  forward  to  his  nomination  almost  as  one  does  upon  an 
accomplished  fact,  and  so  did  Mr.  Weed." 

The  Republican  national  convention  held  its  sessions  in  a 
wigwam  specially  constructed  for  its  occupation.  Governor 
Morgan,  of  New  York,  called  the  meeting  to  order ;  David  Wil- 
mot,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  temporary  chairman  ;  and  George 
Ashmun,  of  Massachusetts,  was  permanent  chairman.  Among 
the  delegates  were  John  A.  Andrew,  William  M.  Evarts,  George 
William  Curtis,  Henry  L.  Selden,  John  L.  Schoolcraf t,  John 
A.  King,  Theodore  M.  Pomeroy,  William  Curtis  Noyes,  Vivus 
W.  Smith,  David  Davis,  Thaddeus  Stevens,  William  B.  Allison, 
Edward  H.  Rollins,  George  S.  Boutwell,  Francis  P.  Blair,  Hor 
ace  Greeley,  Montgomery  Blair,  A.  W.  Campbell,  James  W. 

fully  or  seized  by  usurpation.  The  Constitution  regulates  our  stewardship  ; 
the  Constitution  devotes  the  domain  to  union,  to  justice,  to  defense,  to  wel 
fare,  and  to  liberty.  But  there  is  a  higher  law  than  the  Constitution,  which 
regulates  our  authority  over  this  domain,  and  devotes  it  to  the  same  noble 
purposes.  These  territories  are  a  part  of  the  common  heritage  of  mankind, 
bestowed  upon  them  by  the  Creator.  We  are  his  stewards,  and  must  so  dis 
charge  our  trust  as  to  secure  in  the  highest  attainable  degree  their  happi 
ness.  —  Speech  of  William  H.  Seward,  in  the  United  States  Senate,  March 
11,  1850. 


I860.]  FIRST  BALLOTS  AT  CHICAGO.  263 

Nye,  Thomas  Corwin,  Andrew  H.  Reeder,  Joshua  R.  Giddings, 
Caleb  B.  Smith,  Thomas  W.  Ferry,  Carl  Schurz,  John  A.  Kas- 
son,  B.  Gratz  Brown,  and  Eli  Thayer.  The  first  two  days  were 
spent  in  a  contest  over  organization.  The  first  ballot  was  taken 
on  the  third  day. 

Perfect  silence  fell  over  the  vast  assemblage  as  the  clerk  an 
nounced  the  result  of  the  first  ballot,  as  follows  :  — 


For  William  H.  Seward,  of  New  York    .... 

For  Abraham  Lincoln,  of  Illinois          ....          102 

For  Simon  Cameron,  of  Pennsylvania      .          .          .          .50^ 

For  Edward  Bates,  of  Missouri  .....  48 

For  Salmon  P.  Chase,  of  Ohio          .....       49 

For  William  L.  Dayton,  of  New  Jersey        ...  14 

For  John  McLean,  of  Ohio      .          .          .          .          .          .12 

For  Jacob  Collamer,  of  Vermont          ....  10 

For  Benjamin  F.  Wade,  of  Ohio     .....         3 

For  John  M.  Read,  of  Pennsylvania    ....  1 

For  Charles  Sumner,  of  Massachusetts     ....         1 

For  John  C.  Fremont,  of  California     ....  1 

Whole  number  of  votes  cast,  465  ;  necessary  to  a  choice,  233. 

Mr.  Seward  had  the  entire  vote  of  New  York,  Michigan,  Wis 
consin,  California,  Minnesota,  Kansas,  and  the  District  of  Co 
lumbia.  He  had  also  ten  votes  from  Maine,  one  from  New 
Hampshire,  twenty-one  from  Massachusetts,  one  and  one  half 
from  Pennsylvania,  three  from  Maryland,  eight  from  Virginia, 
five  from  Kentucky,  four  from  Texas,  and  two  each  from  Iowa 
and  Nebraska. 

Mr.  Lincoln  had  the  solid  vote  of  Indiana  and  Illinois.  He 
had  also  six  votes  from  Maine,  seven  from  New  Hampshire,  four 
from  Massachusetts,  two  from  Connecticut,  four  from  Pennsyl 
vania,  fourteen  from  Virginia,  six  from  Kentucky,  eight  from 
Ohio,  two  from  Iowa,  and  one  from  Nebraska. 

Mr.  Cameron's  votes  were  all  from  Pennsylvania,  except  three. 

The  Chase  vote  was  nearly  all  that  of  Ohio,  with  eight  from 
Kentucky,  and  four  or  five  scattering. 

The  Bates  vote  was  that  of  Missouri,  reenf  orced  by  Delaware, 
Maryland,  Connecticut,  and  Oregon. 

The  president  announced  that  no  candidate  having  received 
a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  votes  cast,  the  convention 
would  proceed  to  a  second  ballot. 


264  MEMOIR.  [1860. 

After  the  second  ballot  had  been  taken,  but  before  the  result 
was  announced,  Governor  Reeder,  of  Pennsylvania,  took  the 
floor  and  said  that  while  the  voting  was  going  on,  General 
Cameron  had  withdrawn  his  name  ;  he  now  formally  withdrew 
the  name  of  Simon  Cameron  as  a  candidate  for  nomination. 
Forty-eight  votes  from  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  were  then 
thrown  for  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  the  clerk  announced  the  result,  as 
follows  :  — 


For  William  H.  Sewarcl,  of  New  York     .... 

For  Abraham  Lincoln,  of  Illinois           ....  181 

For  Salmon  P.  Chase,  of  Ohio  ..... 

For  Edward  Bates,  of  Missouri    .....  35 

For  William  L.  Dayton,  of  New  Jersey  .           ...  10 

For  John  McLean,  of  Ohio  ......  8 

For  Cassias  M.  Clay,  of  Kentucky  ....          0  2 

For  Simon  Cameron,  of  Pennsylvania  ....  2 

Whole  number  of  votes  cast,  465  ;  necessary  to  a  choice,  233. 

Mr.  Seward  gained  four  from  New  Jersey,  two  each  from 
Texas  and  Kentucky,  and  one  each  from  Massachusetts,  Penn 
sylvania,  and  Nebraska,  a  total  gain  of  eleven. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  gains  were  forty-four  from  Pennsylvania,  ten 
from  Vermont,  —  the  Collamer  vote,  —  six  each  from  Delaware 
and  Ohio,  three  each  from  Rhode  Island,  Kentucky,  and  Iowa, 
and  two  each  from  New  Hampshire  and  Connecticut,  a  total 
gain  of  seventy-nine. 

The  president  announced  that  no  candidate  having  received 
a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  votes  cast  the  convention 
would  proceed  to  take  another  ballot. 

Mr.  Seward  stood  within  forty-eight  and  a  half  votes  of  the 
nomination  ;  but  the  sudden  rise  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  vote,  caused 
by  the  transfer  to  him  of  the  votes  from  Pennsylvania,  which 
on  the  first  ballot  had  been  cast  for  General  Cameron,  suddenly 
brought  into  the  field  a  formidable  opposition  candidate. 

Other  influences  were  at  work  in  the  same  direction,  but  the 
change  in  the  vote  of  Pennsylvania,  startling  the  vast  audito 
rium  like  a  clap  of  thunder,  turned  the  scale. 

On  the  next  ballot  the  vote  in  detail  stood  as  in  the  follow 
ing  table,  when  Mr.  Carter,  of  Ohio,  announced  a  change  of  four 
votes  in  that  delegation  to  the  leading  candidate,  thus  nominat 
ing  Mr.  Lincoln  :  — 


I860.]  HO W  LINCOLN   WAS  NOMINATED. 

THE  DECISIVE  BALLOT. 


265 


STATES. 

Seward. 

Lincoln. 

1 

.c 
0 

00 

1 

PQ 

McLean. 

Dayton. 

£ 

O 

^ 

b 

Maine  . 

10 

6 

•v 

New  Hampshire  

9 

10 

Massachusetts  .  . 

18 

8 

Rhode  Island  
Connecticut      

1 
1 

5 
4 

2 

4 

1 

•• 

i 

New  York.  . 

70 

New  Jersey 

5 

8 

1 

Pennsylvania 

59 

2 

Maryland  

2 

9 

6 

Virginia 

8 

14 

Kentucky  
Ohio  .  .  "                       

6 

13 
29 

4 
15 

2 

•• 

Indiana 

°6 

Missouri  . 

18 

12 

Illinois                   .  .  . 

99 

Texas  . 

6 

Wisconsin  

10 

Iowa 

Q 

5i 

I 

California 

8 

OJ 

Minnesota 

8 

•• 

Oresron 

1 

4 

TERRITORIES. 

Kansas 

6 

Nebraska  

3 

1 

2 

District  of  Columbia. 

2 

180 

23  1£ 

24| 

22 

5 

1 

i 

Scenes  of  wild  excitement  accompanied  the  taking  of  the  deci 
sive  ballot.  Thousands  unable  to  gain  admittance  to  the  wigwam 
were  communicated  with  by  watchmen  stationed  on  the  roof,  and 
when  the  president  declared  that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  nomi 
nated,  the  announcement  was  greeted  with  thundering  applause. 
Women  waved  their  handkerchiefs,  men  shouted  themselves 
hoarse,  and  children  added  to  the  uproar.  One  hundred  guns 
were  fired  from  the  top  of  an  adjoining  building,  and  each  re 
port  was  responded  to  within  by  vociferous  cheers.  A  large  por 
trait  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  prepared  for  the  purpose,  was  brought  out 


266  MEMOIR.  [1860. 

upon  the  platform,  and  simultaneously  the  Pennsylvania  dele 
gation  strung  up  an  immense  banner  with  this  inscription  : 
"  The  Keystone  State  is  good  for  20,000  Majority  for  Abe  Lin 
coln,  the  People's  Candidate." 

As  soon  as  his  voice  could  be  heard,  Mr.  Evarts,  of  New 
York,  took  the  stand  and  said  :  — 

The  State  of  New  York,  by  a  full  delegation,  with  complete  una 
nimity  of  purpose  at  home,  came  to  this  convention  and  presented  for 
its  choice  one  of  its  citizens,  who  had  served  the  State  from  boyhood 
up,  who  had  labored  for  and  loved  it.  We  came  from  a  great  state, 
with,  as  we  thought,  a  great  statesman  [prolonged  cheers],  and  our 
love  of  the  great  Republic,  from  which  we  are  all  delegates,  the  great 
American  Union,  and  our  love  of  the  great  Republican  party  of  the 
Union,  and  our  love  of  our  statesman  and  candidate,  made  us  think 
that  we  did  our  duty  to  the  country,  and  the  whole  country,  in  ex 
pressing  our  love  and  preference  for  him.  [Loud  cheers.]  For,  gen 
tlemen,  it  was  from  Governor  Seward  that  most  of  us  learned  to  love 
Republican  principles  and  the  Republican  party.  [Renewed  cheers.] 
His  fidelity  to  the  country,  the  Constitution,  and  the  laws  ;  his  fidelity 
to  the  party  and  the  principle  that  the  majority  govern ;  his  interest 
in  the  advancement  of  our  party  to  its  victory,  that  our  country  may 
rise  to  its  true  glory,  induces  me  to  assume  to  speak  his  sentiments, 
as  I  do,  indeed,  the  opinions  of  our  whole  delegation,  when  I  move 
you,  as  I  now  do,  that  the  nomination  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  of  Illi 
nois,  as  the  Republican  candidate  for  the  suffrages  of  the  whole  coun 
try  for  the  office  of  chief  magistrate  of  the  American  Union,  be  made 
unanimous.  [Enthusiastic  cheers.] 

Several  gentlemen  then  endeavored  to  get  the  floor,  which 
was  accorded  to  Governor  Andrew,  of  Massachusetts,  who 
said :  — 

I  am  deputed  by  the  united  voice  of  the  Massachusetts  delegation 
to  second  the  motion  just  proposed  by  the  distinguished  citizen  of 
New  York,  who  represents  the  delegation  of  that  noble  State.  I 
second  that  motion,  therefore,  in  the  name  of  Massachusetts,  that  the 
nomination  of  Abraham  Lincoln  be  made  unanimous.  [Loud  cheers.] 
.  .  .  The  affection  of  our  hearts  and  the  judgment  of  our  intellects 
bound  our  political  fortunes  to  William  H.  Seward,  of  New  York 
[cheers]  ;  to  him,  who  is  the  brightest  and  most  shining  light  of  this 
political  generation  [applause  and  cheers]  ;  to  him,  who,  by  the  unan 
imous  selection  of  the  foes  of  our  cause,  has  for  years  been  the  de 
termined  standard-bearer  of  liberty,  —  William  H.  Seward.  [Loud 


I860.]  GOVERNOR  ANDREW'S  SPEECH.  267 

cheers.]  Whether  in  the  legislature  of  his  native  State  of  New 
York,  whether  as  Governor  of  that  young  and  growing  imperial  com 
monwealth,  whether  as  Senator  of  the  United  States,  or  as  a  tribune 
of  the  people,  ever  faithful,  ever  true.  [Cheers.]  In  the  thickest  and 
the  hottest  of  every  battle  there  waved  the  white  plume  of  the  gallant 
leader  of  New  York.  [Cheers.]  And,  gentlemen,  by  no  hand  of 
Massachusetts  was  it  for  him  to  be  stricken  down.  ...  It  was  not  for 
us  to  strike  down  William  H.  Seward,  of  New  York.  But,  Mr.  Pres 
ident  and  gentlemen,  as  we  love  the  cause,  and  as  we  respect  our  own 
convictions,  and  as  we  mean  to  be  faithful  to  the  only  organization  on 
earth  which  is  in  the  van  of  the  cause  of  freedom,  so  do  we,  with  en 
tire  fidelity  of  heart,  with  entire  concurrence  of  judgment,  with  the 
firmest  and  most  fixed  purpose  of  our  will,  adopt  the  opinion  of  the 
majority  of  the  convention  of  delegates,  to  which  the  American  peo 
ple  have  assigned  the  duty  of  selection  ;  and  as  Abraham  Lincoln,  of 
Illinois,  is  the  choice  of  the  national  Republican  convention,  Abraham 
Lincoln  is  at  this  moment  the  first  choice  of  the  Republicans  of  Mas 
sachusetts.  [Enthusiastic  cheers.] 

Carl  Schurz,  of  Wisconsin,  said :  — 

I  am  commissioned  by  the  delegates  of  Wisconsin  to  second  the 
motion  made  by  the  distinguished  gentleman  from  New  York.  Our 
delegates  were  directed  to  cast  their  votes  unanimously  for  William  H. 
Seward,  and  it  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  the  instructions  we  received 
added  but  solemn  obligations  of  our  constituents  to  the  spontaneous 
impulses  of  our  hearts.  [Great  applause.]  ...  I  am  now  speaking  in 
the  spirit  of  Mr.  Seward,  when  I  say  that  his  ambition  will  be  satis 
fied  with  the  success  of  the  cause  which  was  the  dream  of  his  youth, 
and  to  which  he  has  devoted  all  the  days  of  his  manhood,  —  even  if 
the  name  of  William  H.  Seward  should  remain  in  history  an  instance 
of  the  highest  merit  uncrowned  with  the  highest  honor. 

Speeches  were  made  by  Austin  Blair,  of  Michigan,  Mr. 
Browning,  of  Illinois,  Caleb  Smith,  of  Indiana,  and  other  dele 
gates.  The  convention  then  adjourned  for  dinner,  and,  on  re 
assembling  in  the  afternoon,  nominated  Hannibal  Hamlin,  of 
Maine,  for  Vice-President.  New  York  was  invited  to  name  a 
candidate  for  this  place,  but  declined. 

Mr.  Weed  was  already  hastily  preparing  to  leave  Chicago  for 
the  prairies  of  Iowa. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

1860. 

"  GREELEY  AT  THE  TREMONT  :  WEED  AT  THE  RICHMOND  HOUSE."  —  GOV 
ERNOR  SEWARD  TO  MR.  WEED.  —  THE  VISIT  TO  IOWA.  —  "  Now  I  AM 
EVEN  WITH  GOVERNOR  SEWARD." — RAYMOND'S  REVIEW  OF  THE  CON 
VENTION.  —  DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  POLITICAL  "  FIRM  "  OF  "  SEWARD, 
WEED  &  GREELEY." —  MR.  GREELEY'S  LETTER  TO  GOVERNOR  SEWARD. 
—  MR.  WEED'S  REPLY. 

ME.  JULIUS  WOOD,  of  Columbus,  Ohio,  an  old  and  true 
friend  of  Mr.  Weed,  visited  him  at  the  Astor  House,  early  in 
1860,  and  declared  that  he  was  afraid  that  candidates  would  be 
accumulated  at  Chicago  in  such  a  way  as  to  prevent  the  nomi 
nation  of  Mr.  Seward.  "  I  think  there  is  no  danger  of  that," 
said  Mr.  Weed.  "But,"  continued  Mr.  Wood,  "the  Blairs, 
Mr.  Bryant,  Mr.  Greeley,  and  others  are  certainly  hard  at 
work."  "  Yes,"  said  Mr.  Weed,  "  but  something  more  than 
their  opposition  will  be  required  to  accomplish  the  defeat  of  a 
man  upon  whom  the  people  have  set  their  hearts." 

At  this  time  there  was  friendly  intercourse  between  Mr. 
Greeley  and  Mr.  Weed,  nor  did  anybody  suppose  that  Mr.  Gree 
ley  was  not  on  good  terms  with  Governor  Seward.  He  had, 
indeed,  in  1854,  written  to  Mr.  Seward  a  remarkable  letter, 
"dissolving  the  firm  of  Seward,  Weed  &  Greeley,"  but  Mr. 
Weed  had  never  seen  such  a  letter,  nor  did  Mr.  Greeley  appear 
to  remember  its  existence.  Mr.  Weed  and  Mr.  Greeley  met 
frequently  in  New  York,  not  with  all  of  the  old  cordiality,  per 
haps,  but  still  they  had  by  no  means,  quarreled.  Mr.  Greeley 
wrote  often  to  Mr.  Weed,  in  the  old  way,  and  he  and  his  fam 
ily  were  visitors  at  Mr.  Weed's  house.  Indeed  —  though  that 
seems  impossible  —  Mr.  Greeley  stopped  at  Mr.  Weed's  house, 
in  Albany,  on  his  way  West,  before  the  Chicago  convention, 
and  made  a  friendly  visit  of  a  day  or  so,  leaving  the  impression 
that  he  was  going  to  support  Mr.  Seward  when  he  reached 
Chicago. 


I860.]  SEWARD,    WEED,  AND   GREELEY.  269 

In  March  Mr.  Wood  met  Mr.  Seward  in  Washington,  and 
reiterated  his  fears  in  connection  with  the  accumulation  of  can 
didates.  "  Mr.  Lincoln  was  brought  to  New  York  to  divide 
your  strength,"  he  said.  But  Mr.  Seward  was  not  disconcerted 
by  these  warnings. 

Less  than  a  fortnight  afterwards  Mr.  Wood  was  at  the  Astor 
House,  where  he  again  met  Mr.  Weed  and  Mr.  Seward.  Sun 
day  afternoon  Mr.  Greeley  visited  the  hotel  and  passing  through 
one  of  the  corridors  met  Mr.  Wood,  with  whom  he  began  con 
versation. 

"We  shan't  nominate  Seward."  said  Mr.  Greeley,  "we'll 
take  some  more  conservative  man,  like  Pitt  Fessenden  or 
Bates."  Immediately  afterwards  Mr.  Wood  went  to  Mr.  Sew- 
ard's  room.  "Greeley  has  just  been  here  with  Weed,"  said 
Mr.  Seward.  "  Weed  brought  him  up  here.  You  were  wrong 
in  what  you  said  to  me  at  Washington  about  Greeley ;  he  is  all 
right."  "No,  I  was  not  wrong,"  insisted  Mr.  Wood.  "Greeley 
is  cheating  you.  He  will  go  to  Chicago  and  work  against  you." 
At  this  Mr.  Seward  smiled.  "  My  dear  Wood,"  said  he, 
"  your  zeal  sometimes  gets  a  little  the  better  of  your  judg 
ment." 

Mr.  Greeley  reached  Chicago  before  Mr.  Weed.  His  disaf 
fection  was  at  once  communicated  to  Lincoln,  Bates,  and  Chase 
men,  who  magnified  its  importance.  Flyers  reading,  "  Greeley 
at  the  Tremont:  Weed  at  the  Eichmond  House,"  flooded  the 
city.  Rumors  were  started  that  there  was  a  break  in  the  New 
York  delegation.  But  streets  and  hotels  were  crowded  with  en 
thusiastic  friends  of  Seward,  and  even  his  opponents  did  not  ap 
pear  to  believe  that  he  could  be  defeated.  "  The  conviction  is," 
telegraphed  Mr.  Greeley  himself  on  the  17th  of  May,  "  that  the 
opposition  to  Governor  Seward  cannot  be  concentrated  on  any 
other  candidate,  and  that  he  will  be  nominated."  This  despatch 
appeared  in  the  New  York  "  Tribune  "  the  day  the  final  result 
was  reached. 

On  his  way  back  to  New  York  Mr.  Raymond  visited  Governor 
Seward,  at  Auburn,  where  he  was  found  busily  and  happily  en 
gaged  in  directing  improvements  upon  his  residence.  It  would 
be  absurd  to  say  that  Mr.  Seward  did  not  feel  his  defeat.  He 
was  human,  like  other  men,  and  felt  it  deeply ;  but  his  disap 
pointment  was  not  of  a  morbid  character. 


270  MEMOIR.  [1860. 

[GOVERNOR  SEWARD  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

AUBURN,  May  18,  1860. 

MY  DEAR  WEED,  —  You  have  my  unbounded  gratitude  for  this 
last  as  for  a  whole  life  of  efforts  in  my  behalf. 

I  wish  that  I  were  sure  that  your  sense  of  disappointment  is  as  light 
as  my  own.  It  ought  to  be  equally  so,  if  we  have  been  equally  thought 
ful  and  zealous  for  friends,  party,  and  country.  I  know  not  what  has 
been  left  undone  that  could  have  been  done,  or  done  that  ought  to  be 
regretted. 

You  see  that  I  am  not  expecting  you  to  stop  here  on  your  way  home, 
although  Mrs.  Seward  and  I  have  hoped  that  Harriet  might  stay  with 
us  a  day  or  two.  Ever  faithfully  yours,  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 

AUBURN,  May  24,  1860. 

MY  DEAR  WEED,  —  I  hardly  expect  to  find  you  at  Albany  on  my 
way  to  Washington  next  week,  and  therefore  I  write  what  is  most 
needful  to  be  said. 

Your  letter  from  Davenport  is  kind  and  generous ;  I  need  not  say 
satisfactory.  I  was  prepared  for  what  happened,  for  I  had  breasted 
the  demoralization  at  Washington,  and  apprehended  its  success  more 
than  I  was  willing  to  confess,  lest  it  might  seem  unworthy  of  me. 

Of  the  manner  in  which  it  was  effected,  I  need  only  say  that  I  know 
enough  when  I  know  who  my  friends  were,  and  how  generously,  faith 
fully,  and  devotedly  they  acted. 

Of  the  future  I  speak  with  decision,  because  I  had  anticipated  these 
developments,  and  considered  the  consequences  thoughtfully.  Private 
life,  as  soon  as  I  can  reach  it  without  grieving  or  embarrassing  my 
friends,  will  be  welcome  to  me.  It  will  come  the  4th  of  next  March 
in  my  case,  and  I  am  not  unprepared. 

To  have  friends,  troops  of  friends,  in  position,  or  expecting  to  be, 
crowded  and  pressed  by  a  new  combination,  seems  not  more  dangerous 
to  the  Republican  party  than  hateful  to  you  and  me.  What  is  to  be 
done  with  and  for  them  ? 

In  that  line  of  action  I  always  was  useless,  and  now  shall  be  more 
so  than  ever.  You  are  at  the  head  of  these  friends.  Shall  you  remain 
here  or  go  to  Europe  ?  My  best  sympathies  for  yourself  advise  the 
latter.  My  concern  for  them  and  our  great  cause  would  make  me 
hesitate,  even  if  I  did  not  think  that  egotism  and  ambition  on  the  part 
of  the  chief  leader  of  the  late  movement,  now  unavoidably  for  a  time 
the  leader  of  the  Republican  party,  will,  in  six  months,  bring  every 
thing  to  a  dead  stand,  and  that  you  may  then  be  able  to  save  all.  But 
it  is  too  early  to  speculate  yet  with  any  confidence.  I  will  meet  you 
in  New  York  or  Albany,  at  any  time  you  may  designate. 

Faithfully  and  gratefully,  yours  always,      WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


I860.]  SEWARD,    WEED,  AND   GREELEY.  271 

Mr.  Weed  was  for  a  time  completely  unnerved  by  the  result 
at  Chicago.  He  even  shed  tears  over  the  defeat  of  his  old  friend, 
—  as  who  would  not  over  the  defeat  of  a  friend  who,  under  all 
the  circumstances,  could  write  such  letters  as  those  just  given  ? 
With  a  few  companions  —  his  daughter  Harriet,  Mrs.  Welles  and 
daughter,  Mr.  Julius  Wood,  and  others  —  he  started  for  Iowa,  to 
visit  a  tract  of  land  which  had  stood  in  his  name  for  several 
years,  but  upon  which  his  eyes  had  never  rested.  Returning 
east,  after  a  few  days,  he  accepted  a  cordial  invitation  to  visit 
Mr.  Lincoln,  and  a  short  stop  was  made  at  Springfield  for  that 
purpose. 

In  conversation  with  Mr.  Raymond  at  Auburn,  Governor  Sew- 
ard  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  he  had  been  making  large 
drafts  upon  a  constitution  not  over  hardy,  and  that  he  began  to 
long  for  seclusion  and  retirement.  In  response  to  an  invitation 
to  address  a  ratification  meeting  in  New  York,  he  sent  a  letter 
warmly  indorsing  the  Chicago  nominations,  and  expressing  his 
earnest  belief  and  ardent  hope  that  Lincoln  and  Hamlin  would 
be  elected. 

On  the  22d  of  May  Mr.  Raymond  wrote  a  letter  to  his  New 
York  paper  describing  Mr.  Seward's  country-seat,  and  the  af 
fectionate  regard  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  people  of  Western 
New  York.  Mr.  Raymond  declared  that  there  was  no  possibil 
ity  that  Seward  would  accept  a  place  under  the  new  administra 
tion,  in  case  the  Republican  ticket  should  be  successful. 

On  the  day  that  Mr.  Raymond's  letter  was  written  Mr.  Gree- 
ley  made  a  speech  in  New  York,  which  he  began  as  follows : 
"The  past  is  dead.  Let  the  dead  past  bury  it,  and  let  its 
mourners,  if  they  will,  go  about  the  streets." 

This  speech  was  commented  upon  by  Mr.  Weed,  who  had 
resumed  his  post  at  Albany.  " '  The  mourners,'  to  whom  Mr. 
Greeley  alludes,"  he  wrote,  "constitute  the  rank  and  file,  as 
well  as  the  intelligence  and  patriotism  of  nearly  every  Repub 
lican  state  in  the  Union.  In  the  strongest  and  most  trust 
worthy  of  such  states  they  are  in  the  majority.  Is  it,  then, 
in  good  temper  to  rebuke  thus  an  army  of  Republican  soldiers 
who  have  heretofore  done,  and  who  will  hereafter  do  their 
whole  duty,  when  they  manifest  no  unmanly  emotion  in  regard 
for  the  future  of  the  chieftain  who  has  led  them  through  so 
many  conflicts  to  so  many  triumphs? 


272  MEMOIR.  [1860. 

"  Governor  Seward  had  a  strong  and  peculiar  claim  to  the 
highest  reward  which  Republicans  could  bestow.  His  whole 
term  of  service  in  the  United  States  Senate  has  been  signalized 
by  toils  and  sacrifices,  amid  rancor  and  persecution,  political 
and  social,  such  as  no  other  statesman  in  this  country  has  ever 
experienced.  His  fidelity  to  freedom  in  the  darkest  hours,  his 
boldness  in  exposing  and  denouncing  misgovernment  on  all  oc 
casions,  his  prompt  resistance  to  aggression  and  usurpation,  his 
enlightened  advocacy  of  all  right  measures,  with  his  searching 
exposition  of  misrule  and  outrage,  have  taxed  to  the  utmost  all 
the  faculties  of  his  great  mind.  Regardless  of  the  power  of  an 
insolent  administration,  and  in  the  face  of  threatening  senators, 
he  has  stood  up  in  his  place,  and  dared  to  do  whatever  each 
crisis  has  demanded.  .  .  .  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Webster  were  sus 
tained  by  the  party  which  disputed  the  supremacy  of  their  ad 
versaries,  and  were  generally  upheld  by  a  vote  of  the  majority 
of  the  Senate,  but  Governor  Seward  during  his  twelve  years  at 
Washington  has  worn  a  crown  of  thorns.  .  .  . 

"  We  did  not  know,  until  recently  so  informed  by  one  of  the 
'  Tribune '  editors,  that  Mr.  Greeley  had  given  Governor  Seward 
formal  notice  of  his  hostility.  It  may  be  that  his  opposition  to 
Governor  Seward  was  fair  and  right.  We  do  not  say  that  it 
was  unjust.  We  do  say  that,  in  our  judgment,  it  should  have 
been  avowed.  Where  the  feeling  of  animosity  was  so  strong 
in  Mr.  Greeley  as  to  lead  him  to  exclaim,  when  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  nominated,  'Now  I  am  even  with  Governor  Seward,'  and, 
after  cool  reflection,  to  utter  such  sentiments  as  he  does  in  the 
present  speech,  it  seems  to  us  that  his  opposition  should  have 
been  declared.  .  .  .  But  for  this  neither  Mr.  Lincoln  nor  his 
immediate  friends  are  in  any  way  responsible.  His  name  was 
legitimately  presented.  His  nomination  was  honorably  secured. 
It  was  the  only  name  upon  which  all  the  elements  of  opposition  to 
Governor  Seward  could  have  been  united.  And  it  is  a  fortunate 
circumstance  that  it  is  the  name  of  a  true  man,  and  that  no  per 
sonal  disappointments,  however  severe,  release  Republicans  from 
their  obligation  to  the  cause  and  to  the  country.  We  can  sup 
port  Lincoln  and  Hamlin  as  cheerfully,  and  we  shall  support 
them  as  zealously,  as  we  should  have  supported  the  candidate 
whom  New  York  would  have  delighted  to  honor." 

Mr.  Greeley  left  Chicago  as  promptly  as  Mr.  Weed,     His 


I860.]  Mil.    GREELEY'S   COURSE   REVIEWED.  278 

admissions  immediately  after  tlie  convention  adjourned  show 
that  he  felt  that  his  opposition  was  the  main  cause  of  Gov 
ernor  SewartTs  defeat.  Such  was  also  the  impression  of  An 
drew  B.  Dickinson,  of  New  York,  when  he  met  Mr.  Greeley  in 
the  rotunda  of  the  Tremont  House  on  his  way  to  the  cars. 
k*  Bray  "  Dickinson  was  not  a  man  to  mince  words,  and  when 
he  then  and  there  confronted  Mr:  Greeley,  charging  him  witli 
the  basest  ingratitude,  the  air  was  faiily  blue  with  vituperation. 
"  I  never  saw  a  man  get  such  an  awful  dressing,"  says  an  eye 
witness  of  the  affair.  "  Greeley  could  n't  get  a  word  in  edge 
wise."  lie  returned  to  New  York  immediately,  and  soon  wrote 
an  article  in  which  he  took  the  ground  that  it  was  through  no 
fault  of  his  that  Governor  Seward  was  defeated.  lie  "had  re 
solved,"  he  said  "  to  avoid  this  convention,  for  obvious  reasons." 
But  he  had  been  "  induced  "  to  go,  in  order  to  act  for  an  Oregon 
absentee,  and  had  favored  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Bates,  whom 
he  still  regarded  as  a  "stronger  candidate  than  Mr.  Lincoln." 
The  defeat  of  Mr.  Seward  he  ascribed  to  politicians  in  Pennsyl 
vania  and  Indiana,  who  thought  that  those  states  would  be  lost 
if  Seward  \vas  a  presidential  candidate. 

In  reply  to  Mr.  Greeley,  Mr.  Raymond  wrote  a  long  article, 
referring  to  the  inside  history  of  the  convention.  His  review 
of  Mr.  Greeley 's  connection  with  the  Seward  canvass  was  a 
scathing  piece  of  satire.  It  is  so  interwoven  with  the  course  of 
this  narrative  that  without  it  this  volume  would  be  incomplete. 

I  observe  that  to-day's  "  Tribune  "  [wrote  Mr.  Raymond]  contains 
a  long  personal  explanation  from  Mr.  Greeley  of  the  part  which  he 
took  in  the  action  of  the  Chicago  convention.  It  is  never  easy  for  a 
public  man  to  be  the  historian  of  his  own  exploits.  If  he  be  a  vain 
man,  he  will  exaggerate  his  personal  influence  ;  if  he  be  an  over-mod 
est  one,  he  will  underrate  it.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  Mr. 
Greeley  has  fallen  into  the  latter  mistake. 

With  the  generosity  which  belongs  to  his  nature,  and  which  a  feel 
ing  not  unlike  remorse  may  have  stimulated  into  unwonted  activity, 
he  awards  to  others  the  credit  which  belongs  transcendently  to  him 
self.  The  main  work  of  the  Chicago  convention  was  the  defeat  of 
Governor  Seward,  —  that  was  the  only  specific  and  distinct  object  to 
wards  which  its  conscious  efforts  were  directed.  The  nomination 
which  it  finally  made  was  purely  an  accident,  decided  far  more  by  the 
shouts  and  applause  of  the  vast  concourse  which  dominated  the  con- 
18 


274  MEMOIR.  [1860. 

vention,  than  by  any  direct  labors  of  any  of  the  delegates.  The  great 
point  aimed  at  was  Mr.  Seward's  defeat ;  and  in  that  endeavor  Mr. 
Greeley  labored  harder,  and  did  tenfold  more,  than  the  whole  family 
of  Blairs,  together  with  all  the  gubernatorial  candidates,  to  whom  he 
modestly  hands  over  the  honors  of  the  effective  campaign. 

Mr.  Greeley  had  special  qualifications,  as  well  as  a  special  love,  for 
this  task,  to  which  none  of  the  others  could  lay  any  claim.  For  twenty 
years  he  had  been  sustaining  the  political  principles  and  vindicating 
the  political  conduct  of  Mr.  Seward  through  the  columns  of  the  most 
influential  political  newspaper  in  the  country.  He  had  infused  into 
the  popular  mind,  especially  throughout  the  Western  States,  the  most 
profound  and  thorough  devotion  to  the  anti-slavery  sentiments  which 
had  given  character  to  Mr.  Seward's  public  career.  He  had  vindi 
cated  his  opinions  upon  naturalization,  and  upon  the  organization  of 
the  Know  Nothing  party,  from  the  assaults  made  upon  them  ;  he  had 
urged  his  reelection  to  the  Senate  in  the  face  of  all  the  sentiments 
which  had  made  him  obnoxious  to  a  portion  of  his  constituents  ;  he 
had  gone  far  beyond  him  in  expressions  of  hostility  to  slavery,  in  pal 
liation  of  armed  attempts  for  its  overthrow,  and  in  assaults  upon  that 
clause  of  the  Constitution  which  requires  the  surrender  of  fugitive 
slaves ;  and  he  was  known  to  have  been  for  more  than  twenty  years 
his  personal  friend  and  political  supporter. 

These  things  gave  him  a  hold  upon  the  Republican  sentiment  of  the 
country,  and  a  weight  of  authority  in  everything  relating  to  Governor 
Seward,  to  which  neither  "  old  Blair  of  the  '  Globe,'  "  as  Mr.  Greeley 
styles  him,  nor  both  his  sons,  could  for  a  moment  lay  claim.  His 
voice  was  potential  precisely  where  Governor  Seward  was  strongest,  — 
because  it  was  supposed  to  be  that  of  a  friend,  strong  in  his  personal 
attachment  and  devotion,  and  driven  into  opposition  on  this  occasion 
solely  by  the  despairing  conviction  that  the  welfare  of  the  country  and 
the  triumph  of  the  Republican  cause  demanded  the  sacrifice.  For 
more  than  six  months,  through  the  columns  of  the  "  Tribune,"  Mr. 
Greeley  had  been  preparing  the  way  for  this  consummation.  Doubts 
of  Mr.  Seward's  popular  strength,  —  insinuated,  rather  than  openly 
uttered,  —  exaggerations  of  local  prejudice  and  animosity  against  him  ; 
hints  that  parties  and  men  hostile  to  him  and  to  the  Republican  organ 
ization  must  be  conciliated  and  their  support  secured ;  and  a  new-born 
zeal  for  nationalizing  the  party  by  consulting  the  slave-holding  states 
in  regard  to  the  nomination,  had  filled  the  public  mind  with  a  distrust 
which  had  already  done  much  to  demoralize  the  Republican  party,  and 
prepare  the  minds  of  its  delegates  in  convention  for  the  personal  rep 
resentations  and  appeals  by  which  these  agencies  were  followed  up. 
Mr.  Greeley  was  in  Chicago  several  days  before  the  meeting  of  the 


I860.]      "  THE   KEVEXOE   OF  AN  OFFICE-SEEKER."      275 

convention,  and  he  devoted  every  hour  of  the  interval  to  the  most 
steady  and  relentless  prosecution  of  the  main  business  which  took  him 
thither,  —  the  defeat  of  Governor  Seward.  He  labored  personally 
with  delegates  as  they  arrived,  commending  himself  always  to  their 
confidence  by  professions  of  regard  and  the  most  zealous  friendship 
for  Governor  Seward,  but  presenting  defeat,  even  in  New  York,  as 
the  inevitable  result  of  his  nomination. 

Mr.  Greeley  was  largely  indebted  to  the  forbearance  of  those  upon 
whom  he  was  waging  this  warfare  for  the  means  of  making  it  effect 
ual.  While  it  was  known  to  some  of  them  that  nearly  six  years  ago 
—  in  November,  1854  —  he  had  privately,  but  distinctly,  repudiated 
all  further  political  friendship  for  and  alliance  with  Governor  Seward, 
and  menaced  him  with  his  hostility  whenever  it  could  be  made  most 
effective,  for  the  avowed  reason  that  Governor  Seward  had  never 
aided  or  advised  his  elevation  to  office,  that  he  had  never  recog 
nized  his  claim  to  such  official  promotion,  but  had  tolerated  the  eleva 
tion  of  men  known  to  be  obnoxious  to  him  and  who  had  rendered  far 
less  service  to  the  party  than  he  had  done  ;  no  use  was  made  of  this 
knowledge  in  quarters  where  it  would  have  disarmed  the  deadly  effect 
of  his  pretended  friendship  for  the  man  upon  whom  he  was  thus  de 
liberately  wreaking  the  long  hoarded  revenge  of  a  disappointed  office- 
seeker.  He  was  still  allowed  to  represent  to  the  delegations  from 
Vermont,  New  Hampshire,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  other  states  known  to 
be  in  favor  of  Governor  Seward's  nomination,  that,  while  he  desired 
it  upon  the  strongest  grounds  of  personal  and  political  friendship,  he 
believed  it  would  be  fatal  to  the  success  of  the  cause. 

Being  thus  stimulated  by  a  hatred  he  had  secretly  cherished  for 
years,  protected  by  the  forbearance  of  those  whom  he  assailed  and 
strong  in  the  confidence  of  those  upon  whom  he  sought  to  operate, 
it  is  not  strange  that  Mr.  Greeley's  efforts  should  have  been  crowned 
with  success.  But  it  is  perfectly  safe  to  say  that  no  other  man  — 
certainly  no  one  occupying  a  position  less  favorable  for  such  an  as 
sault  —  could  possibly  have  accomplished  that  result. 

We  deem  it  only  just  to  Mr.  Greeley  thus  early  to  award  him  the 
full  credit  for  the  main  result  of  the  Chicago  convention,  because  his 
own  modesty  will  prevent  his  claiming  it,  —  at  all  events  until  the  new 
Republican,  administration  shall  be  in  position  to  distribute  its  re 
wards.  It  is  not  right  that  merit  so  conspicuous  should  remain  so 
long  in  the  shade.  Even  the  most  transcendent  services  are  in  danger 
of  being  forgotten  in  the  tumult  and  confusion  of  a  contested  election  ; 
and  we  cheerfully  tender  for  Mr.  Greeley's  use,  this  record  of  his  de 
serts,  when  he  may  claim  at  the  hands  of  his  new  associates  that  pay 
ment  for  lack  of  which  he  has  deserted  and  betrayed  his  old  ones. 


276  MEMOIR.  [1860. 

I  have  said  above  that  the  final  selection  of  Lincoln  as  the  candidate 
was  a  matter  of  accident.  I  mean  by  this  that  down  to  the  time  of 
taking  the  first  ballot  there  had  been  no  agreement  among  the  oppo 
nents  of  Seward  as  to  the  candidate  upon  whom  they  should  unite.  The 
first  distinct  impression  in  Lincoln's  favor  was  made  by  the  tremen 
dous  applause  which  arose  from  the  ten  thousand  persons  congregated 
in  the  wigwam,  upon  the  presentation  of  his  name  as  a  candidate,  — 
and  by  the  echo  it  received  from  the  still  larger  gathering  in  the  street 
outside.  The  arrangements  for  the  convention  were  in  the  hands  of 
Mr.  Lincoln's  friends,  and  they  had  been  made  with  special  reference 
to  securing  the  largest  possible  concourse  of  his  immediate  neighbors 
and  political  supporters.  It  was  easy  to  see  that  the  thundering  shouts 
which  greeted  every  vote  given  for  him  impressed  what  Mr.  Greeley 
calls  the  "  ragged  columns  forming  the  opposing  host,"  with  the  con 
viction  that  he  was  the  only  man  with  whom  Mr.  Seward  could  be  de 
feated.  Vermont,  whose  delegates  would  have  been  peremptorily 
instructed  to  vote  for  Seward  if  there  had  been  the  slightest  apprehen 
sion  on  the  part  of  their  constituents  that  they  could  do  otherwise,  was 
the  first  to  catch  the  contagious  impulse  ;  and  throughout  the  second 
ballot  the  efforts  of  other  states  to  resist  the  current  whicli  deluged  the 
convention  from  without  were  but  partially  successful.  On  the  third 
ballot  the  outsiders  had  it  all  their  own  way.  Upon  the  first  call 
Lincoln  lacked  only  two  and  a  half  votes  of  a  nomination.  Ohio  was 
the  first  to  clutch  at  the  honor  of  deciding  the  choice.  —  and  thence 
forward  the  only  apprehension  on  the  part  of  delegates  seemed  to  be 
that  they  would  not  be  registered  on  the  winning  side.  The  final  con 
centration  upon  Lincoln  was  then  mainly,  in  my  judgment,  a  matter  of 
impulse. 

After  this  had  been  effected,  the  attitude  of  the  New  York  delega 
tion  was  not  calculated  to  inspire  confidence  in  the  issue.  They 
changed  no  votes,  joined  in  no  applause,  but  sat  grieved,  dejected 
and  almost  sullen  in  their  resignation  to  what  had  become  inevitable. 
They  were  pressed  to  name  a  candidate  for  Vice-President,  and  if 
they  or  he  would  have  consented,  Preston  King  would  have  been  nom 
inated  by  acclamation.  But  their  first  act  was  to  declare  that  New 
York  would  not  accept  the  vice-presidency  under  any  circumstances  ; 
and  their  next  was  to  designate  Hamlin,  of  Maine,  as  their  choice,  so 
far  as  they  had  any.  They  came  away  disposed  to  do  their  duty  as 
Republicans  in  the  canvass,  but  by  no  means  without  misgiving  as  to 
the  issue.  They  feel  relieved,  however,  of  all  responsibility.  Pennsylva 
nia,  New  Jersey,  Illinois,  and  Indiana  have  taken  upon  themselves  the 
main  burden  of  the  canvass,  and  New  York  will  feel  that  she  has  done 
her  part,  if  she  succeeds  in  casting  her  electoral  vote  for  the  nominees 
of  thte  convention. 


I860.]          EFFECT   OF  MR.   RAYMOND'S  LETTER.  277 

Mr.  Raymond's  letter  produced  a  prodigious  impression, 
Little  attention  was  paid  to  the  implication  with  which  it 
closed,  for  neither  the  attitude  of  Mr.  Seward  nor  of  Mr.  Weed 
sanctioned  the  threat  that  New  York  would  be  lukewarm  in 
the  canvass.  What  excited  astonishment  and  incredulity  was 
Mr.  Raymond's  unqualified  charge  that  Mr.  Greeley  had  cut 
loose  from  Mr.  Seward  in  1854 ;  and  for  the  reason  that  he  had 
not  been  given  office.  The  general  public  were  disposed  to 
resent  this  imputation.  There  was  a  loud  call  for  evidence,  if 
evidence  could  be  produced,  to  sustain  Mr.  Raymond's  assertion. 
"  Yes,"  echoed  Mr.  Greeley,  evidently  without  due  reflection, 
"  let  us  have  the  evidence  for  circulation  in  each  edition  of  the 
4  Tribune.'  " 

Thus  came  to  be  published, .  on  the  14th  of  June,  1860,  Mr. 
Greeley's  famous  letter  dissolving  the  "  firm  of  Seward,  Weed 
&  Greeley,"  which  here  follows: — • 

[MR.    GREELEY    TO    GOVERNOR    SEWARD.] 

NEW  YORK,  Saturday  Evening,  November  11,  1854. 
GOVERNOR  SEWARD. 

The  election  is  over,  and  its  results  sufficiently  ascertained.  It 
seems  to  me  a  fitting  time  to  announce  to  you  the  dissolution  of  the 
political  firm  of  SEWARD,  WEED  &  GREELEY,  by  the  withdrawal  of 
the  junior  partner,  —  said  withdrawal  to  take  effect  on  the  morning 
after  the  first  Tuesday  in  February  next.  And,  as  it  may  seem  a 
great  presumption  in  me  to  assume  that  any  such  firm  exists,  espe 
cially  since  the  public  was  advised,  rather  more  than  a  year  ago,  by  an 
editorial  rescript  in  the  "  Evening-  Journal,"  formally  reading  me  out 
of  the  Whig  party,  that  I  was  esteemed  no  longer  either  useful  or  or 
namental  in  the  concern,  you  will,  I  am  sure,  indulge  me  in  some  rem 
iniscences  which  seem  to  befit  the  occasion. 

I  was  a  poor  young  printer  and  editor  of  a  literary  journal,  —  a. 
very  active  and  bitter  Whig  in  a  small  way,  but  not  seeking  to  be 
known  out  of  my  own  ward  committee,  —  when,  after  the  great  po 
litical  revulsion  of  1837,  I  was  one  day  called  to  the  City  Hotel,  where 
t\vo  strangers  introduced  themselves  as  Thurlow  Weed  and  Lewis 
Benedict,  of  Albany.  They  told  me  that  a  cheap  campaign  paper  of 
a  peculiar  stamp  at  Albany  had  been  resolved  on,  and  that  I  had  been 
selected  to  edit  it.  The  announcement  might  well  be  deemed  flatter 
ing  by  one  who  had  never  even  sought  the  notice  of  the  great,  and 
who  was  not  known  as  a  partisan  writer,  and  I  eagerly  embraced 
their  proposals.  They  asked  me  to  fix  my  salary  for  the  year ;  I 


278  MEMOIR.  [1860. 

named  $1,000,  which  they  agreed  to  ;  and  I  did  the  work  required  to 
the  best  of  my  ability.  It  was  work  that  made  no  figure  and  created 
no  sensation ;  but  I  loved  it  and  did  it  well.  When  it  was  done  you 
were  Governor,  dispensing  offices  worth  $3,000  to  $20,000  per  year 
to  your  friends  and  compatriots,  and  I  returned  to  my  garret  and  my 
crust,  and  my  desperate  battle  with  pecuniary  obligations  heaped  upon 
me  by  bad  partners  in  business  and  the  disastrous  events  of  1837.  I 
believe  it  did  not  then  occur  to  me  that  some  of  these  abundant  places 
might  have  been  offered  to  me  without  injustice ;  I  now  think  it  should 
have  occurred  to  you.  If  it  did  occur  to  me,  I  was  not  the  man  to 
ask  you  for  it ;  I  think  that  should  not  have  been  necessary.  I  only 
remember  that  no  friend  at  Albany  inquired  as  to  my  pecuniary  cir 
cumstances  ;  that  your  friend  (but  not  mine),  Robert  C.  Wetmore,  was 
one  of  the  chief  dispensers  of  your  patronage  here :  and  that  such 
devoted  compatriots  as  A.  H.  Wells  and  John  Hooks  were  lifted  by 
you  out  of  pauperism  into  independence,  as  I  am  glad  I  \vas  not ;  and 
yet  an  inquiry  from  you  as  to  my  needs  and  means  at  that  time  would 
have  been  timely,  and  held  ever  in  grateful  remembrance. 

In  the  Harrison  campaign  of  1840  I  was  again  designated  to  edit  a 
campaign  paper.  I  published  it  as  well,  and  ought  to  have  made  some 
thing  by  it,  in  spite  of  its  extremely  low  price ;  my  extreme  poverty 
was  the  main  reason  why  I  did  not.  It  compelled  me  to  hire  press- 
work,  mailing,  etc.,  done  by  the  job,  and  high  charges  for  extra  work 
nearly  ate  me  up.  At  the  close  I  was  still  without  property  and  in 
debt,  but  this  paper  had  rather  improved  my  position. 

Now  came  the  great  scramble  of  the  swell  mob  of  coon  minstrels 
and  cider  suckers  at  Washington  —  I  not  being  counted  in.  Several 
regiments  of  them  went  on  from  this  city  ;  but  no  one  of  the  whole 
crowd  —  though  I  say  it  who  should  not  —  had  done  so  much  toward 
General  Harrison's  nomination  and  election  as  yours  respectfully.  I 
asked  nothing,  expected  nothing  ;  but  you.  Governor  Seward,  ought 
to  have  asked  that  I  be  Postmaster  of  New  York.  Your  asking 
would  have  been  in  vain  ;  but  it  would  have  been  an  act  of  grace 
neither  wasted  nor  undeserved. 

I  soon  after  started  the  "  Tribune,"  because  I  was  urged  to  do  so 
by  certain  of  your  friends,  and  because  such  a  paper  was  needed  here. 
I  was  promised  certain  pecuniary  aid  in  so  doing ;  it  might  have  been 
given  me  without  cost  or  risk  to  any  one.  All  I  ever  had  was  a  loan 
by  piecemeal  of  $1,000,  from  James  Coggeshall.  God  bless  his  hon 
ored  memory !  I  did  not  ask  for  this,  and  I  think  it  is  the  one  sole 
case  in  which  I  ever  received  a  pecuniary  favor  from  a  political  asso 
ciate.  I  am  very  thankful  that  he  did  not  die  till  it  was  fully  repaid. 

And  let  me  here  honor  one  grateful  recollection.     When  the  Whig 


I860.]  EVIDENCE  PRODUCED.  279 

party  under  your  rule  had  offices  to  give,  my  name  was  never  thought 
of;  but  when  in  '42-'43,  AVC  were  hopelessly  out  of  power,  I  was  hon 
ored  with  the  nomination  for  state  printer.  When  we  fame  again  to 
have  a  state  printer  to  elect,  as  well  as  nominate,  the  place  went  to 
Weed,  as  it  ought.  Yet  it  was  worth  something  to  know  that  there 
was  once  a  time  when  it  was  not  deemed  too  great  a  sacrifice  to  recog 
nize  me  as  belonging  to  your  household.  If  a  new  office  had  not 
since  been  erected  on  purpose  to  give  its  valuable  patronage  to  H.  J. 
Raymond  and  enable  St.  John  to  show  forth  his  ';  Times  "  as  the 
organ  of  the  Whig  state  administration,  I  should  have  been  still  more 
grateful. 

In  1848  your  star  again  rose,  and  my  warmest  hopes  were  realized 
in  your  election  to  the  Senate.  I  was  no  longer  needy,  and  had  no 
more  claim  than  desire  to  be  recognized  by  General  Taylor.  I  think 
I  had  some  claim  to  forbearance  from  you.  What  I  received  there 
upon  was  a  most  humiliating  lecture  in  the  shape  of  a  decision  in  the 
libel  case  of  Redfield  and  Pringle,  and  an  obligation  to  publish  it  in 
my  own  and  the  other  journal  of  our  supposed  firm.  I  thought  and 
still  think  this  lecture  needlessly  cruel  and  mortifying.  The  plain 
tiffs,  after  using  my  columns  to  the  extent  of  their  needs  or  desires, 
stopped  writing  and  called  on  me  for  the  name  of  their  assailant.  I 
proffered  it  to  them  —  a  thoroughly  responsible  name.  They  refused 
to  accept  it  unless  it  should  prove  to  be  one  of  the  four  or  five 
first  men  in  Batavia !  —  when  they  had  known  from  the  first  who  it 
was,  and  that  it  was  neither  of  them.  They  would  not  accept  that 
which  they  had  demanded ;  they  sued  me  instead  for  money,  and 
money  you  were  at  liberty  to  give  to  them  to  their  heart's  content.  I 
do  not  think  you  were  at  liberty  to  humiliate  me  in  the  eyes  of  my 
own  and  your  l  public  as  you  did.  I  think  you  exalted  your  own 
judicial  sternness  and  fearlessness  unduly  at  my  expense.  I  think 
you  had  a  better  occasion  for  the  display  of  these  qualities  when 
Webb  threw  himself  entirely  upon  you  for  a  pardon  which  he  had 
done  all  a  man  could  do  to  demerit.  (His  paper  is  paying  you  for  it 
now.) 

I  have  publicly  set  forth  my  view  of  your  and  our  duty  with  re 
spect  to  fusion,  Nebraska,  and  party  designations.  I  will  not  repeat 
any  of  that.  I  have  referred  also  to  Weed's  reading  me  out  of  the 
Whig  party  —  my  crime  being,  in  this  as  in  some  other  things,  that  of 
doing  to-day  what  more  politic  persons  will  not  be  ready  to  do  till  to 
morrow. 

1  If  I  am  not  mistaken,  this  judgment  is  the  only  speech,  letter,  or  docu 
ment  addressed  to  the  public  in  which  you  ever  recognized  my  existence.  I 
hope  I  may  not  go  down  to  posterity  as  embalmed  therein.  —  II.  G. 


280  MEMOIR.  [1860. 

Let  me  speak  of  the  late  canvass.  I  was  once  sent  to  Congress  for 
ninety  days  merely  to  enable  Jim  Brooks  to  secure  a  seat  therein  for 
four  years.  /  think  I  never  hinted  to  any  hitman  being  that  I  would 
have  liked  to  be  put  forward  for  any  place.  But  James  W.  White 
(you  hardly  know  how  good  and  true  a  man  he  is)  started  my  name 
for  Congress,  and  Brooks's  packed  delegation  thought  I  could  help 
him  through  ;  so  I  was  put  on  behind  him.  But  this  last  spring,  after 
the  Nebraska  question  had  created  a  new  state  of  things  at  the  North, 
one  or  two  personal  friends,  of  no  political  consideration,  suggested 
my  name  as  a  candidate  for  Governor,  and  I  did  not  discourage  them. 
Soon,  the  persons  who  were  afterward  mainly  instrumental  in  nomi 
nating  Clark  came  about  me,  and  asked  if  I  could  secure  the  Know 
Nothing  vote.  I  told  them  I  neither  could  nor  would  touch  it ;  on 
the  contrary,  I  loathed  and  repelled  it.  Thereupon  they  turned  upon 
Clark. 

I  said  nothing,  did  nothing.  A  hundred  people  asked  me  who 
should  be  rein  for  Governor.  I  sometimes  indicated  Patterson  ;  I 
never  hinted  at  my  own  name.  But  by  and  by  Weed  came  down,  and 
called  me  to  him,  to  tell  me  why  he  could  not  support  me  for  Gov 
ernor.  (I  had  never  asked  nor  counted  on  his  support.) 

I  am  sure  Weed  did  not  mean  to  humiliate  me  ;  but  he  did  it. 
The  upshot  of  his  discourse  (very  cautiously  stated)  was  this  :  If  I 
were  a  candidate  for  Governor,  I  should  beat  not  myself  only,  but 
you.  Perhaps  that  was  true.  But  as  I  had  in  no  manner  solicited  his 
or  your  support,  I  thought  this  might  have  been  said  to  my  friends 
rather  than  to  me.  I  suspect  it  is  true  that  I  could  not  have  been 
elected  Governor  as  a  Whig.  But  had  he  and  you  been  favorable, 
there  would  have  been  a  party  in  the  State  ere  this  which  could  and 
would  have  elected  me  to  any  post,  without  injuring  itself  or  endanger 
ing  your  reelection. 

It  was  in  vain  that  I  urged  that  I  had  in  no  manner  asked  a  nomi 
nation.  At  length  I  was  nettled  by  his  language  —  well  intended,  but 
very  cutting  as  addressed  by  him  to  me  —  to  say,  in  substance,  "  Well, 
then,  make  Patterson  Governor,  and  try  my  name  for  Lieutenant.  To 
lose  this  place  is  a  matter  of  no  importance  ;  and  we  can  see  whether 
I  am  really  so  odious." 

I  should  have  hated  to  serve  as  Lieutenant-Governor,  but  I  should 
have  gloried  in  running  for  the  post.  I  want  to  have  my  enemies  all 
upon  me  at  once  ;  I  am  tired  of  fighting  them  piecemeal.  And  though 
I  should  have  been  beaten  in  the  canvass,  I  know  that  my  running 
would  have  helped  the  ticket,  and  helped  my  paper. 

It  was  thought  best  to  let  the  matter  take  another  course.  No  other 
name  could  have  been  put  on  the  ticket  so  bitterly  humbling  to  me  as 


I860.]  Mil.   ORE RLE Y  TO  Mil.  SEWARD.  281 

that  which  was  selected.  The  nomination  was  given  to  Raymond  ;  the 
light  left  to  me.  And,  Governor  Sewartl,  /  have  made  it,  though  it  be 
conceited  in  me  to  say  so.  What  little  light  there  has  been,  I  have 
stirred  up.  Kven  Weed  has  not  been  (I  speak  of  his  paper)  hearty  in 
this  contest,  while  the  journal  of  the  Whig  Lieutenant-Governor  has 
taken  care  of  its  own  interests  and  let  the  canvass  take  care  of  itself, 
as  it  early  declared  it  would  do.  That  journal  has  (because  of  its 
milk-and-water  course)  some  twenty  thousand  subscribers  in  this  city 
and  its  suburbs,  and  of  these  twenty  thousand,  I  venture  to  say  more 
voted  for  Ulhnann  and  Scroggs  than  for  Clark  and  Raymond  ;  the 
"  Tribune  "  (also  because  of  its  character)  has  but  eight  thousand  sub 
scribers  within  the  same  radius,  and  I  venture  to  say  that  of  its  habit 
ual  readers,  nine  tenths  voted  for  Clark  and  Raymond,  —  very  few  for 
Ulhnann  and  Scroffgs.  I  had  to  bear  the  brunt  of  the  contest,  and 

OO 

take  a  terrible  responsibility  in  order  to  prevent  the  Whigs  uniting 
upon  James  W.  Barker  in  order  to  defeat  Fernando  Wood.  Had 
Barker  been  elected  here,  neither  you  nor  I  could  walk  these  streets 
without  being  hooted,  and  Know  Nothingism  would  have  swept  like  a 
prairie  fire.  I  stopped  Barker's  election  at  the  cost  of  incurring  the 
deadliest  enmity  of  the  defeated  gang ;  and  I  have  been  rebuked  for  it 
by  the  Lieutenant-Governor's  paper.  At  the  critical  moment,  he  came 
out  against  John  Wheeler  in  favor  of  Charles  H.  Marshall  (who  would 
have  been  your  deadliest  enemy  in  the  House),  and  even  your  Colonel- 
General's  paper,  which  was  even  with  me  in  insisting  that  Wheeler 
should  be  returned,  wheeled  about  at  the  last  moment,  and  went  in  for 
Marshall,  —  the  ''  Tribune  ''  alone  clinging  to  Wheeler  to  the  last.  I 
rejoice  that  they  who  turned  so  suddenly  were  not  able  to  turn  all  their 
readers. 

Governor  Seward,  I  know  that  some  of  your  most  cherished  friends 
think  me  a  great  obstacle  to  your  advancement ;  that  John  School- 
craft,  for  one,  insists  that  you  and  Weed  should  not  be  identified  with 
me.  I  trust,  after  a  time,  you  will  not  be.  I  trust  I  shall  never  be 
found  in  opposition  to  you  ;  I  have  no  farther  wish  than  to  glide  out  of 
the  newspaper  world  as  quietly  and  as  speedily  as  possible,  join  my 
family  in  Europe,  ami  if  possible  stay  there  quite  a  time  —  long  enough 
to  cool  my  fevered  brain  and  renovate  my  overtasked  energies.  All  I 
ask  is  that  we  shall  be  counted  even  on  the  morning  after  the  first 
Tuesday  in  February,  as  aforesaid,  and  that  I  may  thereafter  take 
such  course  as  seems  best  without  reference  to  the  past. 

You  have  done  me  acts  of  valued  kindness  in  the  line  of  your  pro 
fession ;  let  me  close  with  the  assurance  that  these  will  ever  be  grate 
fully  remembered  by 

Yours,  HORACE  GIIEELEY. 


282  MEMOIR.  [1860. 

"  The  third  member  of  the  firm,"  says  an  editorial  writer,1 
"  remained  to  be  heard  from.  Thin-low  Weed  was  beaten  at 
Chicago,  but  it  cannot  be  said  that  he  was  outgeneraled.  There 
wras  no  other  person  on  the  ground  who  assumed  to  rank  as  a 
General.  There  were  captains  in  plenty,  but  there  was  no  one 
accustomed  to  command  a  party,  and  no  one  who  had  a  tithe  of 
his  ability  to  deal  with  masses  of  men  and  steer  them  to  go  his 
way.  .  .  .  Mr.  Greeley's  letter  did  not  remain  unnoticed  by  Mr. 
Weed.  .  .  .  His  reply  was  so  dignified,  so  truthful,  so  severe, 
and  withal  so  patriotic,  —  it  stands  in  such  contrast  with  the 
furious  self-seeking  of  Mr.  Greeley,  that  it  cannot  be  read  now 
without  giving  the  impression  that  the  man  who  could  write  it, 
while  still  bearing  the  burden  of  a  Waterloo  defeat,  possessed 
elements  of  real  greatness." 

There  are  some  things  in  this  letter  requiring  explanation  [Mr. 
Weed  wrote]  —  all  things  in  it,  indeed,  are  susceptible  of  explanations 
consistent  with  Governor  Seward's  full  appreciation  of  Mr.  Greeley's 
friendship  and  services.  The  letter  was  evidently  written  under  a 
morbid  state  of  feeling,  and  it  is  less  a  matter  of  surprise  that  such  a 
letter  was  thus  written,  than  that  its  writer  should  not  only  cherish  the 
ill-will  that  prompted  it  for  six  years,  but  allow  it  to  influence  his 
action  upon  a  question  which  concerns  his  party  and  his  country. 

Mr.  Greeley's  first  complaint  is  that  this  journal,  in  an  u  editorial 
rescript  formally  read  him  [me]  out  of  the  Whig  party."  Now  here  is 
the  "  editorial  rescript  formally  reading  "  Mr.  Greeley  out  of  the 
Whig  party. 

[From  the   "Evening  Journal  "  of  September  G,  1853.] 

The  "  Tribune  "  defines  its  position  in  reference  to  the  approaching  elec 
tion.  Regarding  the  "Maine  law  "  as  a  question  of  paramount  importance, 
it  will  support  members  of  the  legislature  friendly  to  its  passage,  irrespect 
ive  of  party.  For  state  officers  it  will  support  such  men  as  it  deems  compe 
tent  and  trustworthy,  irrespective  also  of  party,  and  without  regard  to  the 
"  Maine  law."  In  a  word,  it  avows  itself,  for  the  present,  if  not  forever,  an 
independent  journal  (it  was  pretty  much  so  always),  discarding  party  usages, 
mandates,  and  platforms. 

We  regret  to  lose,  in  the  "  Tribune,"  an  old,  able,  and  efficient  colaborer 
in  the  Whig  vineyard.  But  when  carried  away  by  its  convictions  of  duty  to 
other,  and,  in  its  judgment,  higher  and  more  beneficent  objects,  we  have  as 
little  right  as  inclination  to  complain.  The  "  Tribune  "  takes  with  it,  wher 
ever  it  goes,  an  indomitable  and  powerful  pen,  a  devoted,  a  noble,  and 
an  unselfish  zeal.  Its  senior  editor  evidently  supposes  himself  permanently 

1  In  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  November  27,  1882. 


MR.    WEED   ON   THE   GREELEY  LETTER.  283 

divorced  from  the  Whig  party,  but  we  shall  be  disappointed  if,  after  a  year 
or  two's  sturdy  pulling  at  the  oar  of  reform,  he  does  not  return  to  his  long- 
cherished  belief  that  great  and  beneficent  aims  must  continue,  as  they  com 
menced,  to  be  wrought  out  through  Whig  instrumentalities. 

But  we  only  intended  to  say  that  the  "  Tribune "  openly  and  frankly 
avows  its  intention  and  policy  ;  and  that  in  things  about  which  we  cannot 
agree,  we  can  and  will  disagree  as  friends. 

Pray  read  this  article  again,  if  its  purpose  and  import  be  not  clearly 
understood  !  At  the  time  it  appeared,  the  "  Tribune "  was  under 
high-pressure  "  Maine  law  "  speed.  That  question,  in  Mr.  Greeley's 
view,  was  paramount  to  all  others.  It  was  the  "Tribune's"  'k  higher 
law."  Mr.  Greeley  had  given  warning  in  his  paper  that  he  should 
support  *•  Maine  law  "  candidates  for  the  legislature,  and  for  state 
offices,  regardless  of  their  political  or  party  principles  and  character. 
And  this,  too,  when  Senators  to  be  elected  had  to  choose  a  Senator  in 
Congress.  But  instead  of  u  reading  "  Mr.  Greeley  "  out  of  the  Whig 
party,"  it  will  be  seen  that  after  Mr.  Greeley  had  read  himself  out  of 
the  party  by  discarding  "  party  usages,  mandates,  and  platforms,"  the 
"  Evening  Journal,"  in  the  language  and  spirit  of  friendship,  predicted 
just  what  happened,  namely,  that,  in  due  time,  Mr.  Greeley  would 
i%  return  to  his  long-cherished  belief,  that  great  and  beneficent  aims 
must  continue,  as  they  commenced,  to  be  wrought  out  through  Whig 
instrumentalities." 

We  submit,  even  to  Mr.  Greeley  himself,  whether  there  is  one  word 
or  thought  in  the  article  to  which  lie  referred  justifying  his  accusation 
that  he  had  been  ik  read  out  of  the  Whig  party "  by  the  •'  Evening 
Journal." 

In  December,  1837,  when  we  sought  the  acquaintance  and  coop 
eration  of  Mr.  Greeley,  we  were,  like  him,  a  "  poor  printer,"  working 
as  hard  as  he  worked.  We  had  then  been  sole  editor,  reporter,  news 
collector,  "  remarkable  accident,"  "  horrid  murder,"  '"  items  "  man, 
etc.,  etc.,  for  seven  years,  at  a  salary  of  $750,  $1,000,  $1,250,  and 
SI. 500.  We  had  also  been  working  hard,  for  poor  pay,  as  an  editor 
and  politician,  for  the  twelve  years  preceding  1830.  We  stood,  there 
fore,  on  the  same  footing  with  Mr.  Greeley  when  the  partnership  was 
formed.  We  knew  that  Mr.  Greeley  was  much  abler,  more  indomita 
bly  industrious,  and,  as  we  believed,  a  better  man  in  all  respects.  We 
foresaw  for  him  a  brilliant  future  ;  and,  if  we  had  not  started  with  ut 
terly  erroneous  views  of  his  objects,  we  do  not  believe  that  our  rela 
tions  would  have  jarred.  We  believed  him  indifferent  alike  to  the 
temptations  of  money  and  office,  desiring  only  to  become  both  *'  use 
ful  "  and  "  ornamental,"  as  the  editor  of  a  patriotic,  enlightened,  lead 
ing,  and  influential  public  journal.  For  years,  therefore,  we  placed 


284  MEMOIR.  [1860. 

Horace  Greeley  far  above  the  "  swell-mob  "  of  office-seekers,  for  whom, 
in  his  letter,  he  expresses  so  much  contempt.  Had  Governor  Seward 
known,  in  1838,  that  Mr.  Greeley  coveted  an  inspectorship,  he  cer 
tainly  would  have  received  it.  Indeed,  if  our  memory  be  not  at  fault, 
Mr.  Greeley  was  offered  the  clerkship  of  the  Assembly  in  1838.  It 
was  certainly  pressed  upon  us,  and  though  at  that  time,  like  Mr.  Gree 
ley.  desperately  poor,  it  was  declined. 

We  cannot  think  that  Mr.  Greeley's  political  friends,  after  the 
"Tribune  ''  was  under  way,  knew  that  he  needed  the  "  pecuniary  aid  " 
which  had  been  promised.  When,  about  that  period,  we  suggested  to 
him  (after  consulting  some  of  the  board)  that  the  printing  of  the  com 
mon  council  might  be  obtained,  he  refused  to  have  anything  to  do 
with  it. 

In  relation  ta  the  state  printing,  Mr.  Greeley  kno«ws  that  there 
never  was  a  day  when,  if  he  had  chosen  to  come  to  Albany,  he  might 
not  have  taken  whatever  interest  he  pleased  in  the  '*  Journal "  and  its 
state  printing.  But  he  wisely  regarded  his  position  in  New  York,  and 
the  future  of  the  "  Tribune,"  as  far  more  desirable. 

For  the  "  creation  of  the  new  office  for  the  '  Times '  "  Mr.  Greeley 
knows  perfectly  well  that  Governor  Seward  was  in  no  manner  respon 
sible. 

That  Mr.  Greeley  should  make  the  adjustment  of  the  libel  suit  of 
Messrs.  Iledfield  and  Pringle  against  the  "  Tribune  "  a  ground  of  ac 
cusation  against  Governor  Seward  is  matter  of  astonishment.  Gover- 

O 

nor  Seward  undertook  the  settlement  of  that  suit  as  the  friend  of  Mr. 
Greeley,  at  a  time  when  a  systematic  effort  wras  being  made  to  destroy 
both  the  "  Tribune  "  and  '•  Journal  "  by  prosecutions  for  libel.  We 
were  literally  plastered  over  with  writs,  declarations,  etc.  There  were 
at  least  two  judges  of  the  supreme  court  in  the  State,  on  whom  plain 
tiffs  were  at  liberty  to  count  for  verdicts.  Governor  Seward  tendered 
his  professional  services  to  Mr.  Greeley,  and  in  the  case  referred  to, 
as  in  others,  foiled  the  adversary.  For  such  service  this  seems  a 
strange  requital.  Less  fortunate  than  the  "  Tribune,"  it  cost  the 
"  Journal "  over  $8,000  to  reach  a  point  in  legal  proceedings  that  ena 
bled  a  defendant  in  a  libel  suit  to  give  the  truth  in  evidence. 

It  was  by  no  fault  or  neglect  or  wish  of  Governor  Seward  that 
Mr.  Greeley  served  but  "  ninety  days  in  Congress."  Nor  will  we  say 
what  others  have  said,  that  his  Congressional  debut  was  a  failure. 
There  were  other  reasons,  and  this  seems  a  fitting  occasion  to  state 
them.  Mr.  Greeley's  "  isms  "  were  in  his  way  at  conventions.  The 
sharp  points  and  rough  edges  of  the  "  Tribune  "  rendered  him  unac 
ceptable  to  those  who  nominate  candidates.  This  was  more  so  for 
merly  than  at  present,  for  most  of  the  rampant  reforms  to  which  the 


I860.]         MR.   WEED   ON   THE    GREELEY  LETTER.  285 

"  Tribune  ''  was  devoted  have  subsided.  We  had  no  sympathy  with, 
and  little  respect  for,  a  constituency  that  preferred  ''Jim"  Brooks  to 
Horace  Greeley. 

Nearly  forty  years  of  experience  leaves  us  in  some  doubt  whether, 
with  political  friends,  an  open,  frank,  and  truthful,  or  a  cautious,  cal 
culating,  non-committal  course  is  not  the  right,  but  the  easiest  and 
most  politic.  The  former,  which  we  have  chosen,  has  made  us  much 
trouble  and  many  enemies.  Few  candidates  are  able  to  bear  the 
truth,  or  to  believe  that  the  friend  who  utters  it  is  truly  one. 

In  18~)4  the  iv  Tribune,"  through  years  of  earnest  effort,  had  edu 
cated  the  people  up  to  the  point  of  demanding  a  "  Maine  law  "  can 
didate  for  Governor.  But  its  followers  would  not  accept  their  chief 
reformer  I  It  was  evident  that  the  state  convention  was  to  be  largely 
influenced  by  "  Maine  law "  and  *"  Choctaw  "  Know-Nothing  dele 
gates.  It  was  equally  evident  that  Mr.  Greeley  could  neither  be 
nominated  nor  elected.  Hence  the  conference  to  which  he  refers. 
We  found,  as  on  two  other  occasions  during  thirty  years,  our  state 
convention  impracticable.  We  submitted  the  names  of  Lieutenant- 
Governor  Patterson  and  Judge  Harris  (both  temperance  men  in  faith 
and  practice)  as  candidates  for  Governor,  coupled  with  that  of  Mr. 
Greeley  for  Lieutenant-Governor.  But  the  "  Maine  law  "  men  would 
have  none  of  these,  preferring  Myron  H.  Clark  (who  used  up  the  raw 
material  of  temperance),  qualified  by  H.  J.  Raymond  for  Lieutenant- 
Governor. 

What  Mr.  Greeley  says  of  the  relative  zeal  and  efficiency  of  the 
"  Tribune  "  and  "•  Times,"  and  of  our  own  feelings  in  that  contest,  is 
true.  We  did  our  duty,  but  with  less  of  enthusiasm  than  when  we 
were  supporting  either  Granger,  Seward,  Bradish,  Hunt,  Fish,  King, 
or  Morgan  for  Governor. 

One  word  in  relation  to  the  supposed  "  political  firm."  Mr.  Gree 
ley  brought  into  it  his  full  quota  of  capital.  But  were  there  no  bene 
ficial  results,  no  accruing  advantages,  to  himself  ?  Did  he  not  attain, 
in  the  sixteen  years,  a  high  position,  world-wide  reputation,  and  an 
ample  fortune  ?  Admit,  as  we  do,  that  he  is  not  as  wealthy  as  we  wish 
he  was,  it  is  not  because  the  "  Tribune  "  has  not  made  his  fortune,  but 
because  he  did  not  keep  it,  —  bec.au.se  it  went,  as  other  people's  money 
goes,  to  friends,  to  pay  indorsements,  and  in  bad  investments. 

We  had  both  been  liberally,  nay,  generously,  sustained  by  our 
party.  Mr.  Greeley  differs  with  us  in  regarding  patrons  of  newspa 
pers  as  conferring  favors.  In  giving  them  the  worth  of  their  money, 
he  holds  that  the  account  is  balanced.  We,  on  the  other  hand,  have 
ever  held  the  relation  of  newspaper  editor  and  subscriber  as  one  of 
fraternity.  Viewed  in  this  aspect,  the  editors  of  the  "  Tribune  "  and 


286  MEMOIR.  [1860. 

"  Evening  Journal  "  have  manifold  reasons  for  cherishing  grateful  rec 
ollections  of  the  liberal  and  abiding  confidence  and  patronage  of  their 
party  and  friends. 

In  conclusion,  we  cannot  withhold  an  expression  of  sincere  regret 
that  this  letter  has  been  called  out.  After  remaining  six  years  in 
"  blissful  ignorance "  of  its  contents,  we  should  have  preferred  to 
have  ever  remained  so.  It  jars  harshly  upon  cherished  memories.  It 
destroys  ideals  of  disinterestedness  and  generosity  which  relieved 
political  life  from  so  much  that  is  selfish,  sordid,  and  rapacious. 

"  The  first  intimation  of  Mr.  Greeley's  desire  to  go  before  the 
people  for  a  representative  office,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed,  in  1871, 
"  was  received  in  1846,  when  he  went  to  Albany  and  in  a  hesi 
tating  manner  inquired  if  I  thought  he  could  be  nominated  in 
some  of  our  strong  Whig  counties  as  a  delegate  to  the  state  con 
stitutional  convention,  adding  that  he  thought  he  could  be  useful 
in  such  a  body.  I  replied  that  most  of  the  counties  had  already 
made  their  nominations,  and  expressed  niy  regret  that  he  had 
not  made  the  suggestion  to  me  at  an  earlier  day.  He  said  that 
he  would  have  done  so  if  he  had  not  expected  a  nomination  from 
Chautauqua,  where  some  of  his  relatives  resided.  In  looking 
about  for  an  opening,  Washington  County  seemed  to  be  the  most 
likely  to  act  upon  the  suggestion ;  but  on  closer  examination  we 
found  that  its  Whig  convention  would  meet  the  next  day.  An 
effort  to  place  Mr.  Greeley  in  nomination  from  Delaware  County 
was  unsuccessful,  the  nominees  having  been  agreed  on  before 
our  messengers  reached  Delhi.  Simultaneously  we  sent  an  influ 
ential  friend  to  New  Scotland,  in  Albany  County,  to  induce  the 
delegates  from  that  town,  in  which  a  candidate  was  to  be  located, 
to  accept  Mr.  Greeley.  But  they  had  already  agreed  on  Dr. 
Rainsford,  and  with  that  failure  the  project  was  abandoned.  If 
Mr.  Greeley  had  made  his  wishes  known  two  or  three  weeks 
earlier,  they  would  have  been  gratified,  although  there  had  been, 
I  believe,  but  two  precedents  in  the  history  of  our  State.  .  .  . 

"  On  two  or  three  subsequent  occasions  Mr.  Greeley  indicated 
a  willingness  to  accept  nominations,  but  did  not  seem  anxious. 
If  the  same  strong  passion  for  office  which  subsequently  became 
apparent  existed  then,  I  had  no  knowledge  or  suspicion  of  it.  I 
thought  that  his  ambition  and  pride  looked  to  the  establishment 
of  a  widely-circulating  and  influential  journal,  through  the  col 
umns  of  which  he  could  render  great  and  good  service  to  the 


18CO.]  Mil.    WEED   ON  MR.  GREELEY.  287 

country  and  to  the  people.  I  knew  how  able,  how  industrious, 
how  virtuous,  and  how  unselfish  he  was.  I  know  that  his  sym 
pathies  were  with  the  oppressed  and  downtrodden.  I  believed 
that  his  devotion  to  the  rights,  the  interests,  the  elevation,  and 
the  prosperity  of  the  laboring,  the  agricultural,  and  the  manu 
facturing  classes  would  win  for  him  a  name  as  bright  and  fame 
as  enduring  as  that  of  Franklin.  But  I  did  not  then  know  or 
dream  that  a  passion  so  subdued  and  under  control  would  in 
after  years  become  absorbing  and  inextinguishable. 

"  The  high  estimate  I  formed  of  Mr.  Greeley's  character  at  the 
outset  of  our  acquaintance  was  strengthened  by  all  I  saw  and 
knew  of  him  for  the  ensuing  twelve  years.  I  iiiveste;!  him  with 
more  good  qualities  than  generally  belong  to  the  best  of  our 
public  men.  His  great  ability  and  greater  industry  seemed 
destined  to  work  out  enlightened  and  beneficent  purposes.  He 
seemed  also  to  work  unselfishly,  finding  his  reward  in  the  con 
sciousness  of  doing  good.  His  happiness  seemed  to  consist  in 
laboring  diligently  for  his  country  and  his  race.  lie  had  no 
vices  great  or  small,  no  recreations,  and  few  amusements.  I 
do  not  remember  in  all  our  intercourse  to  have  heard  him  speak 
of  his  boy-life,  of  ball-playing,  of  kites,  of  marbles,  of  tops,  etc. ; 
and  I  incline  to  the  belief  that  he  was  a  stranger  to  all  or  nearly 
all  of  these  juvenile  joys.  Indeed,  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that 
his  case  was  not  the  exception  to  a  rule  which  is  supposed  to  be 
universal,  that  he  was  not  a  grown-up  man  who  had  never  played 
4  High,  Low,  Jack  and  the  Game.' 

"  But  viewed  in  the  light  which  subsequent  years  and  events 
shed  upon  his  character  and  conduct,  my  earlier  impressions 
must  have  been  erroneous,  or  the  Horace  Greeley  of  1840  was 
not  the  Horace  Greeley  of  a  later  day.  It  is  certain  that  in 
many  respects  his  views  underwent  marked  changes.  For  ex 
ample  :  Up  to  and  for  several  years  after  1840  Mr.  Greeley 
had  no  patience  with  and  could  not  endure  the  importunity 
of  office-seekers.  His  greatest  annoyance  after  a  successful 
election  was  that  4  office-beggars  '  (as  he  stigmatized  them)  bored 
him  for  letters  to  governors  and  presidents.  The  idea  of  men's 
seeking  office  as  a  reward  for  political  service  disgusted  him. 
In  later  years,  however,  he  not  only  became  tolerant  of  office- 
seekers,  but  some  of  the  most  impudent  and  worthless  of  the 
tribe  entrenched  themselves  strongly  in  his  confidence  and  favor. 


288  MEMOIR.  [1860. 

It  is  a  fact  equally  mortifying  and  instructive,  that  Mr.  Greeley 
during  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life  was  the  dupe  and  victim  of 
political  adventurers,  men  so  universally  discredited  that  their 
shams  would  pass  current  with  nobody  else.  And  yet,  while 
sufficiently  distrustful  of  others,  Mr.  Greeley's  confidence  in 
sharpers  involved  him  in  frequent  political  entanglements  and 
subjected  him  to  serious  pecuniary  losses.  .  .  . 

"  In  looking  back  through  a  vista  of  nearly  forty  years,  I  find 
myself  seriously  perplexed  in  endeavoring  to  understand  Mr. 
Greeley's  true  character.  While  all  I  saw  and  knew  of  him  in 
early  life  inspired  feelings  of  confidence  and  admiration,  there 
was  very  much  in  later  years  to  occasion  surprise  and  regret.  I 
can  account  for  this  change,  if  I  am  right  in  assuming  that  his 
character  did  so  change,  only  by  attributing  it  to  a  cause  which 
has  worked  men's  downfall  in  all  ages  of  the  world.  Ambition, 
while  under  the  subjection  of  reason,  is  laudable ;  but  when  it 
breaks  bounds  and  o'erleaps  itself,  the  consequences  are  disas 
trous." 

"The  greatest  politician  this  country  ever  knew,"  writes 
George  E.  Baker,  "  maintained  the  second  place  in  the  great 
'  political  firm.'  Mr.  Weed  assumed  control  of  all  mere  party 
affairs.  With  these  Mr.  Seward  had  nothing  to  do.  He  fre 
quently  differed  with  Mr.  Weed,  but  when  no  principle  was  in 
volved,  submitted  to  Weed's  judgment.  .  .  .  While  the  '  firm ' 
existed,  the  senior  and  junior  members  acquiesced  in  the  nomi 
nations  made  by  Mr.  Weed.  Indeed,  it  is  difficult  to  determine 
which  of  the  two  partners  more  highly  appreciated  the  genius 
in  this  particular  line  of  the  4  Dictator.'  .  .  .  Mr.  Greeley's 
letters  show  how  high  an  estimate  he  placed  upon  Mr.  Weed's 
abilities  as  a  politician  and  statesman.  .  .  .  President  Lincoln, 
equally  with  Mr.  Seward,  looked  to  Mr.  Weed  for  counsel, 
when,  as  often  during  the  war,  he  met  with  difficulties  hard  to 
surmount.  It  was  Mr.  Lincoln's  habit  at  such  times  to  tele 
graph  Mr.  Weed  to  come  to  Washington  from  Albany  or  New 
York,  perhaps  at  an  hour's  notice.  He  often  spent  the  day  with 
the  President,  coining  and  returning  by  night,  regardless  of  his 
age  and  infirmities.  His  services  in  these  exigencies  were  often 
invaluable.  .  .  . 

"  At  length  Mr.  Greeley  began  to  feel  that  he  was  not  an 
equal  member  in  '  the  firm  of  Seward,  Weed  &  Greeley.'  He 


I860.]  SEWARD,  WEED,  AND   GREELEY.  289 

chafed  under  the  domineering  influence  of  Mr.  Weed,  who, 
never  seeking  office  himself,  did  not,  until  too  late,  discover 
Mr.  Greeley's  consuming  desire  for  political  preferment.  Mr. 
Weed  knew  that  as  a  politician  Mr.  Greeley  would  prove  a 
failure,  while  as  an  editor  his  fame  would  be  transcendent  and 
his  influence  immeasurable.  Nevertheless,  in  1854,  Mr.  Gree 
ley  withdrew  from  the  '  firm.'  His  famous  letter  to  Governor 
Seward  was  regarded  as  but  a  temporary  ebullition  of  petulance, 
such  as  a  child  might  exhibit  on  'being  denied  some  hurtful  in 
dulgence.  It  did  not  raise  a  doubt,  then,  of  his  fidelity.  The 
event,  however,  was  disastrous  to  Mr.  Greeley,  and  to  some 
extent  disastrous  to  the  cause  he  loved.  Whatever  effect  it 
may  have  had  on  the  fortunes  of  Mr.  Seward,  it  never  provoked 
from  him  an  unkind  word  or  act.  No  trace  of  resentment  ever 
manifested  itself  in  all  his  after  life,  —  not  even  after  his  defeat 
at  Chicago,  mainly  by  Mr.  Greeley's  efforts." 

"  It  was  a  great  triad,"  writes  Colonel  Frederick  Morley,1 
referring  to  the  now  dismembered  "  political  firm  of  Seward, 
Weed  &  Greeley."  "  Through  all  the  future  of  this  Kepublic 
the  vibration  of  their  lives  and  influence  will  never  cease.  In 
the  marvelous  era  which  produced  them  they  did  their  full 
share  of  work,  and  through  a  wider  freedom  and  a  larger 
humanity  contributed  each  in  his  degree  to  a  better  age  of 
mankind.  The  needs  and  agitations  of  their  times  led  their 
common  instincts  into  the  same  fields  of  labor,  and  their  abili 
ties,  curiously  diversified,  gave  practical  results  to  the  methods 
their  wisdom  inspired.  While  others  were  content  to  spend 
their  opposition  in  raging  and  futile  declamation,  it  was  these 
men,  and  others  of  their  kind,  who  taught  and  organized  effec 
tive  resistance  to  slavery,  and  to  the  cramped  conditions  which 
surrounded  many  of  their  own  race.  It  is  not  easy  to  find  in 
the  annals  of  any  nation  a  stronger  or  similar  combination  of 
forces  represented  in  three  individuals,  and  that  it  failed  to  en 
dure  the  tests  of  time  and  circumstance  is  only  another  instance 
in  the  mournful  multitude  of  proofs  of  the  instability  of  human 
alliances.  Seward,  with  his  courtly  graces,  his  keen  and  well- 
schooled  intellect,  his  cheerful  philosophy,  his  persistent  philan 
thropy,  and  his  broad  faith  in  his  kind,  was  the  first,  through 
strange  vicissitudes,  to  find  his  rest.  Greeley  followed  next, 

1  Formerly  editor  of  the  Detroit  Post  and  Tribune. 
19 


290  MEMOIR.  [1860. 

crowning  fifty  years  of  almost  unequaled  toil,  in  which  he 
4  builded  better  than  he  knew,'  with  personal  disappointments, 
but  an  eternal  victory,  his  mistakes  atoned  by  the  greatness  of 
his  life's  purpose,  and  all  his  infirmities  forgotten  in  the  infinite 
pathos  of  his  death.  And  Weed,  the  senior  of  both  in  years, 
and  happier  than  either  in  the  quiet  of  his  gentle  sunset,  has 
rejoined  them  at  last.  Whichever  the  manifold  judgment  of 
time  may  pronounce  the  greatest,  it  is  certain  he  was  not  the 
least." 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

1860. 

"THE  RAIL  SPLITTER  CANDIDATE  FOR  THE  PRESIDENCY."  —  His  CAN 
VASS  BEGUN  IN  1859.  —  THE  ILLINOIS  STATE  CONVENTION  AT  DECATUK. 
—  LEONARD  SWETT'S  RECOLLECTIONS  OF  THE  CHICAGO  CONVENTION.  — 
"  THE  CHANCE  LAY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA."  —  MR.  WEED  AT  SPRING 
FIELD.  —  EFFORTS  IN  NEW  YORK.  —  LETTERS  FROM  MR.  LINCOLN, 
JUDGE  DAVID  DAVIS,  AND  MR.  SWETT. 

AMONG  the  earliest  supporters  of  Mr.  Lincoln  were  David 
Davis,  afterwards  Judge  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court 
and  President  of  the  United  States  Senate,  and  Leonard  Swett, 
of  Chicago,  a  very  able  lawyer  and  politician.  They  began 
work  early  in  1859.  An  Illinois  state  convention  was  to  as 
semble  at  Decatur  on  the  10th  of  May,  in  that  year,  and  it  was 
arranged  that  Mr.  Lincoln  should  appear  at  this  meeting,  though 
not  as  a  delegate.  Dr.  J.  G.  Holland  x  describes  Mr.  Lincoln's 
dramatic  entrance  into  the  hall,  while,  simultaneously,  there 
were  brought  upon  the  stage  two  old  J. ence-rails  inscribed,  "  The 
Rail  Splitter  Candidate  for  the  Presidency,  Abraham  Lincoln, 
of  Illinois."  No  opportunity  for  "  creating  popular  sentiment" 
was  neglected.  At  Decatur  Judge  Davis  was  chosen  a  dele- 
gate-at-large,  and  soon  afterwards  Mr.  Lincoln  began  his  "  star 
ring  tour"  through  Kansas,  Ohio,  New  York,  and  New  England. 
"  Most  of  all  were  the  politicians  affected,"  writes  Dr.  Holland, 
"  and  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  the  impression  of  that  evening 
[in  New  York]  left  them  convinced  that  if  Mr.  Seward,  the  man 
of  their  choice,  should  be  set  aside,  as  the  Republican  candidate 
for  the  presidency,  Mr.  Lincoln,  the  favorite  of  the  West  would 
be  abundantly  worthy  of  their  support." 

"  Of  course,"  says  Mr.  Leonard  Swett,  "  the  first  question 
was  whether  or  not  Mr.  Weed,  who  was  confessedly  in  the  lead 
ership  of  the  Seward  movement,  could  carry  off  the  nomination 
by  main  strength  and  on  the  first  ballot.  If  it  shoidd  prove 
1  In  his  Life  of  Lincoln,  p.  198. 


292  MEMOIR.  [I860. 

that  he  could  not,  then  we  had  hopes,  for  we  believed  Mr.  Lin 
coln  could  concentrate  forces,  as  against  Chase,  Cameron,  or 
Bates.  The  efforts  of  his  friends,  therefore,  were  directed  to 
getting  for  Mr.  Lincoln  the  strength  of  these  men,  after  their 
personal  hopes  should  be  abandoned.  Everybody  who  knows 
politicians  knows  that  what  they  worship  is  the  god  of  success. 
The  friends  of  Mr.  Lincoln  knew  this,  and  saw  their  chance  in 
securing,  upon  the  failure  of  Mr.  Seward  affirmatively  to  carry 
the  convention,  a  great  demonstration  of  strength  as  between 
Mr.  Lincoln  and  the  other  candidates. 

"  The  chance  lay  in  Pennsylvania,  which  had,  as  I  remember, 
fifty-four  votes.  The  Seward  men  were  laboring  with  delegates 
from  that  State,  and  so  were  friends  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  both 
were  hopeful ;  but  in  the  small  hours  of  Friday  morning,  in  a 
room  of  the  Tremont  House,  two  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  friends  and 
two  of  Mr.  Cameron's  being  present,  our  arguments  prevailed, 
and  the  Cameron  men  agreed  to  come  to  us  on  the  second  bal 
lot.  They  did  so  right  nobly  and  gave  us  forty-eight  votes. 
This,  with  other  accessions,  was  a  blow  in  the  centre  which  dis 
organized  the  forces  of  our  great  opponent  and  revealed  the 
coming  man.  Thousands  in  the  wigwam  catching  the  inspira 
tion,  he  was  immediately  nominated.  .  .  . 

"  After  the  joy  of  the  occasion  had  subsided,  and  the  conven 
tion  adjourned,  a  Mr.  Humphreys,1  who  was  a  member  of  the 
New  York  delegation,  and  who  had  formerly  lived  in  Blooming- 
ton,  111.,  came  to  me  and  said  Mr.  Weed  was  feeling  badly  at 
the  result,  and  some  of  us  ought  to  call  upon  him.  I  asked  him 
to  go  and  introduce  us  ;  but,  because,  as  I  remember,  he  did  not 
know  him  personally,  he  declined,  and  Judge  Davis  and  I  went 
alone.  This  was  the  first  time  either  of  us  had  met  him,  and  I 
shall  always  remember  the  interview. 

"  Mr.  Weed  did  not  talk  angrily  as  to  the  result,  nor  did  he 
complain  of  any  one.  I  remember  the  substance  of  his  words, 
as  with  much  feeling,  and  confessing  to  the  great  disappoint 
ment  of  his  life,  he  said,  'I  hoped  to  make  my  friend,  Mr.  Sew 
ard,  President,  and  I  thought  I  could  serve  my  country  in  so 
doing.'  He  was  a  larger  man  intellectually  than  I  anticipated, 
and  of  finer  fibre.  There  was  in  him  an  element  of  gentleness 

1  There  was  no  gentleman  of  this  name  on  the  New  York  delegation. 
Mr.  Swett's  friend  must  have  been  in  Chicago  unofficially. 


I860.]  MR.  SWETTS  REMINISCENCES.  293 

and  a  large  humanity  which  won  me,  and  I  was  pleased  no  less 
than  surprised.  We  urged  upon  him  the  propriety  of  making 
Mr.  Lincoln's  acquaintance  before  he  returned.  He  was  going 
for  some  purpose  to  Iowa,  and  we  finally  arranged  that  he 
should  telegraph  us  at  Bloomington  what  day  he  could  be  in 
Springfield  upon  his  return,  as  we  had  offered,  if  he  would  do 
so,  to  meet  him  there  and  introduce  him.  AYe  did  meet  him, 
according  to  his  despatch,  and  were  present  at  the  interview, 
which  was  of  a  general  character,  upon  the  prospects  of  the 
campaign  and  the  condition  of  the  country.  .  .  . 

"About  a  month  after  the  election  the  propriety  of  consulting 
Mr.  Weed  upon  the  formation  of  the  Cabinet  and  the  general 
condition  of  the  country,  which  had  begun  to  assume  a  threat 
ening  aspect,  was  under  discussion.  In  conclusion,  Mr.  Lincoln 
asked  me  to  write  a  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  saying  that  he  would 
like  to  see  him,  and  asking  him  to  come  to  Springfield  for  that 
purpose.  I  did  so,  and  in  a  few  days  he  came  to  Bloomington, 
and  Judge  Davis  and  myself  went  to  Springfield  with  him. 
Mr.  Seward  had  already  been  selected,  although,  perhaps,  no 
one  knew  it,  and  at  the  opening  of  the  interview,  Mr.  Lincoln 
announced  that  fact.  As  to  the  rest  of  the  Cabinet,  it  was 
an  open  question,  although  some  names  had  been  fixed  upon, 
unless  substantial  objection  should  arise,  and  others  were  be 
ing  favorably  considered.  Judge  Davis  and  myself  were  pres 
ent,  by  courtesy  ;  but  the  substance  of  the  interview  was  be 
tween  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Weed,  and  the  object  was  to  obtain 
his  opinion  upon  all  material  questions  connected  with  the 
opening  of  the  administration.  These  interviews  were  pro 
tracted  through  several  days,  and  every  possible  subject  was 
discussed. 

"  General  Cameron  was  desirous  of  being  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  and  the  question  of  his  relations  to  the  Cabinet  was 
considered.  This  was  the  only  subject  upon  which  Mr.  Weed, 
as  it  seemed  to  me,  did  not  speak  with  entire  freedom.  He 
spoke  kindly  of  General  Cameron ;  said  that  Pennsylvania  was 
entitled  to  a  place  in  the  Cabinet,  and  conceded  that  that  state 
would  be  for  Cameron.  He  thought,  however,  it  would  be 
wiser  to  give  Cameron  some  other  place  than  the  Treasury. 

"  Mr.  Lincoln  then  suggested  Edward  Bates  and  Caleb  B. 
Smith.  The  selection  of  Mr.  Bates  was  heartily  approved,  and 


294  MEMOIR.  [i860. 

that  of  Caleb  B.  Smith  assented  to.  To  Mr.  Welles  and  Mr. 
Blair  Mr.  Weed  made  strong  opposition.  In  reference  to  Mr. 
Welles,  Mr.  Lincoln  said  he  had  conferred  with  Mr.  Hamlin. 
I  think  he  had  met  him  in  Chicago  after  the  election,  and  he 
being  a  New  England  man,  and  New  England  having  large 
shipping  interests,  Mr.  Lincoln  had  tendered  to  him  the  selec 
tion  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  Mr.  Hamlin  had  selected 
Mr.  Welles,  and  therefore  the  only  question  was  as  to  whether  he 
was  unfit  personally.  The  result  of  this  was  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
said  he  would  take  several  names  suggested  under  advisement, 
but,  as  the  result  shows,  he  adhered  to  the  original  purpose.  In 
reference  to  Mr.  Blair,  Mr.  Weed  insisted  if  Mr.  Lincoln  took 
him  into  the  Cabinet  he  would  regret  it.  He  insisted  that  the 
Blair  blood  was  troublesome,  and  traced  evidence  of  this  back 
to  the  time  of  General  Jackson.  Mr.  Lincoln  replied  that  he 
must  have  some  one  from  the  Border  States,  and  Montgomery 
Blair  seemed  to  possess  more  of  this  element  than  any  other 
available  person,  because  he  lived  in  Maryland,  and  Frank,  his 
brother,  in  Missouri. 

"Mr.  Weed's  parry  was  first  made  with  Henry  Winter 
Davis.  I  thought  in  this  he  hoped  for  more  support  from 
Judge  Davis  than  he  actually  received  (he  being  his  cousin), 
but  finally  he  changed  to  Mr.  Gilmer,  of  North  Carolina,  and 
conditionally  succeeded.  Mr.  Lincoln  knew  Mr.  Gilmer  favor 
ably,  and  the  result  was  that  he  said  if  Mr.  Weed  would  go  to 
see  Gilmer,  who  was  then  in  Washington,  and  there  was  no 
doubt  of  his  fidelity,  he  would  appoint  him.  The  secession  of 
North  Carolina  spoiled  this,  and  Mr.  Blair  was  selected.  .  .  . 

"  One  thing  in  these  interviews  impressed  me.  From  the 
beginning  to  the  end,  Mr.  Weed  did  not  intimate  that  he 
wanted  anything,  either  for  himself  or  for  any  friend,  and 
made  no  personal  requests  of  any  character  whatsoever.  It  was 
simply  an  earnest  discussion  in  regard  to  the  condition  of  the 
country  and  what  was  for  its  interests.  Both  men  were  remark 
able  in  stature  and  appearance.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  six  feet  three 
and  a  half  in  height,  and  Mr.  Weed  more  than  six  feet.  Both 
had  rough,  strongly  marked  features,  and  both  had  risen  by 
their  own  exertions  from  humble  relations  to  the  control  of  a 
nation  whose  destinies  they  were  then  shaping.  If  I  but  shut 
my  eyes  I  can  recall  as  if  but  yesterday  those  strongly-marked 


I860.]  MR.  LINCOLN  AND  MR.    WEED.  295 

figures  and  features  photographed  on  my  mind,  as  they  sat  in 
the  parlor  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  home,  opposite  each  other,  anxiously 
considering  the  future,  and  endeavoring  to  avert  the  great  dan 
ger  which  then  began  to  threaten.  .  .  . 

"  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Weed,  to  use  our  rough  phrase,  nat 
urally  '  took  to  each  other '  from  the  very  day  they  met,  and 
their  relations  grew  gradually  more  agreeable  and  friendly  un 
til  the  day  of  the  former's  death.  Often,  when  knotty  questions 
arose,  Mr.  Lincoln  would  send  for  him  for  consultation,  or, 
stating  a  case,  ask  him  to  arrange  or  suggest  a  way  in  which 
what  he  wanted  to  be  done  could  be  done  most  easily.  More 
than  a  score  of  times,  I  believe,  such  messages  have  been  sent 
through  me  ;  and  while  Mr.  Weed  was  a  man  always  wanting 
political  positions  for  the  army  of  friends  who  depended  on  him, 
and  sometimes  complained  that  he  did  not  get  his  share,  he 
never  availed  himself  of  a  pinch  or  necessity  to  get  what  other 
wise  he  found  difficulty  in  obtaining.  He  did  what  was  wanted 
to  be  done,  or  devised  what  was  to  be  devised,  with  cheerful 
ness,  never  intermingling  with  such  services  any  complaints  or 
requests,  and  never  demanding  political  rewards  for  them  after 
wards." 

"After  the  convention,"  once  said  Mr.  Weed,  "I  was  going 
down  the  Mississippi  River  in  a  steamboat,  and  was  sitting  be 
neath  the  awning,  when  a  gentleman  spoke  to  me,  saying  that 
he  was  a  member  of  the  delegation  from  Virginia.  '  I  suppose 
you  expected  that  we  would  vote  for  Seward,  and  were  very 
much  disappointed  because  so  many  of  us  went  for  Lincoln  ? ' 
he  said  to  me.  'Yes,'  I  replied,  4of  course  I  was  disappointed; 
but  that  is  all  over  now.'  '  I  should  like  to  explain  why  we 
changed,'  added  the  delegate.  '  We  were  informed  that  Mr. 
Seward  had  a  very  strong  anti-Masonic  record.  If  that  is  not 
true,  we  did  wrong  in  changing,  for  we  had  no  other  excuse.' 
I  told  him  that  his  information  was  correct." 

No  man  appreciated  Mr.  Lincoln  more  highly  when  living 
than  Mr.  Weed,  nor  did  any  one  feel  more  keenly  the  bereave 
ment  which  deprived  the  country  of  his  services.  Mr.  Greeley 
and  Mr.  Bryant  were  also  great  admirers  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  the 
latter  as  early  as  1859,  and  both  during  and  immediately  after 
the  canvass  of  1860.  But  in  the  dark  crises  of  the  war,  when 
the  great  President  stood  most  in  need  of  support,  Mr.  Greeley 


296  MEMOIR.  [1860. 

and  Mr.  Bryant  not  only  had  no  word  of  sympathy,  but  were 
most  unreasonable  and  exasperating  critics  ;  and,  in  1864,  when 
a  second  term  for  Mr.  Lincoln  was  proposed,  no  one  surpassed 
Mr.  Bryant  in  opposition  to  that  suggestion,  unless,  possibly, 
Mr.  Greeley,  who,  a  month  after  Mr.  Lincoln's  reiiomination, 
led  a  movement  for  the  nomination  of  another  Republican  can 
didate. 

Often  in  his  life  such  inconsistencies  on  the  part  of  contem 
poraries  served  to  bring  out  in  bold  relief  Mr.  Weed's  individ 
uality.  He  never  deserted  a  principle  or  a  friend. 

"  I  went  to  the  Chicago  convention,"  he  writes,1  "  warmly  in 
favor  of  and  confidently  expecting  the  nomination  of  Governor 
Seward.  That  disappointment  of  long-cherished  hopes  was  a 
bitter  one.  I  accepted,  very  reluctantly,  an  invitation  to  visit 
Mr.  Lincoln  at  his  residence  in  Springfield,  where,  in  an  interest 
ing  conversation,  even  while  smarting  under  a  sense  of  injustice 
to  Mr.  Seward,  confidence  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  good  sense,  capacity, 
and  fidelity  was  inspired.  A  campaign  programme  was  agreed 
upon,  and  returning  to  Albany,  I  went  to  work  as  zealously  and 
cheerfully  as  I  should  have  done  with  Mr.  Seward  our  presiden 
tial  nominee.  Mr.  Lincoln's  inauguration  and  the  Rebellion 
occurred  simultaneously. 

"  Events  soon  proved  that  the  Chicago  convention  had  been 
wisely,  if  not  providentially  guided.  The  country  in  its  emer 
gency  had,  what  it  so  greatly  needed,  the  services  of  two,  in 
stead  of  one,  of  its  greatest  and  best  men.  With  Lincoln  as 
President  and  Seward  as  Secretary  of  State,  the  right  men  were 
in  the  right  places.  In  looking  back  upon  that  momentous 
struggle,  I  am  quite  sure  that  the  country  could  not  have  spared 
either.  And  of  this  Rebellion  was  so  well  assured  that  their 
taking  off  by  assassination  was  deliberately  arranged  by  rebel 
conspirators  in  Canada.  .  .  .  With  ample  opportunities  for 
studying  the  character  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  I  have  no  hesita 
tion  in  declaring  that  his  sense  of  public  and  private  duty  and 
honor  was  as  high  and  his  patriotism  as  devoted  as  that  of 
George  Washington." 

1  In  a  letter  to  the  Lincoln  Club,  of  New  York,  February  12,  1879. 


I860.]      REPUBLICAN  PRESIDENTIAL    CANDIDATE.        297 

[ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

SPRINGFIELD,  ILL.,  August  17, 1860. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  Yours  of  the  13th  was  received  this  morning. 
Douglas  is  managing  the  Bell  element  with  great  adroitness.1  He 
had  his  men  in  Kentucky  to  vote  for  the  Bell  candidate,  producing  a 
result  which  has  badly  alarmed  and  damaged  Breckenridge,  and  at  the 
same  time  has  induced  the  Bell  men  to  suppose  that  Bell  will  certainly 
be  President,  if  they  can  keep  a  few  of  the  Northern  States  away 
from  us  by  throwing  them  to  Douglas.  But  you,  better  than  I,  un 
derstand  ah1  this. 

I  think  there  will  be  the  most  extraordinary  effort  ever  made  to  carry 
New  York  for  Douglas.  You  and  all  others  who  write  me  from  your 
State  think  the  effort  cannot  succeed,  and  I  hope  you  are  right.  Still, 
it  will  require  close  watching  and  great  efforts  on  the  other  side. 

Herewith  I  send  you  a  copy  of  a  letter  written  at  New  York,  which 
sufficiently  explains  itself,  and  which  may  or  may  not  give  you  a  val 
uable  hint.  You  have  seen  that  Bell  tickets  have  been  put  on  the 
track  both  here  and  in  Indiana.  In  both  cases  the  object  has  been,  I 
think,  the  same  as  the  Hunt  movement  in  New  York  —  to  throw 
states  to  Douglas.  In  our  State,  we  know  the  thing  is  engineered  by 
Douglas  men,  and  we  do  not  believe  they  can  make  a  great  deal  out 
of  it.  Yours  very  truly,  A.  LINCOLN. 

All  eyes  were  now  turning  with  Mr.  Lincoln's  upon  the  State 
of  New  York,  where  the  burden  of  the  campaign  fell  upon  Mr. 
Weed,  Governor  Morgan,  and  Governor  Seward.  At  the  state- 
con  vention  of  1860,  much  to  the  satisfaction  of  Mr.  Weed,  Gov 
ernor  Morgan  was  renominated.  He  still  retained  his  place  as 
the  New  York  representative  on  the  national  committee,  and 
devoted  himself  with  the  utmost  zeal  to  the  success  of  the  na 
tional  ticket,  Mr.  Seward  joining  cordially  in  these  efforts. 

"  It  seems  clear  to  me,"  wrote  Mr.  Seward  from  Auburn,  on 
the  26th  of  June,  "  that  it  would  not  be  wise  to  rush  in  at  the 
beginning  of  the  canvass,  and  so  seem  most  falsely  to  fear  that 
I  shall  be  forgotten.  Later  it  may  seem  that  I  am  wanted  for 
the  public  interest.  Of  all  this  I  want  to  talk  to  you  quietly. 
Alas,  that  it  must  now  be  only  you  and  I  !  Schoolcraft  has  gone.2 

1  The  "  Constitutional  Union  "  party,  composed  of  former  "  Know  Noth 
ings,"  nominated  John  Bell,  of  Tennessee,  and  Edward  Everett,  of  Massa 
chusetts,  for  President  and  Vice-President,  on  the  19th  of  May,  1860. 

2  He  died  of  disappointment  at  Governor  Seward's  defeat. 


298  MEMOIR.  [1860. 

I  will  stand  by  you  so  long  as  you  have  thought  or  heart  to  stand 
by  any  one  of  our  good  friends.  Shall  I  come  down  to  Albany 
say  on  Monday  of  next  week  for  a  night  ?  —  or  name  any  day 
earlier  or  later." 

The  Democratic  national  committee  met  on  the  9th  of  Au 
gust.  Vacancies  which  existed  in  that  body  were  filled,  and 
business  was  taken  up.  A  hopeful  feeling  pervaded  the  ses 
sion,  and  assurances  were  furnished  that  a  large  fund  could  be 
raised.  One  of  the  reports  which  came  to  Mr.  Weed,  in  a 
letter  still  extant,  was  that  the  writer  had  seen  at  Mr.  Belmont's 
office,  Mr.  John  Hardy,  secretary  of  the  executive  committee, 
and  that  it  had  been  intimated,  quietly,  that  the  Democrats 
were  to  make  a  tremendous  effort  to  carry  New  York.  Sugges 
tions  of  fusion  with  the  "  Breckenridge  folks  "  were  repudiated, 
as  Douglas  was  felt  to  be  stronger  without  than  with  this  ele 
ment.1 

[LEONARD  SWETT  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

BLOOMINGTON,  July  4,  1860. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  The  faith  with  which  the  Democracy  of  our  State  fol 
lows  the  foundering  fortunes  of  Douglas  passes  human  comprehen 
sion.  They  went  to  the  Baltimore  convention  in  large  numbers,  and, 
so  far  as  we  could  judge,  confident  of  success.  The  news  of  the  nom 
ination  of  Douglas  was  telegraphed  to  Chicago  at  the  same  time  the 
other  nomination  was,  but  the  latter  was  withheld  from  the  interior 
from  Saturday  until  Monday.  The  effect  was  that  the  Douglas  men 
made  very  good  demonstrations,  basing  their  hopes  on  the  supposed 
failure  of  the  seceders  to  unite  upon  any  line  of  action.  Early  on  Mon 
day  came  news  of  the  seceders'  nomination,  which  appalled  the  Democ 
racy.  ...  In  this  State  the  Breckenridge  party  will  not  increase  the 
Buchanan  vote  of  1858.  They  have  no  leaders  and  no  vitality. 

There  seems  to  be  unusual  activity  among  the  Republican  masses, 
although  there  is  not  so  much  order  and  method  as  I  might  wish.  Our 
meetings  are  the  result  of  independent  action  by  men  in  the  various 
counties  not  ordinarily  called  politicians.  While  the  want  of  method 
ical  action  sometimes  brings  one  meeting  in  conflict  with  another,  or 
subjects  speakers  to  unnecessary  travel,  it  shows  the  real  feelings  of 
the  people.  All  our  meetings  are  largely  attended,  and  enthusiastic. 
Each  one  is  a  surprise  to  every  one,  and  while  our  opponents  are  inac- 

1  Mr.  Breckenridge  was  nominated  for  President  at  Baltimore  on  the 
28th  of  June,  by  extremists  who  seceded  from  the  Democratic  national  con 
vention  at  Charleston. 


I860.]  LETTERS    TO  MR.   WEED.  299 

live,  we  are  acquiring,  day  by  day,  accessions  to  our  ranks  from  the 
Fillmore  and  Douglas  parties.1  .  .  . 

What  is  your  opinion  of  Pennsylvania  ?  Judge  Davis  and  I  would 
go  there  if  we  could  do  good,  and  if  there  are  reasonable  doubts  of 
the  result  there.  Joseph  Casey,  of  Harrisburg,  Mr.  Cameron's  friend, 
has  written  us  that  we  ought  to  come  some  time  before  the  election. 
So  has  a  Mr.  Lewis,  of  West  Chester.  I  have  heard  also  from  Mr. 
Sanderson,  of  Philadelphia,  urging  us  to  come  and  expressing  great 
doubts  of  Pennsylvania,  and  no  hopes  of  New  Jersey.  This  is  the 
Sanderson  of  whom  we  spoke  at  Springfield,  and  all  these  letters  were 
written  before  the  Baltimore  convention.  We  wish  to  work  at  home 
if  the  State  is  safe,  but  to  go,  if  it  is  doubtful,  and  we  can  do  any 
good. 

I  should  be  exceedingly  glad  to  hear  from  you  at  any  time  during 
the  summer.  We  have  not  the  experience  you  have,  and  your  views, 
expressed  to  me  at  any  time,  would  have  controlling  influence.  In  thb 
mean  time,  I  shall  take  the  liberty  to  write  you  quite  often,  inform 
ing  you  candidly  of  our  prospects,  and  asking  your  advice,  whenevei 
we  are  in  doubt. 

Yours,  very  truly,  LEONARD  SWETT. 

[DAVID  DAVIS  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

BLOOMINGTON,  ILL.,  August  24,  1860. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  have  just  got  home,  having  stopped  in  Indiana 
for  a  short  time,  and  hasten  to  write  you. 

In  my  judgment,  that  State  is  in  a  good  deal  of  danger.  .  .  .  Col 
onel  R.  W.  Thompson  had  done  and  did  do  all  he  could  to  prevent  the 
*  formation  of  a  Bell  ticket.  The  old  Fillmore  men  along  the  Wabash 
thought  as  he  did,  but  the  southern  counties,  bordering  on  Kentucky 
and  influenced  by  her  politicians,  were  in  the  majority,  and  so  the 
electoral  ticket  was  formed.  A  large  portion  of  the  Bell  men  will 
vote  for  Hendricks.  They  appreciate  the  importance  of  the  October 
election,  and  think  that  if  Lane  carries  the  State,  it  is  a  foregone  con 
clusion  that  Lincoln  will  get  the  election.  Morehead,  of  Kentucky, 
was  in  Indianapolis,  and  avowed  in  his  speech  that  the  object  of  run 
ning  Bell  was  to  prevent  Lincoln's  carrying  the  State.  When  asked  in 
private  what  Bell  would  do  if  the  election  was  carried  into  the  House, 
he  stated  that  Republicans  would  vote  for  Bell  rather  than  for  Breck- 
enridge.  Is  not  that  the  height  of  audacity  ? 

Per  contra  :  the  leaders  of  the  Breckenridge  movement  desire  to 
crush  out  Douglass,  even  if  by  so  doing  Lincoln  is  elected  President. 

1  Half  of  the  "  Fillmore  vote,"  so-called,  was  generally  conceded  to  the 
Democrats. 


300  MEMOIR.  [I860. 

The  mass  of  the  Breckenridge  party  will  vote  for  Hendricks  for  Gov 
ernor  ;  some  will  vote  for  Lane ;  others  will  not  vote  at  all.  We  will 
not,  in  the  October  election,  make  as  much  out  of  the  Breckenridge 
men  as  we  will  lose  by  the  Bell  men. 

They  believe  that  with  $10,000  the  State  can  be  carried,  and  that 
without  "  foreign  aid  "  they  are  in  trouble.  Their  organization  is  not 
complete  for  lack  of  money.  Their  expenses  are  heavy.  It  is  diffi 
cult  to  raise  enough  money  to  keep  campaign  speakers  in  the  field. 
They  want  a  number  of  speakers,  and  they  have  to  be  paid.  The 
state  is  poor  and  the  central  committee  has  not  raised  what  they  ex 
pected.  The  election  may  run  itself,  as  it  is  doing  in  a  great  many 
States,  but,  depend  upon  it,  without  pecuniary  aid,  there  can  be  neither 
certainty  nor  efficiency.  Fifteen  hundred  dollars  is  the  sum  total 
received.1 

Please  read  Governor  Morgan  this  portion  of  my  letter,  as  he  was 
anxious  to  know  the  status  of  Indiana.  Allow  me  to  congratulate  him 
and  yourself  on  the  unanimity  and  success  of  your  state  convention. 

Mr.  Swett  is  home  from  the  southern  part  of  his  State  and  is  in 
high  feather.  Will  write  you  in  a  day  or  so. 

I  trust  that  you  will  not  forget  to  look  in  on  Rhode  Island  speedily. 
Most  truly  yours,  DAVID  DAVIS. 

P.  S.  —  The  Indiana  politicians  don't  want  Governor  —  —  in  that 
State.  The  Dutch,  from  whom  we  are  gaining,  don't  like  him. 

[MR.  WEED    TO  MR.    LINCOLN.] 

ALBANY,  November  3,  I860. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  In  a  few  locations  things  do  not  look  as  well  as  they 
did  ten  days  ago.  Since  writing  you  last  Sunday,  the  fusion  leaders 
have  largely  increased  their  fund,  and  they  are  now  using  money  lav 
ishly.  This  stimulates  and  to  some  extent  inspires  confidence,  and  all 
the  confederates  are  at  work.  Some  of  our  friends  are  nervous.  But 
I  have  no  fear  of  the  result  in  this  State. 

In  the  city  of  New  York  they  cannot  get  more  than  25,000  major 
ity  without  cheating  us,  of  which  there  is  danger.2  In  other  cities 
and  in  villages  their  money  will  help  them  to  several  thousand  votes, 
for  unfortunately  our  state  committee  disbursed  their  funds  too  early, 
and,  feeling  quite  safe,  we  have  been  sending  money  to  New  Jersey 
and  Delaware  that  is  now  needed  here.  I  feel  confident,  however, 
that  the  masses  are  with  us  and  that  there  is  a  certain  majority  (I 
have  not  found  leisure  to  estimate  it)  ready  to  give  us  the  State  ; 
nor  do  I  believe  this  purpose  can  be  thwarted. 

1  The  state  election  was  only  six  weeks  off  when  this  letter  was  written. 

2  The  majority  for  Douglas  in  the  city  was  29,000. 


I860.]  ELECTION  OF  MR.  LINCOLN.  301 

I  send  you  a  letter  from  one  of  our  best  Republicans  in  Oneida 
County.  Unless  the  enemy  buys  us  out  of  Oneida,  your  majority  there 
will  be  from  4,500  to  5,000.  I  fear  that  money  against  us  will  re 
duce  it  to  4,000. l  Yours  truly,  THURLOW  WEED. 

The  general  result  in  1860  was  a  sweeping  Republican  vic 
tory.  Lincoln  electors  carried  all  the  Free  States  except  New 
Jersey,  where  three  Douglas  electors  were  chosen,  with  four 
for  Lincoln.  The  popular  vote  for  Douglas  was  1,375,978, 
but  he  received  only  12  electoral  votes.  Breckenridge,  with 
a  popular  vote  of  only  845,953,  had  72  electoral  votes.  Bell 
received  a  popular  vote  of  590,631,  and  39  electoral  votes.  Lin 
coln's  popular  vote  was  1,866,610.  His  electoral  vote  was  180. 
Breckenridge  was  supported  by  nearly  all  the  Southern  States. 
Virginia  went  for  Bell. 

[LEONARD  SWETT  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

BLOOMINGTON,  November  26,  1860. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  The  great  contest  is  ended.  ...  To  carry  our  State 
for  Lincoln  was  comparatively  easy,  but  to  secure  TrumbuH's  election 
was  troublesome,  as  the  result  shows.  We  have  but  one  majority  in 
the  Senate,  and  that  vote  is  secured  by  only  seven  majority  at  the 
polls. 

We  all  feel  that  New  York  and  the  friends  of  Seward  have  acted 
nobly.  They  have  not  only  done  their  whole  duty  to  the  party,  but 
they  have  been  most  generous  and  magnanimous. 

We  should  be  exceedingly  glad  to  know  your  wishes  and  your 
views,  and  to  serve  you  in  any  way  in  our  power.  I  say  this  freely 
for  myself  because  I  feel  it,  and  for  Judge  Davis,  because,  although 
now  absent,  I  know  his  feelings.  Of  course  nobody  is  authorized  to 
speak  for  Mr.  Lincoln.  ...  I  shall  be  at  Springfield  Tuesday. 

Yours  truly,  LEONARD  SWETT. 

[MESSRS.  SWETT  AND  DAVIS  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

BLOOMINGTON,  December  10,  1860. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  Mr.  Lincoln  would  be  very  glad  to  see  you.  He 
asks  me  to  tell  you  so.  Your  coming  to  Springfield  may  make  newspa 
per  talk,  but  he  says  he  don't  care  for  that,  if  you  don't.  The  substance 
of  his  statement  is  that  if  you  see  no  impropriety  in  coming,  he  would 
like  to  have  you  do  so. 

Perhaps,  in  this  connection,  I  ought  to  say  that  I  have  been  often 
1  Oneida  gave  Lincoln  3,500  majority.     Fremont  had  5,000  in  1856. 


302  MEMOIR.  [1860. 

with  Mr.  Lincoln  during  the  summer,  and  I  understand  reasonably 
well  his  feelings.  I  do  not  think  it  at  all  necessary  for  you  to  come, 
so  far  as  recognition  of  Mr.  Seward's  friends  by  him  may  be  affected 
by  that  interview.  This  I  mention,  as  it  may  be  inconvenient  for  you 
to  make  the  journey. 

Still,  it  was  Mr.  Lincoln's  wish  that  you  should  come,  and  it  strikes 
me  that  it  would  be  much  better.  Second-hand  conversations  are  un 
satisfactory,  as  you  know,  and  besides,  Mr.  Lincoln  wants  your  advice 
about  his  Cabinet,  and  the  general  policy  of  his  administration,  and  I 
would  greatly  like  to  have  him  have  it. 

Please  let  me  hear  from  you  as  soon  as  practicable. 

Yours  truly,  LEONARD  SWETT. 

P.  S.  BLOOMINGTON,  December  10,  1860. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  would  advise  you,  inasmuch  as  Mr.  Lincoln 
requests  it,  to  go  to  Springfield  at  once.  You  will  have  to  go  to 
Chicago,  and  this  place  is  on  the  route  to  Springfield.  Telegraph  us 
when  you  will  reach  here.  We  would  cheerfully  meet  you  at  some 
half-way  place,  but  think,  from  Mr.  Swett's  interview  with  Mr.  Lin 
coln,  that  you  had  better  come  to  Illinois. 

Your  friend,  DAVID  DAVIS. 

It  was  Mr.  Lincoln's  wish  that  you  should  come  immediately. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

1860. 

THE  FREE  STATES  NOT  UNITED  AGAINST  DISUNION.  —  SECESSION  ADVO 
CATES  AT  THE  NORTH.  —  A  NEW  EPOCH  IN  MR.  WEED'S  LIFE.  —  His 
WILLINGNESS  TO  ABIDE  BY  A  PEACEABLE  ADJUSTMENT.  —  WILLIAM 
H.  SEWARD  SECRETARY  OF  STATE.  —  AFFAIRS  AT  WASHINGTON.  —  MR. 
LINCOLN  TO  MR.  WEED.  —  POSITION  OF  THE  PRESIDENT-ELECT. 

THE  supreme  question  which  should  have  occupied  the  anx 
ious  thoughts  of  all  patriotic  men  during  the  three  or  four 
months  which  immediately  preceded  the  beginning  of  the  civil 
war  was  :  Can  the  Union  be  preserved  by  peaceful  means  ?  Sec 
ondarily  another  question  was  involved  :  If  war  must  come, 
what  policy  is  best  calculated  to  uphold  the  authority  of  the  gov 
ernment  ? 

But  these  questions  were  not  asked  by  northern  Abolition 
ists,  who,  late  in  1860,  began  to  exercise  remarkable  influence 
upon  public  affairs.  It  had  been  conclusively  demonstrated  by 
the  success  of  the  Republicans  in  the  presidential  contest  that 
slavery  could  not  be  further  extended.  Several  of  the  cotton 
states  were  making  extensive  preparation  for  secession.  South 
Carolina  had  already  given  notice  that  she  was  ready  to  enter 
into  the  formation  of  a  southern  confederacy.  Treason,  bold, 
arrogant,  full-grown,  gigantic  treason,  stared  the  country  in  the 
face.  The  government  was  in  imminent  peril.  And  yet,  Abo 
litionists,  seizing  this  critical  moment  to  renew  their  demands, 
were  able  to  mislead,  demoralize,  and  inflame  a  large  portion  of 
the  people,  as  well  in  southern  as  in  northern  communities. 
That  their  influence  was  wholly  in  the  wrong  direction  Mr. 
Weed  never  for  a  moment  doubted.  It  did  not  seem  to  him 
a  propitious  time  to  descant  upon  an  issue  which,  recklessly 
pressed  at  the  North,  rendered  the  Southern  people  an  easy 
prey  to  demagogues  and  traitors. 

When  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  framed,  it 
was  felt  that  slavery  was  a  misfortune  of  the  first  magnitude, 


804  MEMOIR.  [1860. 

but  nevertheless  an  evil  not  to  be  remedied  by  heedless  aggres 
sion.  Twelve  out  of  the  original  thirteen  states  were  slave- 
holding.  Only  one  was  free.  Slavery  had  existed  in  the  col 
onies  since  1618.  Evidently,  no  agreement  could  have  been 
reached  upon  a  constitution  by  which  this  curse  was  prohibited. 
The  founders  of  the  government,  therefore,  left  the  question  to 
be  disposed  of  by  the  several  states,  cherishing  the  hope  that  one 
would  follow  another  in  the  passage  of  emancipation  measures. 
"  We  should  march  up  to  the  verge  of  the  Constitution,"  said 
Benjamin  Franklin,  "  to  destroy  the  traffic  in  human  flesh." 

Seven  of  the  original  states  accomplished  emancipation  with 
out  violence  or  bloodshed.  In  three  of  the  remaining  six  states 
there  was  for  twenty-rive  years  before  the  Rebellion  a  strong 
undercurrent  of  emancipation  feeling.  Nurtured  and  guided  by 
enlightened  leadership,  Mr.  Weed  believed  this  free  soil  force 
would  ultimately  drive  slavery  out  of  Delaware,  Maryland,  and 
Virginia.  Had  that  result  been  reached,  enfranchisement  must 
have  followed  in  the  small  section  remaining  without  the  hideous 
carnage  of  civil  war. 

Assured  that  slavery's  control  in  national  politics  was  termi 
nated  forever  by  the  growth  of  free  soil  feeling  all  over  the 
country,  the  preponderance  of  that  feeling  in  the  Northern 
States,  and  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  Mr.  Weed  saw  no  good 
result  to  be  gained  by  further  agitation  on  the  subject,  at  a 
time  when  the  South  was  busily  preparing  for  a  trial  of  strength 
on  a  new  issue  :  the  preservation  of  the  government.  The  cer 
tain  supremacy  of  freedom  gained,  why  join  with  Abolition 
ists  in  assailing  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  when  the 
South  was  seeking  to  override  that  instrument,  in  order  that 
slavery  might  be  perpetuated  ?  In  Mr.  Weed's  opinion,  it  was 
worse  than  folly  to  deride  the  Constitution  as  "  a  league  with 
sin  and  a  covenant  with  hell." 

When  the  elements  which  entered  into  this  most  trying  por 
tion  of  our  national  history  are  called  to  mind,  it  is  difficult  to 
understand  the  reasoning  by  which  abolition  action  was  guided. 
The  leaders  of  this  faction  were  in  truth  as  illogical  and  im 
practicable  as  in  1844.  Then,  professing  to  be  opposed  to 
the  annexation  of  Texas,  they  elected  James  K.  Polk,  who  was 
unalterably  committed  to  annexing  Texas,  and  under  whom 
Texas  was  forthwith  admitted  as  a  slave  state.  Now,  profes- 


I860.]      NORTHERN  AND   SOUTHERN  EXTREMISTS.      305^ 

sing  anxiety  to  accomplish  the  extinction  of  slavery,  they  argued 
that  the  South  should  be  permitted,  if  that  was  its  wish,  to 
secede  and  form  a  separate  government,  by  which  slavery  would 
have  been,  as  it  was  intended  that  it  should  be,  perpetuated. 
Governor  Moore,  of  South  Carolina,  a  rampant  Secessionist, 
hailed  the  Abolitionists,  in  1860,  as  "  our  best  friends."  This 
distinction  they  earned ;  for  northern  and  southern  bigotry  and 
bluster  stood  in  such  relations  01  reciprocity  that  by  each  the 
question  of  preserving  the  government  was  ignored  and  de 
spised.  Each  set  of  extremists  played  into  the  hands  of  the 
other.  Though  they  differed  widely  in  some  ways,  they  agreed 
perfectly  in  contempt  for  the  Union  and  the  Constitution. 

"  Greeley  is  in  favor  of  the  South's  seceding,"  wrote  George 
W.  Patterson  to  Mr.  "Weed.  "  He  told  me  so  in  New  York, 
and  gave  as  a  reason  that  it  is  the  only  part  of  the  world  where 
he  can't  travel  in  safety."  How  like  Mr.  Greeley !  In  his 
"Liberator"  William  Lloyd  Garrison  closed  his  review  of 
thirty  years  of  editorial  service  with  an  article  glorying  at  the 
prospect  of  disunion.  Senator  Toombs  took  Georgia  into  the 
Confederacy  by  reading  to  the  state  legislature  a  defense  of 
secession,  written  and  published  by  Horace  Greeley.  In  a 
speech  at  Boston,  Wendell  Phillips  said :  "  Let  the  South  march 
off,  with  flags  and  trumpets,  and  we  will  speed  the  parting  guest. 
Let  her  not  stand  upon  the  order  of  her  going,  but  go  at  once. 
Give  her  forts,  arsenals,  and  sub-treasuries.  Give  her  jewels 
of  silver  and  gold,  and  rejoice  that  she  has  departed.  All  hail 
disunion !  " 

"  I  am  weary  of  strife,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed,  "  and  could  not  be 
driven  into  controversy  upon  a  question  less  vital  than  the 
safety  of  the  government  and  Union.  I  have  no  personal  ill- 
will,  as  is  charged,  towards  leading  Abolitionists.  I  do  not 
know,  never  saw,  and  am  indifferent  to  Wendell  Phillips.  With 
Senators  Wade  and  Chandler  I  lived  many  years  upon  terms 
of  friendship,  regarding  them  as  useful  public  men,  until  they 
adopted  views  which,  in  my  judgment,  were  inevitably  destruc 
tive.  I  was  alienated  from  Gerrit  Smith  until  he  emancipated 
himself,  and  then  my  heart  warmed  backed  to  him  as  in  the 
days  of  his  youth,  when  his  great  intellect,  genial  nature,  and 
ample  fortune  were  devoted  to  all  good  works.  I  have  confi 
dence  that  Senator  Hale,  of  New  Hampshire,  will  discover  the 

20 


306  MEMOIR.  [1860. 

truth  and  be  found  walking  therein.  ...  I  denounce  the  course 
of  Messrs.  Sumner,  Greeley,  and  Phillips,  as  years  ago  I  de 
nounced  the  incendiary  proceedings  of  Mr.  Delavan  and  other 
Prohibition  fanatics,  who  were  ruining  the  cause  which  they 
espoused.  Mr.  Dela van's  crusade  against  wine  at  the  com 
munion  was  prosecuted  until  drunkenness  swept  like  a  pesti 
lence  throughout  the  country.  Now  '  abolition,'  substituted  for 
4  temperance,'  is  urged  in  the  same  spirit,  tending  to  the  same 
result,  with  this  difference,  that  this  folly  imperils  the  govern 
ment  and  the  Union.  .  .  .  The  Whig  party  was  always  opposed 
to  slavery.  But  there  was  a  broad  and  well-understood  distinc 
tion  between  Whig  opponents  of  slavery  and  the  fanatical  Abo 
litionists.  With  opponents  of  slavery,  led  by  John  Quincy 
Adams,  I  lived  and  labored  in  harmony  and  with  zeal.  We 
were  eternally  opposed  by  Birney,  Goodell,  Garrison,  and  other 
Abolitionists,  who,  in  elections,  so  cast  their  4  third-party '  vote 
as  to  elect  pro-slavery  governors,  congressmen,  and  presidents. 
Finally,  by  defeating  Mr.  Clay,  they  brought  Texas  into  the 
Union  as  a  slave  state.  That  class  of  Abolitionists  threw  them 
selves  across  the  track  of  all  healthful  political  organizations. 
They  were  the  worst  enemies  of  the  Whig  party  then  —  they 
are  the  c  best  friends '  of  rebellion  now.  ...  In  abhorrence  of 
slavery  I  am  behind  no  man.  But  our  danger  has  been,  and  is, 
that  abolition,  by  dividing  the  North  and  uniting  the  South, 
may  enable  rebellion  and  slavery  to  avert  the  penalty  both  so 
richly  merit." 

The  month  immediately  following  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  almost  like  the  dawning  of  a  new  epoch  in  Mr.  Weed's  life. 
He  cast  aside  the  weapons  which  none  could  wield  so  well,  and 
raised  his  eyes  and  thoughts  above  the  horizon  of  party.  Mr. 
Buchanan,  the  retiring  President,  was  a  Democrat,  and  it  was 
the  fashion  for  Kepublicans  to  cast  obstacles  in  his  path.  Fore 
seeing  the  approach  of  an  appalling  calamity,  Mr.  Weed  ceased 
to  be  a  partisan.  He  asked  no  man  whether  he  was  Democrat  or 
Republican.  He  stood  almost  alone  among  the  leaders  of  that 
day  in  expressing  willingness  to  abide  by  a  peaceable  adjust 
ment  of  national  difficulties.  He  urged  concession,  not  sur 
render,  not  "  backing  down,"  but  that  reason  and  moderation 
should  not  be  utterly  abandoned  ;  that  a  great  people  should 
not  be  plunged  into  the  most  inhuman  war  of  modern  times  to 
suit  the  caprices  of  Jefferson  Davis  and  Wendell  Phillips. 


I860.]  ABOVE    THE  HORIZON  OF  PARTY.  307 

"  They  who  are  conscious  of  least  wrong,"  he  wrote,  "  can  best 
afford  to  manifest  a  spirit  of  conciliation.  In  the  present  con 
troversy  the  North  is  nearest  right,  though  not  wholly  blameless. 
There  are  motes,  at  least,  in  ours,  if  there  are  beams  in  our 
neighbors'  eyes.  Too  many  of  us  forget  that  when  this  Union 
was  formed,  slavery  was  the  rule,  freedom  the  exception.  While 
we  —  climate,  soil,  and  interest  favoring  and  seconding  our  sen 
timents  and  sympathies  —  have  been  working  out  of,  other  states, 
with  adverse  complications  and  elements,  have  worked  more 
deeply  into  slavery.  Thousands  upon  thousands  of  our  citizens, 
swayed  by  feelings  to  which  we  are  neither  insensible  nor  in 
different,  with  no  slavery  to  oppose  at  home,  have  deemed  it 
their  duty  to  demand  the  abolition  of  slavery  elsewhere,  forget 
ting,  in  their  zeal,  that  it  exists  in  the  Southern  States  under  the 
Constitution,  and  with  the  consent  of  our  fathers,  who  bound 
themselves  and  their  descendants  to  obey  that  Constitution.  So 
cieties  have  been  formed,  presses  established,  tracts  distributed, 
and  emissaries  sent  into  the  Slave  States,  teaching  that  slavery 
is  sinful  and  that  slaves  ought  to  be  emancipated.  These  les 
sons,  in  harmony  with  all  the  humanities  of  civilization,  were 
easily  learned.  But,  in  learning  them,  we  did  not  find  written 
on  the  same  page,  nor  in  the  same  chapter,  that  in  our  efforts 
to  abolish  slavery,  we  should  provide  no  indemnity  to  the  own 
ers.  When  we  refer,  as  we  often  do,  triumphantly  to  the  exam 
ple  of  England,  we  are  prone  to  forget  that  emancipation  and 
compensation  were  provisions  of  the  same  Act  of  Parliament." 

Early  in  December  Mr.  Lincoln  sent  to  Mr.  Seward  a  cordial 
letter  expressing  personal  confidence,  and  requesting  the  New 
York  Senator  to  accept  the  position  of  Secretary  of  State.  Af 
ter  consulting  with  those  upon  whose  affection  and  judgment  he 
relied,  Mr.  Seward  accepted  this  trust.  His  letters  refer  to  the 
aspect  of  affairs  at  Washington. 

[MR.    SEWARD    TO   MR.    WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  December  2,  I860. 

MY  DEAR  WEED,  —  South  Carolina  is  committed.  Georgia  will 
debate.  Time  will  operate  favorably,  but  she  probably  follows.  Flor 
ida  will  precipitate,  Mississippi  and  Alabama  likely  follow.  But  by 
that  time  passion  begins  to  give  place  to  perplexity,  as  to  whether  it  is 
best  to  conciliate  or  fight.  Congress  can  resolve,  but  three  fourths  of 


308  MEMOIR.  [1860. 

the  state  legislatures  must  call  on  Congress,  and  Congress  can't  ini 
tiate  conventions.  No  amendments  that  can  be  prepared,  and  would 
be  satisfactory,  can  get  two  thirds  by  the  House,  although  just  such 
amendments  might  pass  three  fourths  of  the  states. 

Nothing  can  be  agreed  on  in  advance,  but  silence  must  not  be  sullen, 
as  last  year,  but  respectful  and  fraternal.  If  southern  members  will 
be  for  once  cautious  and  forbearing ;  if  we  can  keep  peace  and  quiet 
for  a  time,  the  temper  will  be  favorable  on  both  sides  to  consulta 
tion.  .  .  . 

WASHINGTON,  December  3,  1860. 

Here  's  a  muss.  Republican  members  stopped  at  the  "  Tribune  " 
office  on  their  way,  and  when  they  all  lamented  your  articles,  Dana 
told  them  they  were  not  yours,  but  mine.  I  "  wanted  to  make  a  great 
compromise  like  Clay  and  Webster  !  "  Washington  was  in  a  buzz  all 
day  yesterday,  all  reporters,  especially,  keeping  clear  from  me.  They 
telegraphed  that  I  am  to  bring  in  the  compromise  and  make  a  speech 
certainly  this  week.  The  "  Courier  "  piled  up  the  measure  of  agony 
to-day,  by  sending  to  each  member  a  copy  of  its  paper,  indorsing  your 
suggestion. 

Charles  Sumner's  lecture  in  New  York  had  brought  a  "  Barnburner  " 
or  Buffalo  party  around  him.  They  gave  nine  cheers  for  the  passage 
in  which  he  describes  Lafayette  as  rejecting  all  and  every  compromise, 
and  the  knowing  ones  told  him  those  cheers  laid  out  Thuiiow  Weed, 
and  then  he  came  and  told  me,  of  course. 

On  the  very  first  day  of  the  session,  when  I  had  been  preaching 
quiet,  moderation,  cheerfulness,  and  graciousness  to  all,  we  were  sum 
moned  to  a  Republican  caucus  of  Senators  in  the  antechamber  of  the 
Senate,  in  view  of  everybody.  I  asked  for  the  object  of  the  meeting. 
Hale  said  he  had  wanted  it  called  because  he  proposed  to  make  a 
speech.  I  had  .little  difficulty  about  getting  a  decision  against  that. 
Then  a  debate  arose  about  the  enacting  of  a  force  bill.  I,  with  more 
difficulty,  got  them  to  drop  that  subject,  at  this  immature  time.  Then 
came  the  avowal  of  the  real  object  of  the  caucus,  namely  to  find  out 
whether  I  authorized  the  "  Evening  Journal,"  "  Times,"  and  "  Courier  " 
articles,  and  to  combine  the  whole  influence  of  the  Senate  to  bring 
these  papers  to  better  judgment.  I  kept  my  temper.  I  told  them 
they  would  know  what  I  think  and  what  I  propose  when  I  do  myself ; 
and  as  for  influencing  those  three  editors,  or  any  one  of  them,  they 
would  find  them  as  independent  as  the  Senate  itself,  and  more  po 
tential. 

The  Republican  party  to-day  is  as  uncompromising  as  the  Seces 
sionists  in  South  Carolina.  A  month  hence  each  may  come  to  think 
that  moderation  is  wiser. 

Yours  ever,  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


I860.]  PRESTON  KING'S  ADVICE.  309 

[PRESTON  KING  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  December  7,  1860. 

DEAR  WEED,  —  It  cannot  be  done.  You  must  abandon  your  posi 
tion.  It  will  prove  distasteful  to  the  majority  of  those  whom  you 
have  hitherto  led.  You  and  Seward  should  be  among  the  foremost  to 
brandish  the  lance  and  shout  for  war. 

Truly  yours,  PRESTON  KING. 

[MR.    WEED    TO    PRESTON    KING.] 

ALBANY,  December  10,  1860. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  have  not  said,  nor  thought,  nor  dreamed  any 
thing  inconsistent  with  Republican  duty.  But,  in  view  of  what  I 
think  is  coming,  —  though  you  do  not  seem  to  realize  its  approach,  — 
I  want  to  secure  the  most  advantageous  position.  I  want  to  occupy 
practical  and  efficient,  instead  of  absurd  and  useless  ground.  Some 
of  the  Slave  States  can  be  saved.  Let  us  set  ourselves  right  in  the 
judgment  of  the  world. 

We  owe  our  existence  as  a  party  to  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com 
promise.  The  aggressions  of  Slave  States  and  the  cooperation  of 
Pierce's  administration  in  those  aggressions  gave  us  several  Demo 
cratic  states,  and  almost  enabled  us  to  elect  Fremont. 

But  for  the  ever-blind  spirit  of  slavery,  Buchanan  would  have  taken 
away  our  ammunition  and  spiked  our  guns.  The  continued  blind 
ness  of  Democracy  and  the  continued  madness  of  slavery  enabled  us 
to  elect  Lincoln.  That  success  ends  our  mission,  so  far  as  Kansas 
and  the  encroachments  of  slavery  into  free  territory  are  concerned. 
We  have  no  territory  that  invites  slavery  for  any  other  than  political 
objects,  and  with  the  power  of  territorial  organization  in  the  hands  of 
Lincoln,  there  is  no  political  temptation  in  all  the  territory  belonging 
to  us.  The  fight  is  over.  Practically,  the  issues  of  the  late  campaign 
are  obsolete. 

The  normal  proclivities  of  the  American  people  are  Democratic, 
and  we,  the  party  in  power,  need  to  have  our  wits  about  us,  and  a 
stronger  issue  than  that  which  has  just  given  us  success,  and  one 
which  will  absorb  all  others.  If  Republican  members  of  Congress 
stand  still,  we  shall  have  a  divided  North  and  a  united  South.  If 
they  move  promptly,  there  will  be  a  divided  South  and  a  united 
North.  My  dear  old  friend,  the  sooner  you  put  on  your  thinking-cap 
and  impress  your  colleagues  with  a  sense  of  our  dangers,  the  more 
you  will  rejoice  all  the  remainder  of  your  life. 

Truly  yours,  THURLOW  WEED. 


310  MEMOIR.  [1860. 

[AUGUST  BELMONT  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

NEW  YORK,  December  19,  1860. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  Allow  me,  though  a  comparative  stranger,  to 
express  to  you  the  heartfelt  satisfaction  with  which  I  have  read  your 
very  able  and  patriotic  article  of  last  Monday. 

The  statesmanlike  view  which  you  take  of  our  present  difficulties 
and  the  wise  and  conciliatory  course  which  you,  with  so  much  truth, 
counsel  as  the  only  remedy  which  can  save  this  great  Republic  from 
untold  calamities,  must  command  not  only  the  warm  support  of  your 
friends,  but  also  the  unqualified  respect  and  admiration  of  your  oppo 
nents. 

As  one  of  the  latter,  it  gives  me  much  pleasure  to  convey  to  you  my 
sincere  assurances  of  these  feelings. 

I  have  fought  to  the  last  against  the  great  party  of  which  you  have 
proved  so  formidable  a  leader  ;  but  I  shall  never  regret  our  defeat  if 
your  wise  counsels  prevail  and,  with  God's  blessing,  peace  and  con 
cord  are  restored,  under  Mr.  Lincoln's  administration,  to  our  dis 
tracted  country.  Truly  yours,  AUGUST  BELMOXT. 

The  theory  undoubtedly  prevailed  among  radical  politicians 
that  prominence  of  the  abolition  issue  and  failure  to  reach  a 
peaceable  adjustment  would  drive  Mr.  Seward  out  of  the  State 
Department  and  Mr.  Weed  out  of  politics.  To  reject  all  arbi 
tration  was  to  condemn  the  policy  with  which  Mr.  Seward  and 
Mr.  Weed  were  identified.  Ambitious  Radicals  did  not  fail 
to  make  the  most  of  what  they  conceived  to  be  a  great  political 
opportunity.  They  claimed  that  the  President-elect  was  an 
Abolitionist,  and  that  as  soon  as  his  administration  began,  con 
servative  Republicans  would  be  "laid  out"  and  an  "affirma 
tive  "  policy  inaugurated. 

Thus  the  North  was  taught  to  look  upon  Mr.  Lincoln  with 
suspicion,  and  the  South  to  regard  him  as  a  robber. 

[THE  PRESIDEXT-ELECT  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

SPRINGFIELD,  ILL.,  December  17,  1860. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  Yours  of  the  llth  was  received  two  days  ago. 
Should  the  convocation  of  governors  of  which  you  speak  seem  de 
sirous  to  know  my  views  on  the  present  aspect  of  things,  tell  them  you 
judge  from  my  speeches  that  I  will  be  inflexible  on  the  territorial 
question  ;  that  I  probably  think  either  the  Missouri  line  extended,  or 
Douglas's  and  Eli  Thayer's  popular  sovereignty  would  lose  us  every- 


1860.J          POSITION  OF   THE   PRESIDENT-ELECT.  311 

thing  we  gain  by  the  election ;  that  filibustering  for  all  south  of  us 
and  making  slave  states  of  it  would  follow,  in  spite  of  us,  in  either 
case  ;  also  that  I  probably  think  all  opposition,  real  and  apparent,  to 
the  fugitive  slave  clause  of  the  Constitution  ought  to  be  withdrawn. 

I  believe  you  can  pretend  to  find  but  little,  if  anything,  in  my 
speeches,  about  secession.  But  my  opinion  is  that  no  state  can  in  any 
way  lawfully  get  out  of  the  Union  without  the  consent  of  the  others  ; 
and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  President  and  other  government  func 
tionaries  to  run  the  machine  as  it  is. 

Truly  yours,  A.  LINCOLN. 

The  President-elect  was  a  close  observer  of  the  currents  of 
popular  feeling.  No  one  knew  better  than  he,  before  the 
Rebellion,  that  the  northern  mind  was  divided  on  the  slavery 
question,  —  divided  even  on  the  question  of  the  extension  of 
slavery.  There  was  a  large  majority  against  extension  ;  a  still 
larger  majority  against  abolition.  On  the  way  to  Washington, 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  making  a  speech  at  Cincinnati,  on  the  12th  of 
February,  1861,  when  asked  by  a  number  of  Kentuckians  who 
were  present  what  Republicans  intended  to  do  with  the  South 
when  the  administration  passed  into  their  control. 

"  I  will  tell  you,"  he  answered.  "  We  mean  to  treat  you, 
as  near  as  we  possibly  can,  as  Washington,  Jefferson,  and 
Madison  treated  you.  We  mean  to  leave  you  alone,  and  in  no 
way  interfere  with  your  institutions ;  to  abide  by  every  compro 
mise  of  the  Constitution  ;  and,  in  a  word,  coming  back  to  the 
original  proposition,  to  treat  you,  as  far  as  degenerate  men  (if 
we  have  degenerated)  may,  according  to  the  examples  of  those 
noble  fathers,  —  Washington,  Jefferson,  and  Madison.  We 
mean  to  remember  that  you  are  as  good  as  we  are  ;  that  there  is 
no  difference  between  us  other  than  the  difference  of  circum 
stances.  We  mean  to  recognize  and  bear  in  mind  always,  that 
you  have  as  good  hearts  in  your  bosoms  as  other  people,  or  as 
we  claim  to  have,  and  to  treat  you  accordingly." 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

1860-1861. 

THE  CRITTENDEN  PROPOSITION.  —  RETURN  OF  "  NATIONAL  PRODIGALS  " 
TO  ENGLAND.  —  "A  SECRET  OF  THE  GREATEST  IMPORTANCE."  —  EF 
FORTS  TO  SAVE  THE  BORDER  STATES.  —  A.  T.  STEWART  TO  MR.  WEED. 
—  GENERAL  Dix  SECRETARY  OF  THE  TREASURY.  —  MR.  SEWARD  TO 
MR.  WEED.  —  "  THE  CONSEQUENCES  AND  RESPONSIBILITY  MUST  FALL 
UPON  THE  AGGRESSORS." 

IT  is  almost  enough  to  say  further  of  the  movement  to  avert 
the  civil  war,  that  it  failed.  The  specific  adjustment  favored 
by  Mr.  Weed,  which  seemed  most  likely  to  succeed,  was  intro 
duced  in  the  Senate  by  Mr.  Crittenden,  of  Kentucky.  This 
measure  was  substantially  a  re  establishment  of  the  compact  of 
1820,  upon  which  the  nation  had  rested  in  peace  and  prosper 
ity  until  the  repeal  of  1854.  It  was  proposed  that  the  line  of 
36°  30'  be  extended  across  the  continent,  and  accepted  as  an 
irrevocable  boundary.  In  the  acceptance  of  this  suggestion  the 
South  would  have  had  to  yield  a  great  deal  more  than  the  North. 
But,  when  Mr.  Weed  went  to  Washington  and  urged  it  upon 
Republican  members  of  Congress,  he  was  met  by  the  argument 
that  concurrence  would  ruin  the  Republican  party.  He  ex 
plained  that  the  presidential  election  was  over ;  that  slavery  was 
already  driven  to  the  wall ;  that  secession  was  nothing  more  nor 
less  than  a  confession  by  the  slave  power  that  it  was  defeated. 
But  these  arguments  made  no  impression  upon  a  Congress  which 
neither  took  steps  to  preserve  peace  nor  to  strengthen  the  gov 
ernment  for  the  other  contingency. 

For  weeks  it  was  impossible  to  get  even  a  hearing  for  the 
Crittenden  project.  It  was  finally  taken  up,  against  the  solid 
Republican  vote,  on  the  16th  of  January,  1861,  when  the  six  Se 
cession  senators  voted  with  the  Republicans  to  smother  it  with 
an  amendment.  Some  time  afterwards,  when  its  passage  would 
have  been  of  no  service,  it  was  defeated,  by  a  vote  of  19  to  20. 
That  a  large  portion  of  the  southern  people,  who  were  anxiously 


I860.]  PROGRESS   OF  SECESSION.  313 

watching  the  decision  of  Congress  upon  this  question,  were  now 
led  into  the  belief  that  the  North  cared  nothing  for  conciliation, 
but  was  indifferent  to  southern  interests  and  southern  rights,  is 
not  open  to  denial.  The  effect  was  particularly  unfortunate  in 
the  "  Border  States,"  where  the  efforts  of  Secessionists  to  incul 
cate  their  doctrines  had  up  to  this  time  met  with  emphatic  dis 
approval. 

South  Carolina,  with  six  slaves  to  every  voter,  took  the  lead 
in  the  movement  to  organize  a  southern  confederacy.  Her 
legislature  remained  in  session  until  it  was  known  that  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  elected,  when  a  state  convention  was  called  and  the 
legislature  adjourned.  At  the  convention,  on  the  20th  of  De 
cember,  1860,  an  ordinance  of  secession  was  passed,  and  mes 
sengers  were  immediately  despatched  to  other  states  to  convey 
this  information,  and  seek  cooperation.  Mr.  Buchanan  and 
radical  orators  in  Congress  continued  to  charge  each  other  with 
numerous  offenses,  while  leaders  in  the  secession  revolt  lost  no 
time  and  made  no  blunders.  Allusion  has  been  made  to  their 
effective  use  of  the  ammunition  furnished  by  northern  agita 
tion.  Their  adroitness  was  even  more  remarkable  in  another 
direction. 

[JTJDAH    P.    BENJAMIN   TO   THE    BRITISH    CONSUL    IN   NEW  YORK.1] 

NEW  YORK,  August  11,  1860. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  exceedingly  regret  your  absence  from  New  York  at 
this  time,  as  the  important  object  of  my  visit  is  to  have  a  personal  and 
confidential  interview  with  you. 

My  apology  for  this  breach  of  conventional  usage,  in  presuming  to 
address  you  without  the  formality  of  an  introduction,  may  be  pardoned 
in  consequence  of  the  very  extraordinary  nature  of  the  business  which 
induced  me  to  approach  you  without  the  friendly  intervention  of  a 
third  party.  Indeed,  it  would  not  only  have  been  unwise  but  actually 
dangerous  for  me  to  have  even  borne  a  letter  of  introduction. 

Having  assumed  the  whole  responsibility  of  this  very  critical  step,  I 
cannot  use  too  much  caution  and  circumspection  to  insure  my  personal 
safety  and  the  successful  accomplishment  of  the  mission  I  have  in 
view.  Therefore  I  prefer  trusting  my  own  judgment  in  approaching 
a  genteel  stranger  on  such  business,  to  that  of  bringing  into  my  service 
the  scrawls  of  governors  or  members  of  Congress  with  whom,  perhaps, 
you  are  as  little  acquainted  as  myself. 

The  official  confidence  which  your  government  seems  to  repose  in 

1  This  letter  is  published  on  what  is  believed  to  be  trustworthy  authority. 


314  MEMOIR.  [1860. 

you,  by  intrusting  to  your  charge  its  great  commercial  affairs  in  the 
most  important  city  on  this  continent,  I  think  is  sufficient  to  warrant 
me  in  trusting  to  your  discretion,  patriotism,  and  loyalty  a  secret  of 
the  greatest  importance  and  interest  to  Her  Britannic  Majesty's  king 
dom. 

The  present  disastrous  condition  of  political  affairs  in  the  United 
States  (which  has  no  parallel  in  the  past  history  of  the  country)  seems 
to  have  split  the  great  Democratic  party  into  many  contending  fac 
tions,  all  of  which  are  so  hungry  after  the  public  spoils  that  its  disin 
tegrated  parts  render  them  an  easy  prey  to  the  opposing  Black  Repub 
licans. 

The  doctrines  maintained  by  the  Republican  party  are  so  unsuitable 
to  the  great  interests  of  the  whole  South  that  an  election  of  their  can 
didate  (which  is  almost  certain)  amounts  to  a  total  destruction  of  all 
plantation  interests,  which  the  South,  as  sure  as  there  is  a  God  in 
Heaven,  will  not  submit  to.  Sooner  than  yield  to  the  arbitrary  dic 
tates  of  traitorous  allies  and  false  friends,  who  have  proven  recreant  to 
the  solemn  obligations  of  our  old  Constitution,  we  will  either  Secede 
from  the  Union  and  form  a  separate  government,  or,  upon  certain  con 
ditions,  at  once  return  to  our  allegiance  to  Great  Britain,  our  Mother 
Country. 

Many,  very  many,  of  the  most  wealthy  and  influential  planters 
throughout  the  South  have  already  discussed  this  alternative,  in  the 
event  of  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  the  popularity  of  the  proposi 
tion  seems  to  pass  from  one  to  another  almost  with  an  elastic  rapidity. 
It  is  true  they  have  made  no  public  demonstration  of  their  intentions, 
for  such  a  course  would  be  attended  with  direful  consequences  at  this 
time,  but  the  Pear  will  be  fully  ripe  before  November. 

Gossiping  newsmongers  and  babbling  pothouse  politicians  are  not 
allowed  to  know  what  is  going  on  in  their  very  midst. 

Select  dinner  parties  come  off  every  day  throughout  the  whole 
South,  and  not  one  of  them  ends  without  a  strong  accession  to  our 
forces.  I  have  even  heard  some  of  them  address  each  other  by  titles 
already. 

My  object  in  approaching  you  is  to  cultivate  your  friendship,  and 
procure  your  cooperation  in  aid  of  accomplishing  this  grand  object  of 
returning  to  the  dominion  of  our  fathers'  Kingdom.  Through  your 
kindness  and  loyalty  to  your  Queen,  I  am  desirous  of  properly  ap 
proaching  Her  Majesty's  minister  at  Washington  City,  with  a  view  to 
the  accomplishment  of  this  great  end.  If  you  will  condescend  to  grant 
me  the  necessary  assistance  for  this  purpose,  you  will  soon  receive  the 
meritorious  reward  of  your  most  gracious  Queen,  and  the  hearty  cheer 
from  every  true  Briton's  heart  for  having  aided  in  the  return  'of  the 
National  Prodigals. 


I860.]  JUDAH  P.   BENJAMIN'S  LETTER.  315 

Reposing  that  confidence  in  you  which  your  position  in  life  war 
rants  me  in  doing,  you  must  at  present  excuse  me  from  not  signing  my 
name,  for  fear  of  an  accident.  This  much  you  may  know,  I  am  a 
Southron,  and  am  a  member  of  Congress,  whose  untiring  perseverance 
will  never  cease  until  the  object  I  have  thus  boldly  undertaken  is  fully 
accomplished.  Be  so  kind  as  to  answer  this  as  early  as  possible. 
Allow  me  a  personal  interview,  and,  if  you  cannot  come  to  New  York, 
address  your  answer  to  ''  Benjamin,"  in  care  of  some  one  at  your 
office. 

When  this  amazing  letter  was  written,  Mr.  Benjamin  had 
just  been  re  elected  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  from 
Louisiana.  Lord  Palmerston  thought  he  foresaw  the  rapid 
downfall  of  the  United  States  government  and  Lord  Kamsden 
rejoiced  in  the  House  of  Commons  that  the  "  bubble  of  Democ 
racy  in  America  "  had  burst.  Mr.  Benjamin's  letter  was  for 
warded  to  Lord  Lyons,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister 
Plenipotentiary  of  Great  Britain  in  the  United  States. 

"  South  Carolina  demands  the  withdrawal  of  Anderson  and 
abandonment  of  the  forts,"  wrote  Mr.  Seward  to  Mr.  Weed,  on 
the  29th  of  December,  18GO.  "  The  President l  inclines  to  yield, 
but  there  will  be  an  explosion  if  he  does.  A  plot  is  forming  to 
seize  the  capital  and  usurp  the  government.  It  has  abettors 
near  the  President.  I  am  writing  you  not  from  rumors  but 
knowledge.  I  have  written  to ,2  first  that  he  ought  to  anti 
cipate  and  come  here  by  surprise,  second,  that  I  ought  to  know 
his  agents  with  whom  I  am  to,  act,  and  they  ought  to  be  here 
to  make  preparations.  You  will  be  welcome  enough  here  in  a 
few  days." 

"  No  terms  have  been  offered  to  traitors,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed, 
on  the  9th  of  January,  186 1.3  "It  is  so  that  the  country  may 
be  the  better  prepared  to  deal  sternly  with  traitors  that  we  have 
urged  and  do  urge  that  the  position  of  Union  men  in  Southern 
States  should  be  considered.  Apprehending  that  we  should  be 
called  upon  to  test  the  strength  of  the  government,  we  saw, 

1Mr.  Buchanan. 

2  Through  the  war  period  Mr.  Seward's  letters  are  full  of  omissions  like 
this.     In  the  present  case  the  reference  is,  of  course,  to  Mr.  Lincoln.     Some 
times  Mr.  Seward  wrote  so  illegibly  that  his  handwriting  might  almost  be 
mistaken  for  a  cipher. 

3  Mississippi  seceded  on  the  day  this  article  was  written.     She  was  the 
first  state  to  follow  South  Carolina. 


316  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

what  is  even  more  apparent  now,  that  the  effort  would  tax  all 
its  faculties  and  strain  all  its  energies.  Hence  desire  before  the 
trial  came  to  make  up  a  record  that  would  challenge  the  ap 
proval  of  the  world.  This  was  due  not  less  to  ourselves  than  to 
the  Union  men  of  southern  states,  who  with  equal  patriotism 
and  more  of  sacrifice,  amidst  the  pitiless  peltings  of  the  dis 
union  storm,  sought,  like  the  dove  sent  out  from  the  ark,  a  dry 
spot  on  which  to  set  their  feet." 

In  February,  at  the  instance  of  the  Virginia  legislature, 
there  was  held  at  Washington  a  peace  convention,  composed 
of  delegates  elected  by  the  legislatures  of  the  various  states. 
Mr.  Weed  was  elected  a  delegate,  but  he  declined  in  favor  of 
Francis  Granger,  with  whom  he  was  now  again  in  harmony. 
He  was  strongly  committed  in  favor  of  this  meeting,  but  before 
it  assembled  virtually  abandoned  hope  of  any  peaceable  settle 
ment,  and  entered  upon  what  may  be  called  his  second  great 
effort  in  connection  with  the  war,  —  an  effort  to  narrow  the 
boundaries  of  rebellion. 

"  There  were  in  the  Border  States,"  he  writes,  "  tens  of 
thousands  of  anxious,  devoted  Union  men,  who  asked  only  that 
they  should  be  thrown  a  plank  which  promised  a  chance  of 
safety.  Maryland  was  withheld  from  secession  by  the  firmness 
and  fidelity  of  her  state  administration.  Kentucky's  Anderson 
at  Fort  Sumter,  Holt  in  the  Cabinet,  and  Cassius  M.  Clay  on 
the  stump,  were  doing  as  much  as  men  could  to  maintain  the 
federal  authority.  In  Governor  Houston,  Texas  had  a  strong 
arm  to  hold  her  from  the  madness  of  the  hour.  Tennessee's 
majority  for  John  Bell  was  sufficient  to  show  that  her  sympa 
thies  were  on  the  right  side."  In  January,  1861,  there  were 
scores  of  county  meetings  in  Arkansas,  Missouri,  and  other 
doubtful  states  at  which  resolutions  were  adopted  declaring 
Mr.  Lincoln's  election  no  excuse  for  secession,  condemning  the 
course  of  South  Carolina,  and  promising  unwavering  allegiance 
to  the  Union. 

But  Republican  Congressmen  were  not  disposed  to  concede 
"  the  fruits  of  the  presidential  victory."  The  press  of  his  party 
opposed  Mr.  Weed's  policy  as  equivalent  to  "  political  suicide." 
While  he  was  at  Washington,  representatives  of  the  Border 
States  met  in  caucus  and  agreed  upon  the  Crittenden  propo 
sition.  This  Republican  members  parried  successfully  week 


1861.]  LETTERS    TO  MR.    WEED.  317 

after  week,  in  the  mean  time  assuming  no  affirmative  position. 
Border  state  members  submitted  a  basis  upon  which  they  could 
hold  together  in  defense  of  the  government.  The  sua^estion 

o  o  oo 

was  laid  on  the  table,  in  caucus,  by  an  overwhelming  vote, 
"  although,"  Mr.  Weed  declared,  u  several  of  its  features  were 
entirely  acceptable,  and  returning  them  in  the  form  of  a  counter- 
proposition  might  easily  have  constituted  the  basis  of  an.  ulti 
mate  agreement."  "  But,"  said  Republicans  to  Mr.  Weed,  "  we 
have  wronged  nobody.  Lincoln  has  been  elected  in  a  consti 
tutional  manner.  There  is  no  sufficient  excuse  for  secession. 
If  the  South  thinks  there  is,  we  propose  to  let  her  try  it  and 
take  the  consequences." 

[GOVERNOR  NOBLE  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

MADISON,  Wis.,  February  12,  18G1. 

DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  We  are  doing  a  good  work  in  bringing  our 
Republican  friends  up  to  the  true  standard.  We  must  save  the  Bor 
der  States.  .  .  .  Resolutions  appointing  commissioners  were  passed 
in  Senate  by  my  casting  vote,  the  Democrats  voting  with  six  Republi 
cans  —  against  fourteen  Republicans.  But  they  are  lost  in  the  House, 
much  to  my  regret.  Personally  I  am  "  catching  fits  "  from  the  abo 
lition  "wing;  "  but  I  shall  come  out  all  right  in  the  end. 

Yours  truly,  BUTLER  G.  NOBLE. 

[FRANCIS  GRANGER  TO  MR.  WTEED.] 

CANANDAIGUA,  Wednesday  Evening. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  will  tell  you  in  candor  how  the  idea  [of  ac 
cepting  appointment  as  delegate  to  the  peace  convention],  which  had 
never  entered  my  head,  struck  me.  Of  course,  it  would  be  accepted 
as  a  most  flattering  honor,  but  you  cannot  imagine  with  what  repug 
nance  I  even  think  of  the  possibility  of  ever  again  appearing  before 
the  public.  You,  whose  life  is  spent  in  the  exciting  whirl  of  politics, 
cannot,  for  a  moment,  understand  it.  HOAV  unlike  my  life  twenty 
years  ago,  —  and  yet,  in  my  view,  how  much  more  satisfactory  ! 

What  a  proser  I  am  getting  to  be,  to  send  this  to  one  engaged  in 
getting  out  a  commission  on  which  the  Union  may  depend,  and  in 
making  a  Senator,  —  to  say  nothing  of  things  at  Washington  and  Al 
bany  generally.  I  am  a  proser,  but,  thank  God,  not  a  croaker  of  the 
Jim  Talmadge  school,  spending  my  last  days  in  thinking  that  1  have 
not  been  appreciated,  for  the  State  cannot  show  a  happier  man.  But 
too  much  of  all  this.  I  can  bear  anything  but  a  thought  of  the  break 
ing  up  of  this  proud  nation.  Notwithstanding  all  that  is  said,  I  don't 


318  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

feel  quite  easy  about  what  may  happen  before  or  on  the  4th  of  March. 
Your  rampant  friends  underestimate  both  the  will  and  power  of  the 
Southern  States  for  a  fight. 

Thanking  you  for  your  good  intentions,  and  happier  without  than 
with  their  realization.  Ever  truly  yours,  FR.  GR. 

[A.    T.    STEWART    TO    MR.    WEED.] 

NEW  YORK,  February  20,  18G1. 

MY  DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  The  most  important  concern  to  the  people 
of  the  United  States  at  the  present  time  is  the  reestablishment  of  fra 
ternal  relations  between  the  North  and  the  South,  the  destruction  of 
which  affects  most  injuriously  our  standing  among  nations,  and  makes 
us  feeble  for  protection  or  attack  at  home  and  abroad. 

A  high  tariff  at  this  time,  when  importation  of  goods  under  the  most 
favorable  circumstances  is  attended  with  loss,  would  be  injudicious,  es 
pecially  as  the  government  requires  large  revenue  for  extraordinary 
purposes.  To  raise  rates  would  not  only  lower  receipts  from  customs ; 
its  effect  would  be  to  prevent  pacification,  if  not  to  produce  retaliatory 
measures  in  the  South.  ...  It  would  tend  to  render  their  exclusion 
from  the  Union  complete,  and  induce  free  trade  legislation  in  the  hope 
of  enlisting  foreign  powers  in  their  favor.  And  if  a  high  tariff  is  inju 
dicious  in  this  view,  it  is  more  so  in  the  contingency  of  final  separa 
tion.  The  destiny  of  the  North  in  that  event  will  be  that  of  a  manu 
facturing  people,  with  a  view  to  the  supply  of  foreign  nations,  arid  con 
sequently  of  competition  in  other  manufacturing  countries.  We  must 
reach  this  point,  not  through  prohibition  and  restriction,  which  is  a 
confession  of  inferiority,  but  by  inviting  all  that  we  can  of  the  raw 
material,  reducing  rates  to  the  standard  of  other  countries,  improving 
our  skill  in  machinery  and  labor,  and  by  those  means  not  only  making 
it  impossible  for  the  foreign  producers  to  compete  on  equal  terms  here, 
but  also  in  every  other  convenient  market  at  which  we  will  be  obliged 
to  sell,  and  in  which  our  tariff  will  give  no  protection. 

This  policy  of  reliance  on  our  skill,  industry,  and  energy,  under  cir 
cumstances  of  the  highest  competition,  will  make  the  North,  if  the 
tremendous  evil  of  separation  is  inevitable,  a  powerful  empire  unsur 
passed  by  any  other  in  the  world.  And  so  I  say  that  meditated  legis 
lation,  obliging  us  to  withdraw  within  our  own  shell  on  the  eve  of  such 
great  events,  is  impolitic  in  the  extreme,  and  can  only  come  from  that 
want  of  flexibility  in  men  which  induces  them  to  hold  on  to  their  opin 
ions,  however  changed  the  circumstances  of  the  country.  .  .  . 

The  refusal  at  Washington  to  concede  costs  us  millions  daily.  It  is 
opening  up  our  nation  to  every  conceivable  mischief  and  danger.  It 
advances  the  happiness  of  no  single  human  being,  bond  or  free,  unless 


1861.]  EVENTS  AT   WASHINGTON.  319 

it  be  of  those  on  the  other  side  the  water  who  rejoice  over  the  disgrace, 
degradation,  and  ruin  in  which  our  country,  lately  so  prosperous  and 
happy,  is  involved. 

Relying  upon  your  energy  and  wisdom,  so  conspicuously  shown  in 
present  difficulties,  I  am, 

Yours  respectfully,  ALEX  :  T.  STEWART. 

On  the  llth  of  January,  1861,  John  A.  Dix  was  appointed 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  lie  found  the  affairs  of  that  de 
partment  in  a  disgraceful  condition,  and  at  once  began,  with 
characteristic  energy  and  ability,  to  restore  the  financial  credit 
of  the  nation.  General  Dix  was  a  Democrat,  and  according  to 
radical  ideas  it  was  treachery  to  the  Republican  party  to  co 
operate  with  him  in  these  efforts.  Disdaining  partisan  argu 
ments,  Mr.  Seward  and  Mr.  Weed  cordially  indorsed  the  Secre 
tary's  plans,  which  without  their  aid  might  have  proved  futile. 

[MR.    SEWARD   TO    MR.    WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  January  30,  1861. 

DEAR  WEED,  —  Does  the  State  of  New  York,  or  rather  its  legisla 
ture,  mean  to  abandon  the  Union  ?  If  so,  I  pray  you  to  let  me  know 
promptly,  and  I  will  get  up  a  private  subscription  to  guarantee  the 
bonds,  procure  signatures  here,  and  send  an  agent  to  New  York  city. 
What  is  the  matter  with  the  legislature  ? 

WASHINGTON,  January  31,  1861. 

.  .  .  Our  friend  Wakeman  goes  to  Albany  at  my  urgent  request  to 
get  the  legislature  to  assent  to  Dix's  proposition  to  guarantee  U.  S. 
six  per  cent,  bonds  to  the  amount  of  the  United  States  Deposit  Fund. 
It  is  the  turning  point.  We  shall  maintain  the  capital  safe  into  the 
administration  of  4th  March,  if  New  York  don't  desert  the  Union  now. 
If  she  does,  I  don't  know  but  the  blow  will  be  irretrievable. 

Yours,  WM.  H.  SEWARD. 

Immediately  after  Mr.  Lincoln's  unexpected  appearance  at 
Washington,  on  the  23d  of  February,  it  began  to  be  generally 
conceded  that  obstacles  to  any  scheme  of  arbitration  were  insur 
mountable.  The  peace  convention  was  still  in  session,  but 
there  was  no  prospect  that  any  plan  which  it  might  recommend, 
no  matter  how  unfavorable  to  the  South,  would  meet  the  approval 
of  Congress.  A  basis  for  retaining  the  Border  States,  which 
extreme  southern  men  violently  opposed  in  the  convention,  was 


320  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

submitted,  but  the  Radicals  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
would  not  even  consent  to  have  the  document  read.  They  were 
ready  to  dissolve  the  Union,  destroy  the  government,  and  bank 
rupt  the  people,  to  keep  Mr.  Seward  out  of  the  Cabinet. 

"  Mr.  Lincoln  goes  to  Washington,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed,  "  with 
a  dark  cloud  hanging  like  a  pall  over  the  country.  All  that 
remains  to  us,  if  conciliation  is  not  to  be  obtained,  is  to  prepare 
for  a  test  of  the  strength  of  our  government.  We  must  vindi 
cate  its  power  by  the  firmness  of  its  laws,  or  we  no  longer  pre 
serve  the  respect  of  other  nations,  or  of  our  own  people.  We 
shall  need  the  concentrated  influence,  physical  and  moral,  of  all 
the  friends  of  the  Union.  Shades  of  difference  between  those 
who  love  their  country  should  be  forgotten,  until  the  vantage 
ground  is  reached.  We  can  afford,  as  Mr.  Jefferson  once  said, 
to  be  'all  Federalists  —  all  Republicans.' 

"  If  the  Union  can  be  preserved  only  by  fighting  for  it, 
then  war  with  all  its  miseries  must  be  accepted.  Freedom  is 
worth  all  it  ever  costs.  This  aspect  of  the  situation  we  have 
contemplated  with  horror.  We  have  hoped  that  it  might  be  ig 
nored  ;  that,  through  God's  goodness  and  mercy,  the  Union 
might  escape  the  calamities  of  civil  war.  But,  if  the  delusion 
which  has  seized  upon  Carolina  spreads  ;  if  the  disease  raging 
there  shall  infect  southern  people  generally ;  if,  for  some  inscru 
table  purpose,  the  great  problem  of  emancipation  is  to  be  solved 
by  the  sword;  if  cities  smoke  and  bodies  bleach,  the  conse 
quences  and  responsibility  must  fall  upon  the  aggressors.  If 
war  shall  be  commenced  and  waged  against  freedom,  there  can 
be  no  question  as  to  how  it  will  terminate." 


CHAPTER  XXV. 
1860-1861. 

INCONGRUOUS  REPUBLICAN  ELEMENTS.  —  THE  SENATORIAL  CANVASS  OF 
1861.  —  WM.  M.  EVARTS.  —  MR.  GREELEY.  —  DEFEAT  OF  THE  RADI 
CALS.  —  "  JUSTICE  TO  ALL."  —  MR.  LINCOLN'S  FIRST  INAUGURAL.  — 
ITS  TONE  AND  PURPOSE.  —  CABINET  SELECTIONS.  —  APPOINTMENT  POL 
ICY.  —  FORT  SUMTER  SURRENDERS.  —  DUTY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT.  — 
"  OUR  COUNTRY,  RIGHT  OR  WRONG." 

UP  to  the  time  when  the  Chicago  convention  was  held,  Mr. 
Weed's  authority  in  the  Whig  and  Republican  parties  was 
exercised  almost  without  dissent.  He  was  known  to  be  as  im 
partial  as  he  was  judicious,  and  a  general  disposition  existed 
to  leave  the  settlement  of  important  political  questions  in  his 
hands.  But  when  the  Republican  party  was  formed  it  was  nec 
essary  to  fuse  into  its  membership  elements  which  were  to  a 
certain  degree  incongruous.  Lucius  Robinson,  Hiram  Barney, 
and  David  Dudley  Field  were  not  likely  to  act  in  perfect  accord 
with  Mr.  Weed,  however  easy  it  may  have  been  for  them,  on 
various  occasions,  to  affiliate  with  Mr.  Bryant  and  Mr.  Greeley. 
The  dangers  of  the  new  alliance  were  recognized  by,  the  men 
who  had  ruled  the  Whigs,  but  instead  of  instituting  a  prescrip 
tive  policy,  intended  to  keep  the  minority  in  subjection,  Mr. 
Weed  was  inclined  to  show  them  rather  more  recognition  then 
was  really  justified  by  their  stock  in  trade.  George  Opdyke  and 
David  Dudley  Field  were  among  those  representing  the  anti- 
Weed  element  who  intimated  a  desire  to  be  chosen  delegates  to 
the  national  Republican  convention  of  1860.  As  public  senti 
ment  ran  strongly  in  favor  of  Mr.  Seward,  their  aspirations  in 
this  respect  were  not  gratified.  When  the  convention  met,  how 
ever,  both  appeared  at  Chicago  in  a  private  capacity,  and  with 
Mr.  Bryant,  Mr.  Barney,  and  Mr.  Greeley,  constituted  a  New 
York  basis  of  opposition  to  the  New  York  candidate.  The  re 
sult  of  the  convention  was,  of  course,  a  great  source  of  encour 
agement  to  these  politicians. 
21 


322  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

In  course  of  time,  Mr.  Barney  was  appointed  Collector  of  the 
Port  of  New  York,  through  the  influence  of  Secretary  Chase, 
and  Mr.  Opdyke,  by  the  employment  of  Custom  House  patron 
age,  was  nominated  for  Mayor  of  New  York,  to  which  position 
he  was  elected.  The  significance  of  these  movements,  it  need 
hardly  be  said,  was  perfectly  apparent  to  Mr.  Weed:  but,  so 
far  as  they  were  directed  against  his  political  authority,  he  re 
garded  them  with  indifference.  He  was  indeed  "  weary  of  strife," 
as  he  wrote,  nor  could  he  have  been  "  driven  into  controversy  " 
upon  a  question  less  vital  than  "  the  safety  of  the  government 
and  Union."  When  radical  politicians  imperiled  both,  as  he 
believed,  they  discovered  that  "  the  Dictator's  "  power  had  not 
been  entirely  obliterated. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1861,  when  the  New  York 
legislature  met,  there  was  interjected  into  the  progress  of  events 
a  canvass  for  a  successor  to  Mr.  Seward  in  the  Senate.  The 
Republicans  had  made  heavy  gains  in  the  State  Senate  in  the 
elections  of  1859,  and  it  had  been  anticipated  that  they  would 
hold  a  majority  when  the  time  arrived  to  fill  this  vacancy. 
With  even  greater  confidence  it  had  been  expected  that  Mr. 
Seward  would  be  nominated  for  President  in  1800,  and  for 
that  reason  he  had  been  regarded  as  out  of  the  list  of  candi 
dates.  Just  after  his  defeat  at  Chicago  there  was  a  disposition 
to  return  Mr.  Seward  to  the  Senate,  but  it  was  soon  believed 
that  he  would  become  a  member  of  the  Cabinet,  and  his  name 
was  then  dropped. 

At  this  juncture  Mr.  Weed  was  urged  by  his  friends,  for  at 
least  the  third  time,  to  become  himself  a  candidate  for  this  posi 
tion.  Had  he  consented,  he  could  have  been  elected  without 
doubt.  Indeed,  it  was  conceded  by  the  politicians  of  that  day 
that  he  could  not  be  defeated,  if  he  chose  to  enter  the  lists. 
"  It  is  a  curious  fact,"  wrote  one  who  was  active  in  the  canvass, 
and  who  knew  its  temper  perfectly,  "  that  Mr.  Weed  might 
have  been  chosen  Senator  even  when  known  to  vary  in  judg 
ment  on  questions  vital  in  importance  from  the  party  making 
the  appointment.  This  could  have  been  true  of  no  other  man, 
and  long  after  the  fires  even  of  this  vivid  day  shall  have  died 
out,  it  will  be  remembered  as  one  of  the  most  honorable  inci 
dents  in  his  remarkable  life." 

William  M.  Evarts  was  the  candidate  whom  Mr.  Weed  hoped 


1861.]  THE  EVARTS-GREELEY  CANVASS.  <£ 

might  succeed  Mr.  Seward.  Mr.  Evarts  gained  reputation  and 
strength  by  his  conduct  of  the  celebrated  Lemmon  case,  which 
came  up  for  argument  before  the  Court  of  Appeals  late  in  Janu 
ary,  I860.1  lie  was  a  man  whose  election  would  add  new  dig 
nity  to  a  position  second  only  to  the  presidency.  But  the 
radical  element,  which  had  a  strong  and  aggressive  represen 
tation  in  the  legislature,  determined  to  send  Mr.  Greeley  to 
Washington.  Troubles  were  rapidly  accumulating,  and  it  was 
thought  that  he  might  ride  in  on  the  edge  of  the  storm.  Charles 
A.  Dana,  then  of  the  "  Tribune,"  was  sent  to  Albany  to  advance 
the  cause  of  his  chief,  and  Mr.  Greeley  went  in  person  soon 
afterwards.  The  radical  canvass  was  conducted  under  unusu 
ally  favorable  circumstances,  and,  as  the  caucus  approached, 
both  sides  saw  that  the  vote  would  be  close.  It  was  given  out 
that  several  Assemblymen  had  sided  with  Mr.  Greeley  on  rep 
resentations  that  the  President-elect  favored  the  radical  candi 
date. 

[JUDGE  DAVIS  TO  MB.  WEED.] 

BLOOMINGTON,  ILL.,  February  2,  18G1. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  was  surprised  to  hear  it  intimated  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  interfering  for  Mr.  Greeley,  and  had  authorized  the  use  of  patron 
age  in  that  direction.  Depend  upon  it  this  is  a  canard  of  the  grossest 
sort.  The  possibility  of  Greeley's  election  surprises  me.  .  .  . 

If  the  Republican  party  makes  any  missteps,  it  is  gone  under.  It 
looks  to  me  now  as  if  this  result  was  manifest  destiny. 

Truly  yours,  DAVID  DAVIS. 

[MR.    SEWARD    TO    MR.    WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  January  27,  1861. 

DEAR  WEED,  —  W writes  me,  of  course  impatiently,  that  Evarts 

is  in  danger,  and  that  I  ought  to  interpose  for  him  directly,  and  secure 
Mr.  Lincoln's  interference.  My  judgment  informs  me  that  if  unusual 
proceedings  ought  to  be  taken,  you  are  the  one  to  call  on  me  for  them. 

1  The  plaintiff,  a  citizen  of  Virginia,  in  1852  shipped  eight  slaves  on  board 
a  vessel  bound  for  Texas.  The  ship  went  to  New  York ;  the  negroes  were 
taken  off  on  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  and  brought  before  Justice  Paine,  who 
decided  that  they  could  not  be  held  in  slavery  under  New  York  laws.  They 
were  thus  liberated,  but  a  subscription  taken  up  in  the  city  indemnified 
Lemmon  in  full,  and  the  State  of  Virginia,  retaining  Mr.  O'Conor,  brought 
suit  to  test  the  validity  of  enfranchisement.  "  Mr.  Evarts,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed 
while  the  case  was  on  trial,  "  has  placed  beyond  doubt  his  right  to  be  ranked 
among  the  foremost  lawyers  of  our  country." 


32:4  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

As  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  interference,  of  course  I  understand  how  absurd 
that  would  be.  Do  not  let  me  fall  unjustly  under  censure  of  unfaith 
fulness  to  a  friend  on  the  one  side,  or  of  misjudged  interference  on 
the  other.  Yours  faithfully,  WM.  H.  SEWARD. 

[THE  PRESIDENT-ELECT  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

SPRINGFIELD,  ILL.,  February  4,  1861. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  have  both  your  letter  to  myself  and  that  to  Judge 
Davis,  in  relation  to  a  certain  gentleman  in  your  state  claiming  to  dis 
pense  patronage  in  my  name,  and  also  to  be  authorized  to  use  my 
name  to  advance  the  chances  of  Mr.  Greeley  for  an  election  to  the 
United  States  Senate. 

It  is  very  strange  that  such  things  should  be  said  by  any  one.  The 
gentleman  you  mention  did  speak  to  me  of  Mr.  Greeley  in  connection 
with  the  senatorial  election,  and  I  replied  in  terms  of  kindness  toward 
Mr.  Greeley,  which  I  really  feel,  but  always  with  an  expressed  protest 
that  my  name  must  not  be  used  in  the  senatorial  election  in  favor  of 
or  against  any  one.  Any  other  representation  of  me  is  a  misrepre 
sentation. 

As  to  the  matter  of  dispensing  patronage,  it  perhaps  will  surprise 
you  to  learn  that  I  have  information  that  you  claim  to  have  my  au 
thority  to  arrange  that  matter  in  New  York.  I  do  not  believe  you 
have  so  claimed ;  but  still  so  some  men  say.  On  that  subject  you  know 
all  I  have  said  to  you  is  "justice  to  all,"  and  I  have  said  nothing  more 
particular  to  any  one.  I  say  this  to  reassure  you  that  I  have  not 
changed  my  position. 

In  the  hope,  however,  that  you  will  not  use  my  name  iii  the  matter, 
I  am,  Yours  truly,  A.  LIXCOLX. 

One  hundred  and  fifteen  Republicans  attended  the  caucus, 
which  was  held  during  the  first  week  in  February.  Their  vote 
was  almost  exactly  divided  between  Mr.  Evarts  and  Mr.  Gree 
ley.  A  few  scattering  ballots  were  cast  for  Ira  Harris,  then  a 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  While  the  voting  was  in  prog 
ress  Mr.  Weed,  Governor  Morgan,  and  Mr.  Evarts  were  seated 
in  the  Executive  Chamber.  Eight  ballots  were  taken  without 
material  change.  On  the  ninth  Mr.  Greeley  gained  five  votes, 
which  Mr.  Evarts  lost,  and  it  was  therefore  probable  that  on  the 
next  ballot  Mr.  Greeley  would  be  elected,  unless  prevented  by  a 
coup  d'etat.  Mr.  Weed  conferred  with  the  Governor  and  with 
Mr.  Evarts,  and  it  was  hastily  decided  that  it  was  better  to  be 
stow  the  nomination  on  Judge  Harris,  than  suffer  the  success  of 


1861.]  MR.  GREELEY'S  DEFEAT.  325 

Mr.  Greeley.  Messengers  were  instantly  despatched  for  leading 
Republicans,  and  the  next  ballot  resulted  :  for  Harris,  sixty  ; 
for  Greeley,  forty-nine  ;  for  Evarts,  two  ;  scattering,  six.  Thus 
Judge  Harris  was  elected. 

"  The  motives  which  prompted  opposition  to  Mr.  Greeley," 
writes  Mr.  Weed,  "  were  patriotic  and  loyal.  Republican  mem 
bers  of  the  legislature  cherished  friendly  feelings  for  a  favorite 
editor  ;  but  they  disapproved  of  his  secession  sentiments,  and 
were  unwilling  to  trust  him  with  a  seat  in  the  United  States 
Senate."  Many,  however,  who  aided  in  the  election  of  Judge 
Harris,  afterwards  regretted  that  Mr.  Greeley  was  not  afforded 
this  opportunity  to  prove  his  fitness  or  unfitness  for  the  high 
positions  to  which  he  aspired. 

1 86 1.  —  The  first  developments  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  policy  were 
awaited  with  breathless  anxiety.  "  The  inaugural,"  wrote  Mr. 
Weed  from  Washington,  "  was  worthy  of  a  Republican  Presi 
dent  and  of  the  American  people."  Much  more  might  have 
been  said,  had  the  writer  been  given  to  self-glorification.  In 
this  memorable  paper,  the  President  arrayed  himself  distinctly 
against  the  Radicals  and  the  Abolitionists.  "  I  have  no  pur 
pose,"  he  said,  "  directly  or  indirectly,  to  interfere  with  the  in 
stitution  of  slavery  in  the  states  where  it  exists."  Addressing 
the  South,  these  were  his  memorable  words,  "  We  are  not  en 
emies,  but  friends.  We  must  not  be  enemies.  Though  passion 
may  have  strained,  it  must  not  break  our  bonds  of  affection." 
Speaking  of  this  first  inaugural,  Mr.  Lincoln  refers  to  it  him 
self,  in  his  second  inaugural,  as  having  been  "  devoted  alto 
gether  to  saving  the  Union  without  war."  That  was  precisely 
what  Mr.  Weed  sought  to  accomplish. 

In  constructing  his  Cabinet  the  President  wished  to  be  strictly 
impartial.  William  H.  Seward,  of  New  York,  was  made  Sec 
retary  of  State  ;  Salmon  P.  Chase,  of  Ohio,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  ;  Simon  Cameron,  of  Pennsylvania,  Secretary  of  War ; 
Gideon  Welles,  of  Connecticut,  Secretary  of  the  Navy ;  Caleb 
B.  Smith,  of  Indiana,  Secretary  of  the  Interior  ;  Montgomery 
Blair,  of  Maryland,  Postmaster-General ;  and  Edward  Bates,  of 
Missouri,  Attorney-General.  Mr.  Seward  was  leader  of  the  con 
servative  Republicans.  He  had  formerly  been  a  Whig.  Gov 
ernor  Chase  was  leader  of  the  Radicals.  He  had  belonged  to 
the  "Liberty  "  party  from  1841  until  1848,  when  he  voted  for 


326  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

Van  Buren.  In  1849  he  was  elected  United  States  Senator  by 
Democrats  and  Free  Soilers,  and  in  1855  was  elected  Governor 
of  Ohio  as  a  Republican.  There  were  two  other  Whig-Repub 
licans  in  Mr.  Smith  and  Mr.  Bates  ;  two  other  converted  Dem 
ocrats  in  Mr.  Blair  and  Mr.  Welles.  Mr.  Cameron  had  been 
elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  in  1845,  by  Democrats, 
Whigs,  and  "  Native  Americans." 

In  regard  to  minor  appointments  the  President's  policy  was 
much  the  same  as  that  which  General  Garfield,  under  somewhat 
similar  conditions,  followed  at  the  beginning  of  his  adminis 
tration.  Among  early  nominations  were  Anson  Burlingame,  to 
China ;  Henry  S.  Saiiford,  to  Belgium ;  William  H.  Vesey,  to 
Havre ;  Andrew  B.  Dickinson,  to  Nicaragua  ;  and  Governor 
Randall  and  R.  M.  Blatchford,  to  Italy.  These  gentlemen  were 
all  Mr.  Weed's  intimate  friends,  personally  and  politically. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  was  sent  as  Minister  to  The  Hague  a 
gentleman  known  only  as  a  skillful  maligner  of  Mr.  Seward. 

Shortly  after  the  inauguration,  South  Carolina,  still  taking 
the  lead  in  the  secession  movement,  announced  that  Major  An 
derson,  commanding  Fort  Sumter,  in  Charleston  harbor,  must 
turn  over  that  fortification  to  Governor  Pickens  ;  and  when  this 
demand  was  refused,  and  it  was  known  that  the  President  had 
despatched  troops  to  Anderson's  assistance,  she  fired  upon  the 
United  States  flag  flying  over  the  garrison.  For  thirty  hours 
the  bombardment  lasted.  Then,  on  the  14th  of  April,  18G1,  the 
fort  surrendered. 

"  The  crisis  is  one  of  intense  solicitude,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed,  on 
the  10th  of  April.  "  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  era  of  blood 
will  this  day  be  inaugurated.  Indeed,  the  conflict  may  even  now 
have  commenced.  However  this  may  be,  and  whatever  the  con 
sequences  are,  the  President  is  clearly  right.  Treason  and  re 
bellion  have  been  rank  and  insolent.  The  steps  taken  by  Mr. 
Lincoln  to  uphold  the  authority  of  the  government  and  to  pro 
vision  our  garrisons  were  demanded  by  considerations  which  no 
government  is  at  liberty  to  disregard.  .  .  .  Should  there  be  a 
collision  at  Charleston  to-day  or  to-morrow,  the  responsibility 
will  rest,  where  it  belongs,  upon  the  heads  of  secession  leaders. 
The  government  is  simply  discharging  a  plain,  imperative  duty. 
...  If  blood  is  shed,  it  must  stain  the  garments  of  the  aggres 
sors.  The  government  went  to  the  verge  of  forbearance  and 


1861.]  WAR  BEGUN.  327 

conciliation.  .  .  .  The  refusal  of  South  Carolina  to  permit  ordi 
nary  supplies  to  be  sent  to  Major  Anderson  was  as  much  an  act 
of  war  as  a  bombardment,  and  more  inhuman.  The  govern 
ment  would  dishonor  itself  and  tarnish  the  national  character, 
if  it  should  succumb  to  such  insolence.  The  civilized  world 
would  hold  it  culpable  of  the  basest  cowardice  and  imbecility,  if 
it  should  surrender  when  thus  insulted,  and  permit  brave  men 
to  be  starved  into  submission.  Better  any  sacrifice  than  that ! 
So  long  as  a  plank  can  float  and  an  American  can  be  found  to 
guide  it,  so  long  as  the  stars  and  stripes  wave  over  the  bastions 
of  that  fortress,  and  so  long  as  one  man  remains  to  defend  them, 
Sumter  should  be  supplied  with  whatever  is  needed  for  its  de 
fense.  This  it  is  the  purpose  of  the  government  to  do,  and  the 
people  will  applaud  the  effort." 

u  The  waters  of  Charleston  harbor  are  crimsoned  with  blood," 
wrote  Mr.  Weed,  on  the  12th  of  April.  "  This  day  will  be 
remembered  as  the  darkest  in  our  history.  .  .  .  Why  longer 
talk  of  peaceable  separation?  Every  act  of  the  seceders  has 
been  warlike.  From  the  beginning  there  has  been  violence  and 
outrage  on  one  side,  forbearance  on  the  other,  and  now,  when 
traitors  have  provoked  and  commenced  war,  why  should  it  not 
go  on  ?  If  there  be  power  in  the  government,  treason  should 
be  made  to  pay  dearly  for  this  crime." 

On  the  15th  of  April  President  Lincoln  issued  a  call  for 
seventy-five  thousand  volunteers. 

"  New  York  will  not  be  derelict  in  this  hour  of  trial,"  wrote 
Mr.  Weed.  "First  in  rank  among  the  states,  she  should  be 
first  in  the  field".  Millions  should  be  devoted  to  the  patriotic 
work  of  maintaining  the  authority  of  the  government.  New 
York  must  not  hesitate  or  look  back." 

The  next  day  the  state  legislature  passed  a  bill  to  provide 
for  the  raising  of  thirty  thousand  volunteers. 

"  '  Our  country,  right  or  wrong,'  "  wrote  Mr.  Weed,  "  should 
now  be  the  watchword  of  every  lover  of  the  Union.1  The  gov 
ernment  has  been  challenged  to  fight  or  to  succumb.  Ameri 
cans  are  not  cowards,  and  they  will  not  see  their  government 

1  At  a  Fourth  of  July  dinner  given  at  Philadelphia,  during  the  war  of 
1812,  a  distinguished  Federalist  gave  as  a  toast  :  "  Our  country,  in  her  dif 
ferences  with  other  nations,  may  she  always  be  right."  Commodore  Decatur 
instantly  rose  and  gave  the  following  :  "  Our  country,  right  or  wrong  !  " 


328  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

overthrown  by  a  band  of  brazen  traitors.  This  is  the  verdict  of 
the  people  of  all  parties.  Let  those  who  think  otherwise  stand 
from  under.  The  die  is  cast,  and  rebellion  must  be  crushed 
before  the  sword  is  returned  to  the  scabbard.  .  .  . 

"  Strike  !  strike  hard !  Arguments  have  been  exhausted. 
There  can  be  no  settlement,  no  clamoring  for  peace,  no  senti 
mental  whining  about  humanity,  until  the  majesty  of  the  Amer 
ican  Union  has  been  vindicated  and  this  insult  to  the  American 
flag  has  been  avenged.  .  .  .  The  war  cannot  be  too  vigorously 
prosecuted.  Let  us  hear  the  tramp  of  men  and  the  sound  of 
bugles.  Let  there  be  no  peace  until  traitors  yield  unqualified 
submission." 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

1860-1861. 

EFFORTS  TO  CONFINE  REBELLION  TO  THE  EXTREME  COTTON  REGION.  — 
A  PLOT  IN  THE  CABINET.  —  GOVERNOR  CHASE.  —  SECRETARY  CAMERON. 
—  MONTGOMERY  BLAIR.  —  EDWIN  M.  STANTON.  —  MR.  SEWARD  TO  MR. 
WEED.  —  GENERAL  SCOTT'S  PROGRAMME  OVERRULED.  —  SCENES  AND 
INCIDENTS  CONNECTED  WITH  THE  WAR. 

As  the  secession  movement  advanced,  conflicts  between  the 
two  sections  of  the  Republican  party  were  constantly  occurring. 

Conservative  leaders  hoped  that  the  Rebellion  might  be  con 
fined  to  the  extreme  cotton  region.  By  recognizing  and  cher 
ishing  loyal  elements  in  doubtful  states,  they  urged,  important 
communities  could  be  saved  from  joining  the  Confederacy.  But 
to  admit  the  existence  of  Union  sentiment  along  the  border, 
radical  leaders  regarded  as  unwise,  politically.  They  admitted 
that  it  excited  their  sympathy  to  witness  the  courageous  efforts 
of  Union  men  in  such  states  as  North  Carolina,  Kentucky, 
Missouri,  Maryland,  and  Tennessee,  who,  at  the  imminent  peril 
of  their  property  and  their  lives,  were  seeking  to  keep  these 
wavering  communities  loyal  to  the  government;  but  to  such 
appeals  it  was  regarded  as  prudent,  for  political  reasons,  to  in 
terpose  successful  resistance. 

[GOVERNOR  CHASE  TO  A  FRIEND.] 

WASHINGTON,  February  9,  1861. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  Thanks  for  your  note,  and  explanation  of  that  vote. 
It  may  be  useful.  There  is  a  greater  disposition  to  compromise  than 
I  like  to  see.  But  I  hope  for  the  best. 

Half  a  dozen  of  the  border  state  gentlemen  have  been  in  our  room 
to-night :  Etheridge  and  Stokes,  of  Tennessee,  Adams  and  Bristow,  of 
Kentucky,  Gilmer,  of  North  Carolina,  and  others.  I  really  sympathize 
with  them,  but  see  no  reason  why  we  should  sacrifice  permanently  a 
large  power  to  help  them,  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  temporarily  a  little 
one.  Yours  cordially,  S.  P.  CHASE. 


330  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

Absorbed  in  the  vast  work  which  Providence  had  thrust  upon 
his  hands,  President  Lincoln  gave  no  thought  to  the  political 
aspects  of  secession.  He  was  oblivious  or  indifferent  to  plots 
already  on  foot  at  Washington,  looking  to  partisan  glory  and 
advancement.  For  a  long  time  he  did  not  appear  to  be  in  the 
least  disturbed  by  the  fact  that  influences  were  at  work  in  his 
own  official  household  against  his  administration,  in  the  interest 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  "  whose  aspirations  for  high 
station,"  to  quote  the  curious  language  of  the  late  John  W. 
Forney,  "  were  as  unconcealed  as  they  were  honorable." 

The  Cabinet  was  Mr.  Lincoln's  own  selection,  practically,  un 
influenced  by  pressure  of  any  sort.  After  it  was  named,  acci 
dent  threw  upon  it  a  burden  of  unequaled  responsibility.  Mr. 
Weed  did  not  intimate  publicly  that  in  the  choice  of  his  advisers 
the  President  had  made  four  terrible  mistakes.  '  But  such  was 
his  positive  conviction,  on  the  day  when  selections  were  made. 
"  A  somewhat  persistent  discrepancy  of  feeling  and  opinion," 
once  said  Mr.  Evarts,  in  his  stately  way,  "  between  the  President 
and  the  Secretary,  in  regard  to  an  important  office  in  the  public 
service,  induced  Mr.  Chase  to  resign  his  portfolio,  and  Mr. 
Lincoln  to  acquiesce  in  his  desire."  The  simple  fact  was  that 
Secretary  Chase  wanted  to  control  the  patronage  of  the  sub- 
Treasury  in  New  York,  with  a  view  to  the  presidency,  and  that 
Mr.  Lincoln,  convinced  that  the  Secretary  had  pushed  his  can 
vass  far  enough,  seized  the  opportunity  to  get  him  out  of  the 
Cabinet. 

Nor  was  the  President  less  willing  to  dispense  with  the  ser 
vices  of  his  Secretary  of  War,  when  an  occasion  arose  on  which 
that  gentleman's  Cabinet  career  could  be  not  too  ungraciously 
terminated.  The  circumstances  surrounding  his  appointment 
as  Minister  to  Russia  are  well  remembered.  The  first  sugges 
tion  of  the  change  was  made  to  General  Cameron  by  Mr.  Weed, 
at  Mr.  Lincoln's  request,  in  a  conversation  at  the  General's 
breakfast-table,  in  which  the  ladies  of  the  household  partici 
pated.  "  Repairing  from  the  breakfast-room  to  the  library," 
writes  Mr.  Weed,  "  I  presented  considerations  which  seemed 
likely,  in  my  judgment,  to  induce  General  Cameron  to  go 
abroad.  I  informed  him  that  the  Secretary  of  State  had  re 
ceived  a  letter  from  Cassius  M.  Clay,  offering  to  resign  the 
Russian  Mission.  Mr.  Cameron  finally  remarked  that  his  wife 


1861.]         CHANGES  IN  MR.    LINCOLN'S   CABINET.          331 

and  daughter,  thinking  he  was  working  too  hard,  had  urged 
him  to  retire,  and  that  they  would  be  much  pleased  with  a  visit 
to  Europe.  All  things  considered,  he  allowed  me  to  ascertain 
from  the  President  whether  the  suggested  change  could  be 
made.  I  did  not,  for  obvious  reasons,  inform  General  Cameron 
that  I  had  called  on  him  that  morning  in  pursuance  of  an  un 
derstanding  with  the  President  the  previous  evening.  Soon 
after  this  arrangement  I  went  with  Archbishop  Hughes  and 
Bishop  Mcllvaine  to  England  and  France,  and  a  few  weeks 
later  had  a  pleasant  call  in  London  from  Minister  Cameron, 
then  011  his  way  to  St.  Petersburg." 

The  assaidts  of  Mr.  Blair  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1865 
upon  the  loyalty  of  Mr.  Seward  and  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  Mr. 
Cameron's  successor  in  the  War  Department,  called  from  Mr. 
Weed  a  brief  chapter  of  reminiscences  touching  events  con 
nected  with  this  portion  of  our  history.  It  was  charged  by  Mr. 
Blair  that  Mr.  Seward  during  the  last  three  months  of  his  term 
in  the  Senate  "acted  in  concert  with  the  Buchanan  administra 
tion."  It  was  said:  — 

He  was,  no  doubt,  advised  through  Mr.  Stanton,  who  was  in  Mr. 
Buchanan's  Cabinet,  of  the  policy  it  had  adopted  in  reference  to  the 
seizure  of  everything  that  appertained  to  the  nation  in  the  South  ; 
and  it  was  to  the  coalition  then  formed  between  Mr.  Seward  and  Mr. 
Stanton  that  the  latter  became  Secretary  of  War  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  He 
apprised  Mr.  Seward  of  this  treaty  of  the  War  and  Navy  Depart 
ments,  under  Buchanan,  to  make  no  resistance  to  the  policy  of  dissolv 
ing  the  Union  —  to  offer  no  coercion  to  impede  its  march  to  indepen 
dence  —  and  Mr.  Seward's  course  shows  that  he  approved  and 
adopted  this  policy. 

"  This  treason,  for  such  is  the  charge,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed, 
"  was  committed,  if  at  all,  before  Mr.  Lincoln  came  into  office. 
Why  then  did  Mr.  Blair  not  only  conceal  it,  but  sit  with  Mr. 
Seward  in  the  Cabinet,  claiming,  all  the  while,  to  be  Mr.  Sew 
ard's  friend  and  champion,  quarreling  with  others,  but  even 
furiously  supporting  the  Secretary  of  State  ?  But  the  charges 
are  untrue,  viciously  untrue. 

"  The  truth  is,  that  the  first  and  paramount  design  of  the 
secession  leaders  was  to  obtain  before  or  on  the  4th  of  March, 
by  a  coiqj  d'etat,  possession  of  the  capital,  with  the  sanction  of 
the  government.  That  design  was  thwarted  by  Mr.  Stanton. 


332  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

As  a  member  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  Cabinet,  he  became  informed 
of  the  treasonable  objects  of  his  colleagues,  Cobb,  Thompson, 
and  Toucey,  and  of  the  imbecility,  at  least,  of  the  President. 
Placing  himself  in  confidential  communication  with  Mr.  Seward, 
he  went  to  his  watch  and  his  work  boldly  and  sagaciously. 

"  Traitors  were,  by  degrees,  weeded  out  of  the  Cabinet,  and 
their  vacant  seats  given  to  General  Dix  and  Judge  Holt,  who 
cooperated  with  Mr.  Stanton  and  Mr.  Seward  in  preserving  the 
government.  The  4th  of  March  approached  amid  treasons  and 
conspiracies  in  the  highest  classes.  Washington  was,  without 
doubt,  disloyal.  A  conspiracy  to  assassinate  Mr.  Lincoln  at 
Baltimore  was  discovered  and  thwarted.  On  the  occasion  of 
the  inauguration,  General  Scott  had  scarcely  more  than  2,000 
troops  for  the  defense  of  the  capital.  But  the  chief  traitors  had 
been  ejected  from  the  Cabinet.  Their  plans  were  disconcerted. 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  inaugurated,  and  the  government  prevailed. 
For  that  government's  salvation  the  people  are  largely  indebted 
to  the  Roman  virtues  of  Edwin  M.  Stantoh. 

"  It  was,  I  doubt  not,  owing  to  the  4  coalition  then  formed 
between  Seward  and  Stanton,'  that  the  latter  was  called  into 
Mr.  Lincoln's  Cabinet.  Such  ordeals  'try  men's  souls.'  The 
life  of  a  nation  was  in  the  issue.  It  was  saved  as  '  a  brand  from 
the  burning.'  The  struggle  bound  Messrs.  Stanton  and  Seward 
together  with  '  hooks  of  steel.' 

"  During  the  five  or  six  weeks  that  Mr.  Stanton  was  striving  to 
preserve  the  capital,  though  in  constant  communication  through 
a  trusty  third  party,  Messrs.  Stanton  and  Seward  never  met. 
When  the  danger  was  over,  and  the  day  of  rejoicing  came,  Mr. 
Stanton  supped  with  Mr.  Seward.  I  was  present,  then  meet 
ing  Mr.  Stanton  for  the  first  time.  ...  It  was  then  and  there 
that  I  learned  how  large  a  debt  we  owed  him  before  the  Rebel 
lion  began.  Of  how  immensely  that  debt  has  been  augmented 
since  I  need  not  now  speak."  .  .  . 

[THE  SECRETARY  OF  STATE  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  April  26,  1861. 

DEAR  WEED,  —  Twenty  steamers  were  ordered  to  be  purchased 
and  armed  by  the  messenger  who  left  the  day  the  blockade  was  or 
dered.  Do  send  men,  money,  and  provisions  forward,  and  don't  com 
plain  of  us  for  inefficiency  without  stopping  to  reflect.  Think  of  the 


1861.]  MR.   SEWARD   TO  MR.    WEED. 

Seventh  New  York  and  the  Massachusetts  Regiment  lying  seventy-two 
hours  at  Annapolis,  within  thirty-six  miles  of  us,  and  we  with  only 
3,000  men  here,  half  of  them  district  militia.  All  Virginia  and 
Maryland  are  to  be  upon  us  en  masse,  it  seems,  from  reports  and  our 
messengers  there. 

Up  to  this  hour,  with  75,000  men  called  out,  we  have  n't  got  force 
here  sufficient  to  spare  a  detachment  to  fortify  the  heights  that  over 
look  the  town.  A  week  ago  the  committee  l  came  here  to  offer  and 
urge  upon  us  fourteen  regiments.  It  was  agreed  and  ordered  by  the 
President  and  Secretary  of  War.  We  pray  night  and  day  for  troops. 
New  York  neither  sends  nor  lets  us  draw  them  from  elsewhere.  The 
Governor  appealed  from  the  President's  orders.  The  committee  ap 
pealed  to  him,  whereat  he  telegraphed  both  the  Governor  and  the  com 
mittee  to  come.  Neither  comes.  How  am  I  to  reconcile  ?  I  don't 
know  the  grounds  or  merits  of  the  controversy,  nor  at  what  hazard  I 
intervene.  You  ought  to  be  able  to  reconcile  the  parties,  for  you  are 
near  both  of  them. 

WASHINGTON,  May  17,  1861. 

DEAR  WEED,  —  I  wrote  you  at  Albany  yesterday,  after  consulta- 

tation  with  the  P to  warn  you  that  the  two  C.'s  here  are  trying  to 

deduct  the  fourteen  regiments  expected  from  the  committee  out  of  the 

number  ordered  from  the  Governor.2     It  is  the  P ,  General  S 

and  I  against  the  two  C.'s.     Tell  the  Governor  in  God's  name  to  send 

on  the  whole  quota.     I  will  take  care  of  it.     The  P is  all  right. 

Yours,  WM.  H.  SEWARD. 

Was  Mr.  Weed's  a  false  policy  in  regard  to  the  Border 
States  ?  In  18G3  Mr.  Greeley  admitted  that  the  loss  of  North 
Carolina  was  a  needless  as  well  as  a  grievous  sacrifice.  "  The 
State  of  North  Carolina,"  lie  then  wrote,  "  was  simply  swindled 
into  secession.  Her  people,  after  Mr.  Lincoln's  election,  not 
only  voted  overwhelmingly  that  they  would  not  secede,  but  — 
in  order  to  guard  against  all  possibility  of  mischief  --  voted 
further  that  their  convention,  though  all  but  unanimously  Union, 
should  not  meet.  Yet,  when  Fort  Sumter  had  been  bombarded 
and  reduced,  and  the  President  called  for  75,000  militia  to 
defend  imperiled  Washington,  a  concerted  clamor  was  raised 
that  Lincoln  was  waging  unprovoked  war  upon  the  South,  and 

1  The  Union  Defense  Committee,  of  New  York,  of  which  General  Dix 
was  chairman. 

2  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  opposed  calling  out  troops,  fearing  that  a 
large  increase  in  the  public  debt  during  his  administration  of  that  depart 
ment  would  injure  his  prospects  of  reaching  the  presidency. 


334  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

North  Carolina  thereby  lied  into  rebellion.  Had  the  truth  but 
been  known  to  her  people,  she  would  have  spurned  her  betray 
ers  with  indignant  horror." 

From  one,  judge  of  the  rest.  While  Radicals  in  Congress 
gloried  in  unwillingness  to  sacrifice  abolition  for  the  Union,  the 
wavering  states  were  all  "  swindled  into  secession."  Virginia 
gave  a  Union  majority  of  40,000  in  February,  1861.  She  did 
not  pass  her  ordinance  until  the  16th  of  April,  and  then  by  a 
vote  of  eighty-eight  to  fifty-five,  after  which  forty  counties  — 
now  called  West  Virginia  —  repudiated  the  action  of  the  rest 
of  the  State.  Arkansas  did  not  secede  until  the  6th  of  May ; 
Tennessee  not  until  the  24th  of  June ;  Kentucky  not  until  the 
20th  of  November.1  But  before  that,  of  course,  the  question  of 
retaining  any  border  state  was  triumphantly  decided  in  favor 
of  the  Radicals ;  before  that  Mr.  Weed's  energies  were  entirely 
occupied  in  a  new  direction,  in  which,  fortunately,  he  was  more 
successful. 

He  did  not  believe  that  any  political  party  was  strong  enough 
to  defeat  a  united  South.  Writing  to  Jefferson  Davis  on  the 
6th  of  January,  1860,  ex-President  Pierce  said :  "  If,  through 
the  madness  of  northern  Abolitionists,  that  dire  calamity  [the 
disruption  of  the  Union]  must  come,  the  fighting  will  not  be 
along  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  merely.  It  will  be  within  our 
own  borders,  and  in  our  own  streets  [at  the  North],  between 
the  two  classes  of  citizens  to  whom  I  have  referred."  In  other 
words,  it  was  possible,  as  Mr.  Weed  believed,  to  organize  Union 
sentiment  at  the  North  into  an  invincible  army,  but  abolitionism 
could  not  be  pressed  without  dividing  the  North  into  two  great 
classes,  almost,  if  not  quite,  ready  to  fight  each  otKer  in  the 
streets.  Many  weary,  dreadful  months  were  lost ;  millions  of 
dollars  and  thousands  of  precious  lives  were  sacrificed  before  the 
distinction  was  made  plain  ;  but,  finally,  emphasis  was  put  upon 
the  true  test,  when  it  was  made  clear  that  northern  armies  en 
tered  southern  territory  to  preserve  the  government  and  Union, 
not  to  free  the  slaves. 

"We  have  the  high  authority  of  Vice-President  Wilson," 
wrote  the  editor  of  a  leading  newspaper,  in  1875,  "  for  the 
statement  that  an  actual  majority  of  the  people  of  the  South 

1  Kentuckians  deny  that  their  State  seceded  at  all.  A  convention  voted 
one  way  and  the  legislature  the  other. 


1861.]  THE    WAR  FOR    THE    UNION.  335 

were  reluctant  to  enter  the  secession  movement.  In  fact,  they 
were  dragged  and  driven  out  of  the  Union ;  dragged  by  the 
clisunioiiists  of  the  South,  and  driven  by  the  distmionists  of 
the  North.  What  was  needed  was  a  policy  on  the  part  of 
influential  friends  of  the  incoming  administration  that  would 
afford  a  solid  ground  for  opponents  of  disunion  at  the  South. 
Such  a  policy  was  favored  by  Mr.  Weed,  but  was  rejected 
with  exultant  hatred  by  his  enemies  and  the  enemies  of  the 
Union.  Said  he :  '  What  we  ask,  and  all  we  ask,  has  direct 
reference  to  our  obligations  under  the  Constitution.  And  all  we 
suggest  is  rejected,  as  we  knew  it  would  be,  by  disunionists ; 
but  if  we  had  been  seconded  by  Republicans  in  efforts  which  look 
to  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  the  hands  and  hearts  of  loyal 
men  in  slave  states  would  have  been  strengthened  and  cheered.' 

"  To  fully  understand  Mr.  Weed's  position,  it  is  necessary  to 
go  back  to  the  closing  weeks  of  1860.  The  heights  of  patriot 
ism  to  which  he  then*rose  will  constitute  his  loftiest  monument 
in  that  future  day  when  real  history  shall  be  impartially  writ 
ten.  As  we  contemplate  the  massive  proportions  of  that  monu 
ment  now,  criticism  of  prior  mistakes  is  silenced,  and  we  more 
highly  honor  the  veteran  the  more  we  consider  the  prejudices 
he  was  forced  to  conquer,  the  associations  he  was  compelled  to 
sever,  and  the  partisan  leadership  he  was  required  to  bury  be 
neath  patriotic  devotion  to  the  peace,  prosperity,  and  progress 
of  his  country. 

"  Mr.  Weed  saw,  with  a  clearness  of  vision  which  now  seems 
almost  preternaturally  acute,  the  mighty  sweep  and  terrible 
devastation  of  the  fierce  storm  then  angrily  gathering  on  the 
southern  horizon  and  around  the  northern  sky,  threatening  a 
tornado  of  hissing  shot  and  bursting  shell  over  all  the  land,  if 
the  black,  muttering  clouds  ever  met.  '  Shall  we  ignore  these 
startling  facts,'  he  wrote,  on  the  22d  of  December,  18GO,  c  and 
neglect  to  prepare  for  scenes  which  are  to  deluge  the  country 
in  blood,  carnage,  and  rapine  ?  '  and  he  thus  explained  :  '  What 
we  mean  by  preparation  is  to  set  ourselves  voluntarily,  cheer 
fully,  and  wholly  right  on  questions  involved,  so  that  when  the 
shock  comes,  the  whole  North  will  meet  it  shoulder  to  shoulder 
all  hearts  responding  to  the  cry  of  '  "Union  now  and  forever.'" 
As  a  penalty  for  not  adopting  his  counsel,  more  able-bodied 
male  whites  from  the  North  alone  were  killed  or  disabled  during 


336  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

the  war  than  there  were  able-bodied  male  blacks  in  slavery  at 
the  time ;  while  the  cost  to  the  treasury  of  the  Union  alone  has 
been  thirty  times  a  fair  valuation  of  all  the  slaves." 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war,  General  Scott  was  our  senior 
military  leader.  Knowing  that  efficient  soldiers  cannot  be  gath 
ered  together  in  a  day  from  workshops,  cornfields  and  dry-goods 
stores,  he  perfected  a  scheme  of  operation  by  which  he  expected 
to  put  an  end  to  the  Rebellion  during  the  summer  and  fall.  The 
characteristic  feature  of  his  plan  was  that  raw  troops  from  the 
North  should  not  be  hurried  to  the  front  when  they  knew  noth 
ing  of  military  tactics,  or  even  of  military  discipline.  Camps  of 
instruction  were  contemplated,  where,  during  June,  July,  and 
August,  volunteers  might  be  subjected  to  drill,  until  they  became 
fit  for  duty.  With  the  force  at  his  command,  General  Scott 
assured  the  safety  of  Washington,  and  then  began  operations 
near  Fortress  Monroe  and  in  Western  Virginia,  in  all  pos 
sible  cases  cooperating  with  loyal  Southerners.  He  made  Wash 
ington  his  base  of  operations,  and  with  the  western  wings  of  his 
army  was  to  feel  and  fight  his  way,  until,  at  the  appointed 
time,  having  occupied  designated  positions,  with  men  inured  to 
service  and  thoroughly  trained,  all  his  columns  were  to  make  a 
simultaneous  advance  upon  Richmond. 

This  plan,  the  merits  of  which  need  not  be  discussed,  com 
mended  itself  to  Mr.  Weed  and  to  other  friends  of  the  Union. 
But  it  was  not  in  accord  with  the  eager  spirit  of  radicalism, 
which  insisted  upon  precipitate  operations.  Impatient  editors 
and  orators  at  the  North  scoffed  at  General  Scott  and  his  prep 
arations.  Mr.  Greeley  assumed  command  of  our  armies,  reit 
erating  his  orders  day  after  day  in  italics  and  capitals  :  "  On  to 
Richmond."  Congress  met  on  the  4th  of  July,  1861,  and  sen 
ators  and  representatives,  with  more  zeal  than  knowledge,  caught 
the  infection.  The  Postmaster-General  waited  upon  the  Pres 
ident,  with  members  of  Congress,  and  complained  of  the  "  in 
activity  "  of  the  army.  In  accordance  with  the  views  of  the 
government,  Senator  Henry  Wilson  prepared  bills,  with  a  full 
knowledge  of  what  legislation  was  needed.  These  measures 
met  with  but  little  opposition  in  the  Senate,  but  wThen  they 
reached  the  House  were  referred  to  the  committee  on  military 
affairs,  where  they  were  held  without  action  by  the  brother  of 
the  Postmaster-General.  It  was  even  intimated  that  the  radical 


1861.]  A   PRECIPITATE  ADVANCE.  337 

directorate  might  pass  a  vote  of  censure  upon  the  administration. 
"  One  Yankee  is  as  good  as  a  dozen  rebels,"  was  a  favorite 
newspaper  claim.  "  The  cowards  will  run  off  when  they  sniff 
gunpowder,"  was  another.  Northern  people  caught  their  im 
pressions  from  the  tone  of  Congress  and  the  public  press. 
Millions  were  taught  to  distrust  the  President.  Irreconcilable 
divisions  were  threatened.  Finally,  a  reckless  advance,  right 
or  wrong,  became  not  a  military  but  a  political  necessity. 

"  The  first  and  only  inauguration  of  a  President  I  ever  at 
tended,"  writes  Mr.  Weed,  "  was  that  of  Mr.  Lincoln  in  1861, 
It  was  known  that  designs  upon  his  life,  while  on  his  way  from 
Springfield  to  Washington,  were  providentially  averted.  It  was 
also  known  that  seizing  upon  the  government  and  its  archives 
had  been  contemplated.  The  few  troops  in  Washington  were 
therefore  stationed  around  the  Capitol.  During  the  ceremony  of 
inauguration,  I  walked  about  the  grounds,  encountering  Major- 
General  Wool,  with  a  detachment  of  United  States  troops 
ready  for  action,  and  two  pieces  of  cannon  posted  so  as  to  rake 
an  important  avenue.  I  soon  after  found  Lieutenant-General 
Scott,  with  the  same  number  of  cannon  (on  one  of  which  the 
veteran  was  resting  his  elbow),  posted  in  an  equally  advan 
tageous  position.  This,  in  a  country  so  long  exempted  from 
serious  internal  collisions,  occasioned  painful  reflections.  Gen 
eral  Scott  assured  me  that  these  precautions  were  not  un 
necessary,  and  that  they  had  not  been  taken  a  moment  too  early. 
All,  however,  passed  without  either  an  attack  or  an  alarm. 

"  But  it  was  not  long  before  unequivocal  symptoms  of  re 
bellion  were  manifested.  When  in  Washington,  a  few  days 
afterward,  I  was  awakened  early  one  morning  by  Horace  R. 
Riddle,  formerly  a  resident  of,  and  representative  from,  Alle- 
gany  County,  N.  Y.,  but  then  living  at  Harper's  Ferry,1  who 
informed  me  that,  unless  immediately  reenforced,  the  arsenal 
and  armory  at  that  place  would  be  attacked  and  taken  by 
enemies  of  the  government,  who  were  banding  together  for 
that  purpose  ;  adding  that  there  was  not  an  hour  to  lose.  I 
went  immediately  to  the  Secretary  of  War  with  this  informa 
tion.  He  thought  the  danger  could  not  be  so  imminent,  but 
said  that  the  subject  should  have  immediate  attention.  I  went 
from  the  Secretary  of  War  to  General  Scott,  who  promptly  said 

1  Mr.  Riddle  now  resides  in  Baltimore. 

22 


338  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

that  my  information  was  confirmatory  of  that  which  he  had  re 
ceived  the  evening  previous.  '  But,'  he  added,  '  what  can  I  do  ? 
My  effective  force,  all  told,  for  the  defense  of  the  capital,  is 
twenty-one  hundred.  Washington  is  as  much  in  danger  as 
Harper's  Ferry.  I  shall  repel  any  attack  upon  this  city,  but  I 
cannot  hazard  the  capital  of  the  Union,  as  I  should  do  by  divid 
ing  my  force,  even  to  save  Harper's  Ferry.'  My  friend  Rid 
dle's  information  was  but  too  reliable.  The  next  day  brought 
intelligence  of  the  loss  of  Harper's  Ferry. 

"  Soon  after  this,  our  first  taste  of  rebellion,  I  received  in 
formation  from  an  equally  reliable  source  that  Gosport,  with  its 
vast  supply  of  munitions  of  war,  was  in  d,anger.  Of  this  I  in 
formed  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  at  the  breakfast-table  of 
Willard's  Hotel.  Believing  from  his  manner  that  he  attached 
but  little  importance  to  my  information,  I  reiterated  it  with 
emphasis,  assuring  him  that  it  would  be  occasion  for  deep 
regret  if  Gosport  were  not  immediately  strengthened.  Meeting 
the  Secretary  at  dinner  the  same  day  I  renewed  the  conversa 
tion,  and  was  informed  that  the  matter  would  be  attended  to. 
This  did  not  quiet  my  solicitude ;  and,  leaving  the  Secretary  to 
the  placid  enjoyment  of  his  dinner,  I  repaired  to  the  White 
House.  Mr.  Lincoln,  however,  had  driven  out  to  visit  some 
fortifications.  I  made  another  attempt  in  the  evening  to  see 
him,  but  he  was  out  again.  Early  the  next  morning,  however, 
I  found  him,  and  informed  him  what  I  had  heard  of  the  danger 
that  threatened  Gosport,  and  how,  as  I  feared,  I  had  failed  to 
impress  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  with  the  accuracy  of  my  in 
formation  or  the  necessity  of  immediate  action.  '  Well,'  said 
Mr.  Lincoln,  '  we  can't  afford  to  lose  all  those  cannon  ;  I  '11  go 
and  see  Father  Welles  myself.'  And  he  did  immediately.  The 
result  was  that  Admiral  Paulding,  who  was  then  despatched  to 
Norfolk,  arrived  just  in  time  to  enjoy  an  illumination  occasioned 
by  the  burning  of  government  property,  and  witness  the  capture 
of  Gosport. 

"  I  left  Washington  on  the  morning  of  the  day  that  the  Mas 
sachusetts  Sixth  regiment  was  attacked  at  Baltimore,  meeting 
that  regiment  entering  Baltimore  as  our  train  was  leaving  that 
city.  The  railroad  bridges  over  the  Gunpowder  and  Bush  rivers 
were  burned  soon  after  we  crossed  them,  after  which  there  was 
no  railway  communication  between  Baltimore  and  Havre  de 


1861.]  REBELLION  INCIDENTS.  339 

Grace.     Late  that  night  I  received,  at  the  Astor  House,  the 
following  telegram  from  the  Secretary  of  State  :  — 

WASHINGTON,  April  18,  1801. 

The  danger  is  imminent.  Hasten  the  movement  of  steamers  with 
troops,  via  Annapolis.  WILLIAM  II.  SEWARD. 

"  An  hour  later  I  received  the  following  telegram  from  the 
Secretary  of  War  :  — 

Charter  steamers  and  despatch  troops  to  Annapolis. 

SIMON  CAMERON. 

"  This,  as  I  learned  in  the  morning,  was  the  last  despatch  that 
came  over  the  wires,  the  line  having  been  destroyed  during  the 
night.  Early  the  next  morning  I  chartered  from  Messrs.  Spof- 
ford  &  Tileston,  M.  O.  Roberts,  Mitchell  &  Co.,  and  II.  B. 
Cromwell  &  Co.,  the  steamers  belonging  to  their  respective 
lines.  Meantime  colonels  of  regiments  and  commandants  of 
companies  were  astir,  the  city  resounding  with  martial  music. 
Citizens  came  together  spontaneously,  and  appointed  a  Union 
Defense  Committee,  composed  of  the  most  wealthy,  influential, 
and  patriotic  among  us.  On  the  following  day  (Sunday)  the 
Eighth  and  Twelfth  regiments  were  ready  to  embark.  While 
the  Twelfth  regiment  was  going  on  board  the  steamer  Columbia, 
the  danger  of  an  attack  in  Chesapeake  Bay  was  suggested.  I 
despatched  the  late  Captain  Joseph  J.  Comstock  (who  was  ren 
dering  voluntary  but  efficient  aid  in  arranging  charter  parties 
and  fitting  out  steamers),  with  a  note  to  Colonel  Scott,  request 
ing  him  to  give  an  order  to  the  officer  011  Governor's  Island  to 
place  a  cannon,  etc.,  on  board  the  steamer  Columbia.  That  offi 
cer,  who  received  Captain  Comstock  as  he  was  preparing  for 
church,  replied  that  he  '  could  not  attend  to  business  011  Sunday.' 
Learning,  011  Captain  Comstock's  return,  that  Major  Heintzel- 
man,  an  old  friend,  was  in  command  at  Governor's  Island,  I 
wrote  a  hasty  note  to  him  in  pencil,  asking  him  for  a  cannon, 
which  came  without  a  moment's  hesitation  or  delay. 

"  Some  months  afterward,  when  Congress  had  authorized  a 
large  increase  of  the  army,  dining  one  day  with  General  Scott, 
I  availed  myself  of  a  break  in  the  conversation  to  say  that  I 
hoped  Major  Ileintzelman  was  well  known  to  him.  'And 
why,'  asked  the  General,  '  do  you  hope  that  I  know  Major 


340  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

Heintzelman  well  ?  '  '  Because,'  I  replied,  '  I  am  about,  if  you 
will  permit  an  outsider  to  take  that  liberty,  to  ask  a  great  favor.' 
4  And  what  is  the  favor,  sir  ?  '  'A  regiment  for  Major  Heint 
zelman.'  ;  Major  Heintzelman,  sir,  assuming  that  the  Secretary 
of  War  and  the  President  will  accept  my  designation,  will  get  a 
regiment,  not  as  a  favor,  but  in  justice  to  his  merits  as  an  offi 
cer.  Heintzelman,  when  a  Lieutenant  in  command  of  his  com 
pany,  then  stationed  at  a  wilderness  post,  was  aroused  in  the 
night  by  a  sentinel's  cry  of  fire.  The  alarm  proceeded  from  the 
powder-house,  a  slight,  temporary  building,  some  distance  from 
the  encampment.  The  company  was  immediately  formed  and 
moved  to  the  scene  of  conflagration.  The  Lieutenant's  order 
was  to  follow  him  into  the  powder-house,  each  one  seizing  and 
bringing  out  his  keg  of  powder.  Lieutenant  Heintzelman  en 
tered  first  and  brought  out  the  first  keg.  You  will  see,  there 
fore,  that,  however  pleasant  it  may  be  for  an  officer  to  have 
friends  at  court,  Major  Heintzelman  does  not  need  them.' 

"  The  New  York  Sixty-ninth  (Irish)  regiment,  for  refusing 
to  turn  out  on  the  occasion  of  the  visit  of  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
was  deprived  of  its  colors.  Though  never  actually  disbanded, 
it  had  not  since  been  doing  duty.  While  occupied  in  getting 
other  regiments  off,  Colonel  Michael  Corcoran  brought  me  a 
letter  of  introduction  from  Archbishop  Hughes.  The  Colonel 
said  that  the  murder  of  Massachusetts  men  in  the  streets  of  Bal 
timore  had  greatly  excited  his  men,  and  if  the  colors  of  the 
Sixty-ninth  were  restored  and  the  services  of  the  regiment  ac 
cepted,  he  would  be  ready  to  march,  with  one  thousand  rank 
and  file,  in  twenty-four  hours.  I  informed  Governor  Morgan, 
at  Albany,  by  telegraph,  that  the  Sixty-ninth  regiment,  if 
restored  to  its  former  status,  would  immediately  take  the  field. 
A  few  hours  brought  me  a  despatch  accepting  the  services  of 
the  Sixty-ninth,  and  warmly  thanking  Colonel  Corcoran,  his 
officers,  and  men,  for  their  promptitude  and  patriotism.  The 
Governor's  despatch  was  read  in  the  evening  to  the  regiment, 
and  received  with  great  enthusiasm.  True  to  his  promise,  Colo 
nel  Corcoran  marched  through  Broadway,  amid  enthusiastic 
acclamations,  on  the  following  day,  to  embark  for  Annapolis. 

"  Simultaneously  I  was  accosted  on  the  steps  of  the  Astor 
House  by  a  stranger,  who  informed  me  that  he  desired  to  raise 
a  company  of  cavalry,  which,  if  he  could  obtain  the  authority, 


1861.]  REBELLION  INCIDENTS.  341 

should  be  organized  and  ready  to  march  in  three  days.  I  was 
so  favorably  impressed  with  his  bearing  and  manner  that  I  im 
mediately  telegraphed  Governor  Morgan,  earnestly  asking  his 
authority  for  Thomas  C.  Deviii  to  organize  a  cavalry  corps. 
Captain  Devin  remained  at  my  room  until  a  favorable  response 
from  the  Governor  was  received  two  hours  afterward ;  and  he 
also  was  faithful  to  his  promise,  for  in  three  days,  with  a  full 
company  of  men,  he  was  on  his  way  to  the  front.  Captain 
Deviii  immediately  attracted  the  attention  of  his  superior  offi 
cers,  not  less  by  the  efficiency  and  discipline  of  his  men  than  by 
his  own  gallantry  in  battle.  He  fought  bravely  through  the 
whole  war,  rising  by  merit  first  to  the  command  of  a  regiment 
and  then  of  a  brigade,  and  obtained  the  rank  of  brevet  Major- 
General  at  the  conclusion  of  the  Rebellion.  In  the  reduction  of 
the  army,  my  friend  Deviii  was  retained  as  Lieutenant-Colonel 
of  a  United  States  cavalry  regiment. 

"  I  left  for  Washington  as  soon  as  the  number  of  troops  re 
quired  were  on  their  way ;  but  as  the  railroads  were  still  ob 
structed  between  Havre  de  Grace  and  Baltimore,  we  took  a 
small  steamer  at  the  former  place  for  Annapolis,  arriving  early 
in  the  morning.  General  Butler,  who  was  in  command,  invited 
me  to  breakfast  witli  him,  where  I  met  the  late  General  James 
S.  Wadsworth,  who  had  just  arrived  in  the  tug  Dunderberg, 
loaded  with  provisions.  While  we  were  with  General  Butler, 
he  invented,  so  far  as  the  word  is  applicable  to  escaped  slaves, 
the  very  expressive  term  '  contraband.' 

"At  Annapolis  I  found  Colonel  Corcoran  with  a  part  of  his 
Sixty-ninth  regiment,  several  companies  having  been  disposed 
along  the  line  of  the  railway  for  its  protection  between  the  city 
of  Annapolis  and  Annapolis  Junction.  With  this  regiment  I 
found  my  friend  Charles  G.  Halpine  [Miles  O'Reilly],  and  the 
present  Judge  McCunn,  acting  as  volunteer  commissaries,  or 
sutlers.  The  train  was  bountifully  supplied  with  provisions  from 
General  Wadsworth's  steamer,  and  left  for  Annapolis  Junc 
tion  about  midday.  I  took  position  with  Messrs.  Halpine  and 
McCunn  in  a  baggage  car  loaded  with  provisions,  which  were 
distributed  to  small  detachments  of  troops  stationed  two  miles 
distant  from  each  other.  The  abundant  supply  of  bread,  hams, 
butter,  cheese,  etc.,  thrown  out  by  the  acting  commissaries 
whom  I  have  named,  was  received  by  men  who  had  been  twelve, 


342  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

eighteen,  and  twenty-four  hours  without  rations  with  an  avidity 
not  unlike  that  witnessed  in  menageries  when  the  animals  are 
being  fed. 

"  During  this  visit  to  Washington  Generals  Lee  and  Johnston, 
both  esteemed  as  valuable  officers  of  the  army,  abandoned  the 
Union  cause.  The  defection  of  General  Lee,  who  was  a  favorite 
with  General  Scott,  occasioned  him  surprise  and  regret.  Many 
other  officers  of  experience  and  capacity  had  previously  joined 
the  Rebellion,  or  had  gone,  as  they  expressed  it,  with  their  states. 
General  Scott,  then  seventy-three  years  old,  with  impaired  health, 
could  not  himself  take  the  field.  General  Wool,  though  in  good 
health,  was  about  the  age  of  General  Scott.  The  President  and 
his  Cabinet  were  talking  anxiously  on  the  subject  of  officers 
qualified  to  lead  our  armies.  I  inquired  of  General  Scott  — 
who  had  kindly  asked  me  to  call  frequently  and  familiarly  at 
his  headquarters  —  who,  among  his  junior  officers,  was  best  fitted 
for  the  work  that  he  had  been  doing  in  our  wars  since  1812. 
He  reflected  for  some  time,  and  then  replied  that  I  had  asked 
him  an  exceedingly  embarrassing  question.  He  said  that  we 
had  lost  some  valuable  officers  in  the  Mexican  War,  and  that 
others,  equally  valuable  officers,  had  since  died  of  diseases  con 
tracted  in  Mexico,  naming  Generals  Riley,  Belknap,  Worth,  and 
others  whose  names  I  do  not  remember  ;  adding,  with  excited 
feeling,  that  there  were  others  for  whom  he  would  have  cheer 
fully  been  responsible  a  month  ago,  but  they  were  deserters  now. 
The  question  evidently  pained  him,  and  I  changed  the  conver 
sation. 

"  From  General  Scott  I  went  to  Colonel  Joseph  P.  Taylor, 
brother  of  the  late  President  Zachary  Taylor,  an  old  officer  of 
the  army,  then  in  the  Commissary  Department,  asking  him  the 
same  question.  He  replied  that  the  Mexican  War  had  deprived 
us  of  all  or  nearly  all  of  our  best  army  officers.  c  Are  there 
not,'  I  inquired,  '  colonels,  lieutenant-colonels,  or  majors  qualified 
to  fill  the  places  of  those  whom  we  have  lost  ?  '  He  took  the 
4  Army  Register,'  and  looked  carefully  through  it,  without  find 
ing  what  was  desired,  but  remarked  that  some  of  the  best  and 
most  promising  officers  of  the  army  had  resigned  and  were  now 
occupying  civil  offices.  On  my  inquiring  who  they  were,  he 
replied  McClellan,  Sherman,  and  Dan  Tyler.  I  reported  the  in 
terview  with  General  Scott  and  Colonel  Taylor  to  President 


1861.]  REBELLION  INCIDENTS.  343 

Lincoln  and  Secretary  Seward.  McClellan  was  then  connected 
with  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  and  Sherman  was  president 
of  a  university  in  Louisiana,  Measures  were  promptly  taken  to 
brin«r  these  two  gentlemen  into  the  service.  On  the  following 

o  o  o 

morning;  a  Connecticut  regiment  arrived  at  Washington  on  board 
of  two  New  Haven  steamers,  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Dan 
Tyler,  to  whom  I  repeated  the  remark  of  Colonel  Taylor.  Colo 
nel  Tyler  observed  that  he  fully  indorsed  the  opinion  of  Colo 
nel  Taylor  as  to  the  military  qualifications  of  McClellan  aifd 
Sherman,  but  that  he  was  distrustful  of  himself,  though  he  would 
endeavor  to  do  his  duty. 

tfc  During  the  fortnight  preceding  the  battle  of  Bull  Run,  I  was 
much  in  Washington,  nnd  had  frequent  interviews  with  the 
President,  Secretary  of  State,  Secretary  of  War,  and  General 
Scott.  It  was  apparent  in  all  their  conversations  that  a  series 
of  disasters  from  the  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion  had  greatly  dis 
couraged  and  mortified  the  northern  people.  Efforts  were 
made,  therefore,  to  concentrate  a  force  sufficient  to  encounter 
the  enemy,  who  awaited  an  attack.  The  pressure  in  Congress 
and  by  the  press  hastened  the  movement.  On  the  Friday  pre 
ceding  the  battle  —  that  occurred  on  Sunday  —  I  dined  with 
General  Scott.  Two  of  his  aids,  Generals  Hamilton  and  Van 
Rensselaer,  and  General  Stone  were  the  only  other  persons  at 
the  table.  Nothing  but  the  approaching  battle  was  talked  of. 
General  Scott  lamented,  as  was  his  constant  habit,  that  his  age 
and  infirmities  prevented  his  taking  the  field.  He  did  not  seem 
to  be  satisfied  with  the  information  he  had  obtained  of  the  geo 
graphical  position  of  the  two  armies,  or  of  the  general  face  of 
the  country.  After  dinner,  but  before  we  left  the  table,  Gen 
eral  McDowell  with  two  or  three  members  of  his  staff  were  ush 
ered  in.  They  had  come  from  the  front,  and  General  McDowell 
had  called  to  take  his  final  orders.  Secretaries  Seward  and 
Cameron  dropped  in  soon  afterward.  Conversation  was  then 
conducted  by  Generals  Scott  and  McDowell,  Secretary  Cameron 
occasionally  asking  a  question  or  making  a  remark.  General 
McDowell  left,  apparently  in  good  spirits  and  confident  of  suc 
cess.  General  Scott  became  thoughtful,  and,  as  I  thought,  anx 
ious.  Messrs.  Seward  and  Cameron  left  soon  afterward ;  I  fol- 
io.wed,  overtaking  them  at  Mr.  Seward's  door,  whence  I  walked 
home  ..with  Mr.  Cameron.  On  the  way,  I  remarked  that  so  far 


344  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

as  I  could  learn  from  the  conversation  at  General  Scott's  room, 
there  was  110  apprehension  of  a  movement  by  General  Johnston, 
and  asked  whether,  in  the  event  of  a  junction  of  the  two  armies, 
General  McDowell  was  to  give  them  battle?  Secretary  Cam 
eron  was  no  better  informed  than  myself  on  that  point,  but  as 
sumed  that  General  Patterson  would  hold  Johnston  in  check. 
But  Mr.  Cameron,  as  we  continued  the  conversation,  became  so 
much  disturbed,  that  he  said  he  would  himself  ride  out  to  Gen 
eral  McDowell's  headquarters  the  next  morning,  and  be  governed 
by  information  he  might  obtain  there.  On  Saturday  I  put  the 
same  question  to  General  Scott,  who  replied  that  General  Pat 
terson  had  a  force  superior  to  that  of  General  Johnston,  and 
had  his  orders  to  watch  his  movements.  I  inquired  if  McDowell 
was  strong  enough  to  engage  two  armies,  to  which  the  General 
replied,  '  Johnston  cannot  get  away  from  Patterson.'  This  made 
me  very  despondent  all  that  day  and  night.  On  Sunday,  when 
the  battle  was  going  on,  I  was  excited  and  nervous,  and  could 
not  help  feeling  that  it  was  to  be  a  day  of  disaster,  if  not  of  dis 
honor,  to  our  cause.  It  was,  of  course,  a  day  of  anxiety  to 
every  one.  In  the  evening  all  were  breathlessly  waiting  for  in 
telligence.  About  eleven  o'clock,  standing  alone  on  the  side 
walk  in  front  of  Willard's  Hotel,  I  saw  a  horseman  dash  around 
the  corner,  down  Pennsylvania  Avenue.  He  alighted  within 
two  feet  of  me.  It  was  Colonel  Burnside,  of  Rhode  Island. 
His  looks  imparted  the  intelligence  I  had  dreaded.  I  asked 
no  question  and  he  made  no  sign.  Others  followed  soon  after 
ward,  and  the  painful  news  circulated  through  the  city,  giv 
ing  secret  satisfaction  to  a  large  majority  of  its  inhabitants. 
General  Patterson  had  not  held  General  Johnston,  nor  did  he 
make  the  least  movement  to  obstruct  his  rapid  march  to  Bull 
Run. 

"  Early  on  the  morning  after  the  battle  of  Bull  Run,  I  started 
with  wine,  fruit,  and  other  articles  suited  to  the  condition  of 
invalids,  and  visited  the  different  hospitals  about  Washington, 
relieving,  as  far  as  I  could,  the  wounded  of  our  own  State.  As 
I  was  leaving  the  hospital  at  Georgetown,  the  surgeon  invited 
me  into  a  ward  which  we  were  passing,  to  see  a  patient  who 
had  shown  extraordinary  energy  and  endurance.  I  found  a 
young  man  upon  a  cot.  The  surgeon  lifted  a  sheet  and  removed, 
from  a  musket-ball  wound  some  lint  saturated  with  ice-water. 


1861.]  REBELLION  INCIDENTS.  345 

He  then  asked  the  young  man  to  raise  himself,  so  that,  while 
resting  upon  his  elbow,  I  saw  that  the  ball  had  passed  through 
his  body,  avoiding  in  some  miraculous  way  any  vital  spot.  The 
patient,  the  surgeon  informed  me,  had,  after  being  the  last  to 
leave  the  field,  re-formed  the  thinned  ranks  of  his  company  and 
marched  at  their  head  from  the  battle-ground  to  their  former 
encampment  near  Washington,  and  then  reported  himself  as  a 
wounded  officer.  Notwithstanding  this  fearful  wound,  he  was 
calm  and  hopeful.  He  came,  as  he  informed  me,  from  Min 
nesota,  and  was  in  command  of  a  company  in  a  Minnesota  regi 
ment.  Though  born  in  New  Hampshire,  his  parents  removed 
in  his  early  youth,  first  to  Indiana  and  then  to  Minnesota.  He 
gave  me  his  name,  arid  I  left,  strongly  impressed  with  the  idea 
that  such  a  man  was  not  only  entitled  to  promotion  for  services 
already  rendered,  but  that,  if  his  life  was  spared,  he  was  des 
tined  for  future  usefulness.  I  went  directly  to  the  Secretary  of 
War,  who,  before  I  had  half  finished  my  relation,  directed  a 
commission  to  be  issued  for  my  proteye.  I  went  from  Secre 
tary  Cameron  to  President  Lincoln,  who  not  only  cheerfully 
approved  the  commission,  but  was  only  prevented  by  pressing 
duties  from  taking  it  over  to  Georgetown  himself.  Returning 
with  it  to  the  war  office,  Secretary  Cameron  despatched  a  mes 
senger  to  the  hospital,  and  in  less  than  three  hours  after  I  left 
him,  Captain  Putnam,  of  the  Minnesota  volunteers,  found  him 
self  designated  as  Captain  Putnam  of  the  United  States  army. 

"  Several  weeks  afterward,  but  during  that  disastrous  sum 
mer,  I  was  again  in  Washington,  when  the  news  of  our  appall 
ing  defeat  at  Ball's  Bluff  was  received.  Coming  as  it  did  when 
we  were  disheartened  by  repulses  in  other  quarters,  it  had  a 
sickening  effect  upon  the  public  mind.  I  was  sitting  about 
nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  alone  with  Mr.  Lincoln,  endeavor 
ing  to  find  encouragement  or  hope  from  intelligence  received 
from  the  operations  of  the  army  in  other  places,  when  a  mes 
senger  announced  an  officer  from  Ball's  Bluff.  That  officer 
proved  to  be  a  brother  of  Colonel  Baker,  who  had  fallen  in  that 
battle.  He  was  accompanied  by  a  young  son  of  Colonel  Baker, 
both  brother  and  son  having  been  engaged  in  the  fight.  An  im 
pression  had  already  reached  Washington  that  Colonel  Baker 
had  imprudently  engaged  a  superior  force,  •  and  was  therefore 
responsible  for  the  disaster.  The  Colonel's  brother  handed  to 


346  MEMOIR. 


[1861. 


the  President  the  order  from  General  Stone  under  which  Colo 
nel  Baker  acted.  That  order  was  found  in  the  Colonel's  cap, 
to  saturated  with  blood  (the  Colonel  was  shot  through  the  head) 
that  it  was  scarcely  legible.  The  President,  however,  succeeded 
in  reading  the  whole  of  it.  Its  preservation,  fortunately  for 
Colonel  Baker,  was  a  perfect  vindication  of  his  conduct.  He 
had  acted  in  strict  obedience  to  its  letter  and  spirit.  I  left  the 
brother  and  son  of  Colonel  Baker  with  the  intention  of  inform 
ing  the  Secretary  of  War  that  Colonel  Baker  had  lost  his  life 
in  the  gallant  discharge  of  his  duty  and  in  obedience  to  the 
orders  of  his  superior  officer.  Near  the  residence  of  Secretary 
Seward  I  met  Colonel  Thomas  A.  Scott,  the  Assistant  Secretary 
of  War,  who  informed  me  that  he  was  on  his  way  to  the  office 
of  the  agent  of  the  Associated  Press,  with  a  despatch  in  relation 
to  Ball's  Bluff.  I  informed  him  that  I  had  information  which 
might  change  the  character  of  his  despatch.  He  replied  that 
he  had  just  left  General  McClellan  (whose  house  was  but  a  few 
rods  off),  who  had  made  up  the  despatch  from  the  latest  infor 
mation.  He  went  with  me,  however,  into  Secretary  Seward's 
library,  where,  on  reading  the  despatch,  I  found  that  it  threw 
the  responsibility  of  the  battle  and  the  defeat  upon  Colonel 
Baker,  though  expressed  in  kindly  language  and  with  mitiga 
tions.  Colonel  Scott,  at  my  suggestion,  went  immediately  to  the 
White  House,  and,  I  believe,  from  there  back  to  General  Mc- 
Clellan's,  where  the  despatch  was  so  modified  as  to  relieve  the 
memory  of  a  gallant  officer  of  the  greatest  injustice. 

"  The  body  of  Colonel  Baker  was  rescued  from  the  field  by 
Louis  Bierrel,  a  soldier  from  the  city  of  New  York,  who  stood 
by  his  gun  until  the  enemy  were  upon  him,  when,  with  a  com 
rade,  he  bore  away  the  lifeless  body  of  his  commander.  At  the 
close  of  the  war  I  obtained  a  situation  in  the  Custom  House 
for  this  faithful  soldier. 

"  It  will  be  remembered  that  early  in  the  Rebellion  a  Russian 
fleet  lay  for  several  months  in  our  harbor,  and  that  other  Rus 
sian  men-of-war  were  stationed  at  San  Francisco.  Admiral 
Farragut  lived  at  the  Astor  House,  where  he  was  frequently 
visited  by  the  Russian  Admiral,  between  whom,  when  they  were 
young  officers  serving  in  the  Mediterranean,  a  warm  friendship 
had  grown  up.  Sitting  in  my  room  one  day  after  dinner,  Ad 
miral  Farragut  said  to  his  Russian  friend,  'Why  are  you 


1861.]  REBELLION  INCIDENTS.  347 

spending  the  winter  here  in  idleness ? '  'I  am  here,'  replied 
the  Russian  Admiral,  '  under  sealed  orders,  to  be  broken  only 
in  a  contingency  that  has  not  yet  occurred.'  He  added  that 
other  Russian  war  vessels  were  lying  off  San  Francisco  with 
similar  orders.  During  this  conversation  the  Russian  Admiral 
admitted  that  he  had  received  orders  to  break  the  seals,  if  dur 
ing  the  Rebellion  we  became  involved  in  a  war  with  foreign 
nations.  Strict  confidence  was  then  enjoined. 

"  When  in  Washington  a  few  clays  later,  Secretary  Seward 
informed  me  that  he  had  asked  the  Russian  Minister  why  his 
government  kept  their  ships  of  war  so  long  in  our  harbors, 
who,  while  in  answering  he  disclaimed  any  knowledge  of  the 
.nature  of  their  visit,  felt  at  liberty  to  say  that  it  had  no  un 
friendly  purpose. 

"  Louis  Napoleon  had  invited  Russia,  as  he  did  England,  to 
unite  with  him  in  demanding  the  breaking  of  our  blockade. 
The  Russian  Ambassador  at  London  informed  his  govern 
ment  that  England  was  preparing  for  war  with  America,  on 
account  of  the  seizure  of  Mason  and  Slidell.  Hence  two  fleets 
were  immediately  sent  across  the  Atlantic  under  sealed  orders, 
so  that  if  their  services  were  not  needed,  the  intentions  of  the 
Emperor  would  remain,  as  they  have  to  this  day,  secret.  It  is 
certain,  however,  that  when  our  government  and  Union  were 
imperiled  by  a  formidable  rebellion,  we  should  have  found  a 
powerful  ally  in  Russia,  had  an  emergency  occurred." 

The  latter  revelation  is  corroborated  by  a  well-known  New 
York  gentleman,  who  was  in  St.  Petersburg  when  the  Rebellion 
began,  and  who,  during  an  unofficial  call  upon  Prince  Gortscha- 
koff,  was  shown  by  the  Chancellor  an  order  written  in  Alexan 
der's  own  hand,  directing  his  Admiral  to  report  to  President 
Lincoln  for  orders,  in  case  England  or  France  sided  with  the 
Confederates. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

1861. 

THE  "  TRENT  "  AFFAIR.  —  How  MASON  AND  SLIDELL  WERE  CAPTURED. 
—  MR.  WEED'S  FOREIGN  MISSION.  —  ARRIVAL  AT  PARIS.  —  CONSULTA 
TION.  —  MR.  BIGELOW.  —  MR.  SANFORD.  —  IN  LONDON.  —  THE  VISIT  TO 
PEMBROKE.  —  EARL  RUSSELL. —  LORD  KINNAIRD.  —  SIR  HENRY  HOL 
LAND.  —  MR.  PEABODY.  —  LETTER  TO  THE  LONDON  "  TIMES."  —  EDITO 
RIAL  COMMENT. 

ON  the  8th  of  November,  1861,  Commodore  Wilkes,  returning 
to  New  York  from  the  African  coast,  on  the  United  States 
steamer  San  Jacinto,  put  into  the  harbor  of  Havana.  The  same 
day  he  heard  of  the  departure  from  that  port  by  the  British  mail 
steamer  Trent  of  Messrs.  Mason  and  Slidell,  Confederate  Pleni 
potentiaries  to  France  and  England.  Overhauling  the  Trent 
in  the  straits  of  the  Bahamas,  he  brought  the  ship  to,  by  a 
shot  across  her  bow,  arrested  the  Confederate  commissioners 
and  their  secretaries,  and  brought  them  to  Fortress  Monroe, 
where  he  awaited  instructions  from  Washington.  A  few  days 
afterwards,  in  obedience  to  orders,  the  Commodore  sailed  for 
Boston,  and  Messrs.  Mason  and  Slidell  were  locked  up  in  Fort 
Warren. 

The  English  people  put  only  one  construction  upon  this  pro 
ceeding.  They  regarded  it  as  a  deliberate  insult  to  the  British 
flag.  Agents  of  secession  had  been  at  work  in  Europe  for 
months  before  the  affair  of  the  Trent,  and  had  created  a  dispo 
sition  to  take  the  southern  side  in  all  matters  at  issue  between 
the  South  and  the  government.  The  letter  of  Senator  Benja 
min,  of  Louisiana,  written  to  the  British  Consul  at  New  York, 
and  by  him  transmitted  to  Lord  Lyons,  shows  more  conclu 
sively  perhaps  than  any  evidence  which  has  heretofore  been  ad 
duced,  the  adroitness  with  which  Rebellion  sought  foreign  alli 
ances.  Other  and  more  direct  influences  were  brought  to  bear. 
Prominent  English  statesmen  and  editors  were  given  favorable 
opportunities  to  invest  in  Confederate  securities. 


1861.]  MR.    WEED  IN  EUROPE.  349 

Some  of  these  gentlemen  have  denied  that  they  ever  "  sub 
scribed  "  for  such  securities.  They  were  given  what  they  had, 
44  out  of  compliment." 

Several  days  before  the  exploit  of  Commodore  Wilkes,  with 
a  full  understanding  of  the  aspect  of  Europe,  President  Lincoln 
named  a  commission  to  visit  England  and  France,  and  en 
deavor  to  counteract  the  feeling  which  existed  there,  of  hostility 
towards  this  government.  Mr.  Weed  has  told  how  and  why  he 
consented  to  accompany  Archbishop  Hughes,  of  New  York,1 
and  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  of  Ohio,2  on  this  most  important  mis 
sion.  He  sailed  from  New  York,  on  the  steamer  Arago  the  day 
after  Mason  and  Slidell  were  captured.  He  reached  Havre  on 
the  24th  of  November.3 

Mr.  Weed  went  at  once  to  Paris,  where  he  was  met  in  the 
railway  station  by.Mr.  John  Bigelow,  our  Consul-General,  and 
by  Mr.  H.  S.  Sanford,  then  our  Minister  to  Belgium.  These 
gentlemen  are  both  living,  and  are  equally  well  known  in  Eu 
rope  and  America.  They  greeted  Mr.  Weed  warmly,  inviting 
him  to  dine  with  them  at  the  cafe  of  the  Palais  Royale.  In 
the  evening  the  party  was  joined  by  Mr.  Dayton,  the  Amer 
ican  Minister,  and  by  Archbishop  Hughes.  Several  hours  were 
spent  in  discussing  the  situation  and  maturing  a  plan  of  action. 
Mr.  Sanford  had  been  connected  with  the  American  Embassy 
at  Paris.  Both  he  and  Mr.  Bigelow  had  familiar  access  to  the 
clubs  and  to  men  in  power.  They  pressed  upon  Mr.  Weed  the 
discouraging  conviction  that  the  French  people  would  univer 
sally  condemn  the  arrest  of  Mason  and  Slidell,  of  which  tidings 
had  just  reached  Paris. 

Various  contingencies  were  considered   at  this  consultation. 

1  It  was  particularly  hoped  that  Archbishop    Hughes   might   undo   the 
work  of  the  Bishop  of  Charleston,  who  had  confused  the  mind  of  the  Pope. 

2  Bishop  Mcllvaine's  name  was  suggested  by  Secretary  Chase. 

3  Several  sensational  reports  regarding  the  object  of  this  mission  were  set 
afloat.     The  following  from  the  London  Star  and  Dial,  of  November,  1801, 
had  wide  currency  :  "  Just  as  we  are  going  to  press,  we  receive  a  most  im 
portant  piece  of  information  from  a  reliable  source.      It  is  nothing  less  than 
the  expressed  conviction  of  Mr.  Seward,  that  the  United  States  government 
cannot  succeed  in  this  war,  and  that  the  Confederacy  will  probably  be  rec 
ognized  by  European  powers,  and  that  peace  will  be  the  result  in  sixty  days. 
In  view  of  this,  Mr.  Thurlow  Weed  has  been  sent  to  England,  and  if  he 
should  find  the  British  ministry  determined  to  recognize  the  Confederacy, 
the  American  government  will  at  once  prepare  for  peace." 


350  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

It  was  finally  agreed  that  the  Archbishop  should  immediately 
seek  an  audience  with  the  Emperor.  Mr.  Weed,  after  inducing 
General  Scott  to  outline  a  public  letter,,  which  Mr.  Bigelow  vol 
unteered  to  write,  was  to  cross  the  Channel,  confer  with  Bishop 
Mcllvaine,  and  see  what  could  be  accomplished  in  England. 
These  arrangements  perfected,  Mr.  Weed  retired  with  his  col 
league,  Archbishop  Hughes,  to  their  apartments  in  the  H6tel  de 
1'Europe.  Subsequently  the  Archbishop's  audience  resulted  in 
a  long,  courteous,  but  inconclusive  conversation  with  the  Empe 
ror,  from  which  it  was  impossible  to  extract  the  slightest  crumb 
of  comfort.  Mr.  Bigelow's  letter  was  signed  by  General  Scott, 
as  an  expression  of  his  own  position ;  and  taking  several  copies 
in  his  pocket,  on  the  5th  of  December  Mr.  Weed  started  for 
London. 

While  he  was  breakfasting  at  the  Royal  Cambridge  Hotel, 
in  Hanover  Square,  on  the  following  morning,  he  received  the 
card  of  Charles  L.  Wilson,  Secretary  of  the  American  Legation, 
who  had  called  to  inquire  at  what  hour  it  would  be  convenient 
to  receive  a  visit  from  Charles  Francis  Adams,  then  Amer 
ican  Minister  to  England.  As  Mr.  Weed's  relations  with  Mr. 
Adams  while  that  gentleman  was  in  Congress  had  been  some 
what  constrained,  he  decided  to  return  with  Mr.  Wilson  instead 
of  waiting  for  Mr.  Adams.  A  cordial  reception  awaited  him  at 
the  Legation.  Mr.  Adams  expressed  the  belief  that  much  good 
would  result  from  the  appearance  of  General  Scott's  letter, 
which  was  published  that  morning  simultaneously  in  London 
and  Paris.  Conversation  then  turned  on  the  probable  outcome 
of  the  Trent  complication.  "  England,"  said  the  American 
Minister,  "evinces  a  vehement  determination  to  vindicate  the 
honor  of  her  flag.  The  difficulties  of  my  position  are  greatly 
aggravated  by  this  most  inopportune  occurrence.  There  can  be 
no  question  but  that  war  with  America  is  seriously  contemplated. 
Orders  have  gone  out  to  all  the  arsenals  and  dock-yards  to  pre 
pare  for  immediate  service." 

"  Mr.  Adams,"  writes  Mr.  Weed,  "  saw  no  possibility  of  avert 
ing  war  with  England  except  by  the  release  of  Messrs.  Mason 
and  Slidell ;  and,  doubting  whether  our  government  and  people 
could  be  induced  to  surrender  them,  was  very  despondent.  He 
expressed  his  readiness  to  accept  the  cooperation  of  Bishop  Mc 
llvaine  and  myself  in  any  way  that  promised  to  disabuse  the 


1861.]  CHARLES  FRANCIS  ADAMS.  351 

English  mind  of  the  idea  that  the  northern  people  or  the  fed 
eral  government  had  provoked,  or  were  responsible  for  the  Re 
bellion.  But  as  the  Trent  affair  was  the  question  of  immediate 
danger,  he  said  that  he  would  obtain  an  audience  for  me  with 
Earl  Russell  and  Lord  Palmerston,  at  the  earliest  day  practi 
cable.  This  interview,  so  cordial  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Adams 
that  I  even  forgot  to  hand  him  my  letter  of  instructions  from 
the  Secretary  of  State,  entirely  relieved  any  uneasiness  I  had 
felt  that  our  Minister  at  the  Court  of  St.  James  might  regard 
the  semi-official  mission  upon  which  I  had  been  sent  as  an  un 
necessary  interference  with  his  legitimate  functions." 

[THE  SECRETARY  OF  STATE  TO  MR.  ADAMS.] 

WASHINGTON,  November  7,  1861. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  It  is  deemed  important  to  the  public  interest  that 
citizens  of  well-known  high  standing  should  visit  Europe  for  the  pur 
pose  of  assisting  to  counteract  the  machinations  of  the  agents  of  treason 
against  the  United  States  in  that  quarter. 

This  opinion  having  become  known  to  Thurlow  Weed,  Esq.,  of 
Albany,  N.  Y.,  the  bearer  of  this  communication,  he  has  kindly  offered 
his  services,  which,  as  he  has  the  full  confidence  of  both  the  President 
and  myself,  have  been  promptly  and  cheerfully  accepted.  It  is  not 
intended  that  he  shall  take  part  in  or  interfere  with  your  official  pro 
ceedings.  His  unofficial  character,  however,  as  well  as  his  great  knowl 
edge  and  experience  in  public  affairs  may  enable  him  to  be  of  useful 
ness  to  us  in  a  way  and  to  a  degree  which  we  could  not  reasonably 
expect  from  you. 

I  accordingly  commend  him  and  his  estimable  daughter,  by  whom 
he  is  accompanied,  to  your  kind  consideration  during  their  abode  in 
London.  I  do  this  more  confidently,  not  only  on  account  of  Mr. 
Weed's  intrinsic  merits,  but  from  an  impression  that  you  are  well 
aware  of  the  intimate  relations  between  him  and  myself,  which  have 
existed  for  many  years.  I  am,  sir, 

Your  obedient  servant,          WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 

Retiring  from  the  American  Legation,  Mr.  Weed  called  upon 
his  old  friend  George  Peabody,  the  distinguished  philanthro 
pist.  At  that  gentleman's  office,  No.  22  Old  Broad  Street,  a 
number  of  English  and  American  merchants  had  assembled. 
They  were  panic-striken  by  the  clamor  of  war.  A  similar  state 
of  affairs  existed  at  the  office  of  Baring  Brothers,  our  fiscal 
agents,  where  Mr.  Weed  next  called.  It  was  the  general  opin- 


352  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

ion  that  the  United  States  government  and  people  sanctioned 
and  would  sustain  the  arrest  of  the  Confederate  embassy,  and 
that  nothing  could  prevent  an  armed  conflict,  possibly  involving 
France,  Germany,  and  Russia. 

At  Mr.  Peabody's  office  Mr.  Weed  met  Mr.  McCullagh  Tor- 
rens,  by  whose  influence  an  interview  with  Earl  Russell  was  ar 
ranged  for  the  following  morning.  The  Earl  was  at  first  dis 
inclined  to  look  upon  the  Trent  question  from  any  except  the 
ultra  English  standpoint.  Mr.  Weed  referred,  as  delicately 
as  he  could,  to  English  precedents,  reminding  his  lordship  of 
instances  when  persons  claiming  to  be  British  subjects  had  been 
taken  from  American  ships.  To  this  the  Earl  replied  that  the 
cases  were  not  parallel  and  could  not  be  accepted  as  precedents. 
After  further  conversation  Mr.  Weed  incidentally  recalled  events 
in  Earl  Russell's  career,  which  had  been  regarded  with  great 
interest  by  Whigs  in  America,  and  intimated  that  there  was  so 
much  in  common  between  English  and  American  Whigs  that 
we  had  come  to  rely  upon  him  for  favorable  constructions  upon 
questions  of  difference  between  the  two  governments.  Specific 
references  were  made  to  several  important  and  critical  periods 
in  the  Earl's  political  history  which  had  awakened  solicitude  on 
our  side  of  the  Atlantic.  After  this  the  interview  became  less 
embarrassing,  and  Mr.  Weed  ventured,  after  again  conceding 
that  we  were  in  the  wrong,  to  remind  the  Earl  that  in  the  im 
pressment  of  American  seamen  our  government  submitted  to 
more  than  six  thousand  violations  of  its  flag,  before  resorting 
to  war,  in  1812.  The  Earl  expressed  a  hope  that  the  danger  of 
a  collision  might  be  averted  by  the  surrender  of  the  rebel  com 
missioners.  Mr.  Weed  replied  that  our  people  were  greatly  ex 
asperated  with  men  who  had  left  their  seats  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  to  inaugurate  and  lead  a  rebellion ;  that  English 
history  taught  us  that  English  noblemen  had  gone  from  the 
Tower  to  the  block  for  offenses  less  grave  than  those  which 
Messrs.  Mason  and  Slidell  had  committed :  and  that  our  gov 
ernment  would  be  strongly  tempted  to  maintain  that  this  seizure 
was  sanctioned  by  the  early  practice  of  the  English  govern 
ment  ;  concluding  with  the  expression  of  a  hope  that  if  the 
British  demand  for  release  was  made  in  a  friendly  spirit,  it 
would  be  complied  with.  At  the  end  of  an  hour's  conversation, 
more  satisfactory  in  its  conclusion  than  in  its  commencement, 


1861.]  MR.   WEED  AT  PEMBROKE  LODGE.  353 

lunch  was  announced,  after  which  Mr.  Weed  bade  good  day  to 
the  Earl,  and  accepted  an  invitation  from  Lady  Russell  to  walk 
through  the  Lodge  gardens. 

Mr.  Weed  accompanied  her  about  the  grounds,  taking  a  lively 
interest  in  all  the  surroundings.  Though  the  day  was  rather 
dark  and  blustering,  yet  through  the  openings,  her  ladyship 
pointed  out  Hampton  Court,  Kew,  Kingston,  Windsor,  and  other 
localities  made  classic  by  the  residence  of  such  men  as  Pope  and 
Walpole.  Mr.  Weed's  attention  was  attracted  to  a  mound, 
some  two  or  three  feet  above  the  level  of  the  lawn,  and  he  asked 
if  that,  too,  had  a  history.  "  Oh,  yes,"  replied  Lady  Russell, 
placing  Mr.  Weed  upon  it.  Then  she  added  :  "  Look  through 
that  avenue  of  elms.  You  are  now  standing  precisely  where 
Henry  VIII.  stood  watching  for  a  signal  from  the  dome  of  St. 
Paul's  church,  announcing  the  execution  of  Anne  Boleyn."  Af 
ter  looking  at  a  mimic  fortification  in  process  of  construction 
by  her  children,  Lady  Russell,  as  if  the  idea  had  just  occurred 
to  her,  turned  toward  him  and  said :  "  Ladies,  you  know,  are 
not  supposed  to  have  any  knowledge  of  public  affairs.  But  we 
have  eyes  and  ears,  and  sometimes  use  them.  In  these  troubles 
about  the  taking  of  some  men  from  under  the  protection  of  our 
flag,  it  may  be  some  encouragement  to  you  to  know  that  the 
Queen  is  distressed  at  what  she  hears,  and  is  deeply  anxious  for 
an  amicable  settlement."  Assuming  as  he  did  that  this  signifi 
cant  intimation  had  been  inspired  by  the  Earl,  who  had  taken 
Lady  Russell  aside  a  few  moments  before  she  received  her  hat 
and  shawl,  Mr.  Weed  departed  from  Pembroke  Lodge  with 
anxiety  about  the  Trent  affair  greatly  alleviated. 

[THE  SECRETARY  OF  STATE  TO  EARL  RUSSELL.] 

WASHINGTON,  November  7,  1861. 

MY  DEAR  LORD,  —  Allow  me  to  introduce  to  you  Thurlow  Weed, 
Esq.,  an  eminent  citizen  of  the  State  of  New  York,  for  many  years 
my  intimate  personal  and  political  friend.  He  is  not  excelled  on  this 
continent  for  tact,  knowledge,  sagacity,  and  experience  in  public 
affairs  generally,  and  especially  in  those  of  the  United  States.  As 
with  these  he  unites  high  personal  character,  he  may  he  deemed  war 
ranted  in  expecting  any  opportunity  for  intercourse  with  one  so  de 
servedly  eminent  as  you  are,  which  your  increasing  responsibilities 
may  permit.  I  have  the  honor  to  be 

Your  lordship's  obedient  servant,         WILLIAM  II.  SEWARD. 


354  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

While  in  London  Mr.  Weed  was  a  frequent  visitor  at  the 
residence  of  Mr.  Arthur  Kinnaird,  to  whom  he  had  been  pre 
sented  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Arthur,  of  Bishopsgate  Street,  London. 
He  was  also  often  with  Sir  Henry  Holland,  then  physician  to 
the  Queen,  and  with  Mr.  Peabody.  These  gentlemen,  as  well 
as  other  friends,  on  the  day  after  the  interview  with  Earl  Rus 
sell,  suggested  that  a  letter  on  the  Trent  affair  published  in  the 
"  Times,"  might  have  a  'tranquillizing  effect ;  and  after  some 
discussion  of  the  character  and  temper  of  such  a  letter,  Mr. 
Weed  was  requested  to  prepare  it.  Mr.  Peabody  was  well 
acquainted  with  the  editor  of  the  "  Times,"  the  late  Mr.  Delano, 
and  undertook  to  procure  its  publication.  After  conferring 
with  Mr.  Adams,  whose  approval  was  given,  the  letter  was 
written.  When  it  was  handed  to  Mr.  Peabody,  that  gentleman 
remembered  that  he  had  introduced  Mr.  Weed  to  Mr.  Delane 
several  years  before  at  the  mansion  of  "  The  Patroon  "  in  Al 
bany.  This  obviated  the  necessity  of  Mr.  Peabody's  agency, 
and  Mr.  Weed  drove  at  once  to  the  "  Times  "  office.  Mr. 
Delane  was  out,  but  the  financial  editor,  Mr.  Sampson,  to  whom 
Mr.  Weed  had  a  letter  of  introduction  from  Mr.  Minturn,  said 
he  would  deliver  the  communication  to  Mr.  Delane  in  person. 
About  ten  o'clock  the  same  evening,  a  messenger  from  the 
u Times"  office  brought  Mr.  Weed  "  proof  "  of  his  article.  The 
next  day  it  appeared  in  a  prominent  column  of  the  "  Times," 
and  was  immediately  republished  in  London,  Paris,  Liverpool, 
Manchester,  Dublin,  and  St.  Petersburg. 

"The  intimation  in  yesterday's  'Times,'"  wrote  Mr.  Weed 
in  his  letter  to  the  editor  of  that  paper,  "  of  a  'yearning  in  this 
country  after '  American  views  upon  the  new  complication  of  our 
relations  with  England,  followed  this  morning  by  relaxing  and 
even  kindlier  strictures,  tempts  me  to  submit  briefly  some 
thoughts  which  an  occurrence  profoundly  embarrassing  sug 
gests  ;  not,  however,  upon  international  law,  for,  as  an  humble 
journalist,  I  have  been  accustomed  only  to  the  common-sense 
interpretations  of  public  questions,  and,  were  I  at  all  qualified 
to  enter  into  the  legal  argument,  I  should  be  inclined  to'  ac 
cept  your  own  view  of  the  question,  viz. :  that  time  and  circum 
stances  have  so  far  changed  the  practice  and  reformed  the  prin 
ciples  of  international  maritime  law  as  to  render  the  earlier 
precedents  and  authorities  largely  inapplicable  to  existing  cases ; 


1861.]  LETTER    TO   THE  LONDON  "TIMES."  355 

and  further,  while  the  concession,  in  proving  my  candor  may 
impeach  my  patriotism,  I  am  constrained  to  admit  that  in  the 
ventilation  of  the  Lanrens  seizure,  as  cited  by  Mr.  George  Sum- 
ner,  the  bottom  has  fallen  out  of  our  strongest,  precedent. 

"  Dismissing,  therefore,  the  legal  considerations  of  the  Trent 
and  San  Jacinto  question,  I  confess  to  a  very  strong  '  yearning ' 
that  the  English  government,  its  press,  and  its  people,  may  be 
disabused  of  an  impression  which  has  so  generally  obtained, 
that  our  government  seeks  occasion  for  disagreement,  or  cher 
ishes  other  than  such  feelings  as  belong  to  the  relations  of  inter 
est  and  amity  that  blend  and  bind  us  together.  I  am  even  less 
surprised  at  the  belligerent  sensibility  which  the  Trent  affair 
has  awakened  here  than  by  the  pervading  antecedent  impres 
sion  that  our  government  entertains  hostile  purposes  towards 
England,  and  that  our  Secretary  of  State  has  actually  designed 
the  disruption  of  relations  which  I  had  supposed,  and  still  be 
lieve,  almost  universally  regarded  as  essential  to  the  welfare  of 
our  country  and  the  happiness  of  our  people. 

"An  alleged  conversation  of  Secretary  Seward's  with  the 
Duke  of  Newcastle,  referred  to  in  the  '  Times,'  conflicts  with 
these  assurances.  Without  precise  information  as  to  the  lan 
guage  used  by  Mr.  Seward,  I  cannot  be  mistaken  in  assuming 
that  its  spirit  was  misapprehended.  The  conversation  occurred, 
I  believe,  at  a  dinner  given  by  Governor  Morgan  to  the  Prince 
of  Wales.  The  avowal  of  a  prominent  Senator,  who  had  reason 
to  suppose  that  he  might  be  called  to  a  more  responsible  posi 
tion  in  the  government,  of  a  deliberate  intention  to  '  insult  your 
(the  Duke's)  government,'  could  not  but  have  been  highly 
offensive.  But  while  I  can  readily  excuse  an  English  nobleman 
for  misinterpreting  idle  or  loose  talk  in  an  American  statesman, 
by  all  Americans  the  badinage  of  Mr.  Seward  would  have  been 
readily  understood.  Perhaps  it  would  have  been  wiser  not  to 
attempt  to  '  play  with  edged  tools.'  Indeed,  from  the  mischief 
an  attempted  pleasantry  has  occasioned,  any  departure  from  the 
gravities  of  conversation  is  certainly  to  be  regretted.  After 
disclaiming,  as  I  feel  quite  authorized  in  doing,  for  Mr.  Seward, 
unfriendly  intentions  and  feelings  towards  England,  I  beg  to 
refer  to  such  English  gentlemen  as  have  acquaintance  with,  or 
opportunities  for  consulting  Mr.  Adams,  our  resident  minister, 
for  a  true  reflex  of  American  sympathies.  That  distinguished 


356  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

statesman,  whose  eminent  father  and  grandfather  at  different 
epochs  represented  our  country,  —  first  at  the  Court  of  St. 
James,  and  subsequently  as  President  of  the  United  States,  — 
enjoys,  in  the  best  and  broadest  sense  of  the  term,  the  confidence 
of  his  government ;  and  after  resigning  his  seat  in  Congress  to 
assume  diplomatic  responsibilities,  he  is  also  familiar  with  the. 
views  and  feelings  of  our  public  men. 

"  Until  I  saw  the  accusation  against  Secretary  Seward  stand 
ing  out  prominently  in  the  London  press,  the  idea  had  not 
entered  my  mind,  nor  can  I  now  persuade  myself  that  it  has 
any  real  foundation  to  stand  upon.  After  the  settlement  of  the 
Maine  and  Vancouver  boundary  question,  in  their  final  action 
upon  both  of  which  the  course  of  the  English  government  was 
characterized  by  enlightened  justice  and  wisdom,  I  had  sup 
posed  that  no  cause  of  misunderstanding  remained,  and  that 
we  might  look  forward  to  a  long  period  of  exemption  from  con 
flict  or  dissension.  Subsequently  incidental  occasions  for  inter 
changes  of  national  courtesies  occurred,  tending  to  confirm  and 
strengthen  feelings  of  good  will.  These  were  succeeded  by  the 
memorable  visit  of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  whose  advent  among 
us  afforded  to  the  American  people  an  opportunity  to  mark,  in 
heartfelt  ovations,  both  their  regard  for  the  future  monarch  of 
Great  Britain  and  their  high  estimate  of  and  their  personal  ad 
miration  for  a  Queen  whose  eventful  and  illustrious  reign,  in 
advancing  civilization,  in  promoting  public  and  private  virtue, 
and  in  hallowing  household  shrines,  will  enrich  the  archives  and 
brighten  the  pages  of  England's  history.  I  thought  often,  while 
witnessing,  as  I  did,  in  several  of  our  cities,  the  spontaneous 
demonstrations  of  unmistakable  regard  from  hundreds  of  thou 
sands  of  hearts  warmed  by  remembrances  of  Saxon  descent, 
that  if  all  England  could  '  be  there  to  see,'  we  should  thence 
forth,  as  nations,  dwell  together  in  peace  and  friendship.  In 
that  triumphal  journey,  extending  many  thousand  miles,  through 
cities,  towns,  villages,  hamlets,  and  wildernesses,  nothing  oc 
curred  to  mar  its  enjoyment.  The  American  people,  though 
enthusiastic,  were  considerate  and  respectful.  The  Prince, 
either  from  intuitive  or  inherited  good  sense  and  taste,  while 
observing  all  the  proprieties  of  his  position,  was  so  naturally 
gracious  as  to  win  nothing  but  golden  opinions,  to  leave  every 
where  agreeable  and  enduring  impressions  ;  and  even  now,  so 


1861.]  LETTER    TO   THE  LONDON  "TIMES."  357 

universal  is  the  homage  of  our  people  for  the  Queen,  that  were 
her  Majesty  to  deign  us  a  visit,  Earl  Russell  and  Secretary 
Seward,  were  either  or  both  of  these  eminent  statesmen  disposed 
to  perpetrate  a  great  national  wrong,  would  find  the  bonds  of 
affection  stronger  than  ambition  or  strategy. 

"  Upon  the  course  which  our  government  shall  deem  wise  or 
expedient  in  this  abrupt  emergency,  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to 
speculate.  We  shall  not  remain  long  in  suspense.  Nor  could 
I  add  to  the  calm,  well-considered  views  contained  in  the  letter 
of  Lieutenant-General  Scott,  than  whom  America  has  no  more 
devoted  patriot,  nor  England  a  more  sincere  friend.  That  dis 
tinguished  and  veteran  General  led  our  army  creditably  through 
one  war  with  England.  I,  in  humble  positions,  shared  in  that 
conflict ;  and  I  speak  for  both  —  enjoying  the  confidence  and 
friendship  of  our  great  chieftain  —  in  saying  that  neither  cares 
to  survive  another  struggle  so  revolting  to  all  who  rejoice  in  a 
common  ancestry  and  commingled  blood,  with  kindred  memo 
rials  and  associations. 

"  Of  the  exact  nature  of  the  despatch  from  the  English  gov 
ernment  I  am  ignorant ;  but  I  am  constrained  to  express  the 
opinion  that  if  that  despatch  has  taken  the  form  of  a  peremp 
tory  demand,  it  will  be  met  by  as  peremptory  a  refusal ;  for  in 
temper  and  pride  we  are  as  unreasoning  as  the  bad  examples  of 
our  mother  country,  absurdly  intensified,  can  make  us.  But  I 
devoutly  hope  that  the  mastiff  mode  of  diplomacy  will  not,  on 
either  side,  be  resorted  to.  There  are  no  real  interests  of  either 
country  to  be  promoted  or  protected  by  a  contest  for  the  cham 
pionship.  Nor  is  it  necessary  to  determine  questions  of  rela 
tive  courage  or  prowess.  The  battle  at  Lundy's  Lane,  in  Can 
ada,  fought  upon  a  fair  field,  with  forces  nearly  equal,  which 
consigned  the  remains  of  seven  hundred  British  and  seven  hun 
dred  American  soldiers  to  '  dead  men's  beds,'  should  be  ac 
cepted  as  a  satisfactory  solution  by  both  nations.  The  Mason 
and  Slidell  imbroglio,  which  has  been  sprung  upon  us,  places 
both  governments  in  a  false  position.  England  is  running  upon 
all  fours  across  the  track  of  her  life-long  practices  and  precepts, 
while  America  is  forced,  in  maintaining  the  act  of  Commodore 
Wilkes,  to  ignore  a  policy  earnestly  insisted  upon,  —  a  policy 
which,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  war  of  1812,  was  left  to  be  de 
termined  by  the  future  good  sense  and  forbearance  of  both  gov- 


358  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

ernrnents.  In  this  '  muddle,'  should  either  nation  be  too  tena 
cious  ?  I  do  not  say  or  think  that  in  this  matter  we  have  done 
quite  right,  or  that  we  are  wholly  wrong.  The  temptations  in 
this  case  were  far  greater  than  can  be  understood  in  Europe. 
Messrs.  Slidell  and  Mason  were  responsible  leaders  in  the  un 
natural  and  causeless  rebellion  which  has  set  brother  against 
brother  in  fierce  and  brutish  civil  war.  As  senators  in  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  while  unanimous  millions  sup 
posed  men  incapable  of  such  perfidy,  they  committed  acts  of 
treason  far  more  flagrant  than  the  offenses  which  have  con 
signed  the  heads  of  British  noblemen,  through  the  Tower,  to 
the  block.  It  will  require,  therefore,  calm  deliberation  and  a 
large  measure  of  forbearance  in  our  government  and  people  to 
bring  them  to  an  acquiescence  in  the  views  taken  of  this  ques 
tion  here,  —  views  which,  I  am  compelled  to  admit,  have  ob 
tained  across  the  Channel. 

"  But  if  events  are  not  precipitated ;  if  time  is  to  be  given 
for  reflection,  so  that  the  cost  and  consequences  of  war  may 
be  calculated,  apprehension  will  be  greatly  relieved.  I  quite 
concur  in  the  opinion  that  these  rebel  emissaries  are  not  worth 
a  war,  and,  individually,  would  not  hesitate  to  make  large  con 
cessions,  in  feeling,  for  peace.  With  England,  whose  canvas 
whitens  every  ocean  and  sea,  4  catching  the  dawning  rays  of  the 
rising,  and  mellowed  by  the  departing  beams  of  the  setting  sun/ 
the  honor  of  her  flag  is  everything.  In  defense  of  this  flag, 
England,  with  her  blood  heated,  will  not  sacrifice  the  c  avoirdu 
pois  of  a  hair.'  Surely,  then,  if  appealed  to  in  a  neighborly 
spirit,  we  can  afford  to  do  for  England  what  we  should,  touched 
upon  the  same  tender  point,  expect  England  to  do  for  America." 

In  publishing  the  above  article,  the  "Times"  accompanied 
it  with  a  leader,  personally  kind,  but  replying  to  the  views  ad 
vanced  by  Mr.  Weed  and  presenting  the  question  from  an 
English  standpoint. 

It  is  very  seldom  [said  the  "  Times  "]  in  the  present  polite  and  deco 
rous  age  that  we  are  able  to  accumulate  so  much  evidence  of  a  deliber 
ate  and  long-cherished  intention  to  do  us  an  injury  as  we  are  able  to 
bring  against  Mr.  Seward,  the  present  Prime  Minister  of  the  Northern 
States  of  America.  During  the  visit  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  to  the 
United  States,  Mr.  Seward  took  advantage  of  an  entertainment  which 
was  given  to  the  Prince  and  his  suite  to  tell  the  Duke  of  Newcastle 


1861.]          COMMENTS   OF   THE   LONDON  "  TIMES."          359 

that  he  was  likely  to  occupy  high  office  ;  that  when  he  did  so  it  would 
become  his  duty  to  insult  England,  and  that  he  should  insult  her  ac 
cordingly.  A  few  months  after  this  sally  Mr.  Seward  found  himself 
in  the  position  he  had  anticipated,  a  quarrel  between  North  and  South 
was  imminent,  and  the  advice  which  Mr.  Seward  tendered  to  the 
hostile  parties  was  to  abandon  their  dispute,  and  combine  their  forces 
in  a  wholly  unprovoked  attack  upon  the  British  colony  of  Canada. 
The  next  step  of  Mr.  Seward  was  to  publish  a  circular,  calling  upon  the 
States  to  fortify  the  sea  and  lake  frontier,  —  a  circular  which  was  un 
derstood  by  everybody  to  refer  to  Great  Britain,  and  was,  indeed, 
capable  of  no  other  construction.  An  English  packet  is  then  boarded 
by  an  American  ship  of  war,  four  passengers  are  removed  from  the 
packet  by  violence,  and  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  American  Secre 
tary  of  State.  He  orders  them  into  strict  confinement,  without  any 
diplomatic  communication  with  the  English  Minister  at  Washington, 
and  by  so  doing  appears  to  adopt  and  ratify  the  action  of  the  Amer 
ican  commander.  This  is  all  we  know  at  present  of  the  feelings,  inten 
tions,  and  proceedings  of  Mr.  Seward.  But  it  is  quite  enough  to  lead 
to  a  general  persuasion  that  upon  his  ability  to  involve  the  United 
States  in  a  war  with  England  Mr.  Seward  has  staked  his  official,  and, 
most  probably,  also  his  political  existence,  and  that  whatever  may  be 
the  advantage  to  America  of  a  war  with  this  country,  to  him  it  has  be 
come  an  article  of  the  very  first  necessity.  It  is  no  business  of  ours 
to  speculate  on  the  motives  or  to  enlarge  upon  the  guilt  of  a  man  who 
has  deliberately  plotted,  and,  perhaps,  by  this  time  actually  accom 
plished,  this  great  crime,  the  greatest,  perhaps,  of  which  a  human 
creature  can  be  guilty,  —  the  bringing  war  upon  his  own  country  and 
upon  us,  who  have  never  willfully  or  intentionally  done  him  or  it  any 
•evil.  The  facts  are  as  we  have  stated  them. 

An  American  gentleman,  Mr.  Thurlow  Weed,  now  resident  in  this 
country  in  a  quasi  diplomatic  capacity,  thinks  it  necessary,  under 
these  circumstances,  to  come  forward  in  defense  of  Mr.  Seward,  and 
certainly  we  must  admit  no  one  ever  stood  more  in  need  of  an  able 
and  discreet  apologist.  Whether  Mr.  Seward  has  found  such  a  person 
in  Mr.  Weed  our  readers  will  be  better  able  to  judge  when  they  have 
read  the  letter  with  which  he  has  favored  us.  For  ourselves,  we 
must  confess  we  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion,  that  Mr.  Weed  has 
made  the  case  of  his  client  and  his  country  considerably  worse  than  he 
found  it. 

Mr.  Weed  begins  by  an  admission  that  the  present  quarrel  is  an  oc 
currence  profoundly  embarrassing.  Not  at  all  to  us,  we  beg  to  say, 
for  we  never  remember  an  instance  where  the  line  of  duty  was  clearer 
or  better  defined  ;  but  profoundly  embarrassing  to  Mr.  Weed,  because 


360  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

he  is  very  much  inclined  to  think  that  we  are  right  in  our  view  of  the 
law,  and  that  "  in  the  ventilation  of  the  case  of  Mr.  Laurens  the  bot 
tom  has  fallen  out  of  the  strongest  precedent."  Dropping,  therefore, 
the  legal  question,  Mr.  Weed  seeks  to  show  that  we  are  entirely  in 
error  in  supposing  that  the  American  government  in  general,  and  Mr. 
Seward  in  particular,  is  actuated  by  any  ill-feeling  towards  us.  That 
we  should  think  so  is  to  Mr.  Weed  even  more  wonderful  than  our 
"  belligerent  sensibility  "  with  regard  to  the  Trent.  As  for  the  conver 
sation  with  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  of  which  Mr.  Weed  says  he  knows 
nothing,  he  says  it  must  have  been  a  bad  joke  —  that  kind  of  agreeable 
badinage  which  passes  after  dinner  between  Dukes  and  embryo  Secre 
taries  of  State.  As  to  the  chain  of  facts  which  connect  this  bad  joke 
with  what  we  fear  will  turn  out  to  be  a  much  worse  earnest,  Mr.  Weed 
says  nothing,  but  refers  us  to  the  present  American  Minister  in  London, 
Mr.  Adams,  as  a  true  reflex  of  American  sentiment  towards  England, 
the  misfortune  being  that  Mr.  Adams,  who  has  the  good  will,  has  not 
the  power,  and  Mr.  Seward,  who  has  the  power,  has  not  the  good  will. 
Perhaps  thinking  that  something  was  yet  wanting  to  the  vindica 
tion  of  Mr.  Seward,  Mr.  Weed  proceeds  to  argue  that  he  must  be 
our  friend,  because,  we  having  settled  all  our  boundary  disputes  with 
the  United  States,  there  is  nothing  left  to  quarrel  about.  It  would  be 
exceedingly  agreeable  if  Mr.  Weed  could  convince  his  countrymen  of 
this  fact,  and  he  will  excuse  us  if  we  do  not  find,  in  his  admission  that 
there  is  nothing  left  to  quarrel  about,  any  palliation  of  the  conduct  of 
Mr.  Seward  in  fastening  a  quarrel  upon  us.  The  Queen  has  won  the 
respect  and  the  Prince  of  Wales  the  regard  of  the  American  people,  — 
good  reasons  why  they  should  respect  her  government,  but  surely  no 
extenuation  of  conduct  which  our  correspondent  admits  to  be,  in  his 
view,  a  violation  of  the  Law  of  Nations.  If  the  Queen  would  only 
pay  America  a  visit,  there  would  be  no  chance  of  a  rupture.  But, 
then,  the  Queen  most  certainly  will  not  pay  America  a  visit,  and  we 
therefore  derive  but  little  comfort  from  this  suggestion.  After  that 
indispensable  appeal  to  our  common  ancestry  which  has  hitherto  availed 
us  so  little  in  dealing  with  our  transatlantic  relatives,  we  come  at  last 
to  the  real  point.  Mr.  Weed,  who  believes  us  to  be  in  the  right,  and 
who  has  tantalized  us  with  all  this  show  of  ardent  affection,  and  who 
has  proved  so  entirely  to  his  satisfaction  that  the  best  feeling  exists  to 
wards  us  in  the  American  government  and  people,  informs  us  that  if, 
relying  on  the  right  he  admits  and  the  affection  he  asserts,  we  demand 
that  the  persons  who  have  been  taken  by  violence  from  our  protection 
be  restored  to  us,  we  shall  meet  with  a  refusal.  The  affections  of 
America  may  be  lacerated,  but  once  having  begun  to  insult  us,  she 
will  continue  to  do  so. 


1861.]  ENGLISH   COMMENT.  361 

In  his  own  pleasant,  familiar  way,  Mr.  Weed  tells  us  that  America 
is  as  unreasoning  as  the  bad  example  of  her  mother  country  can  make 
her.  But  if,  instead  of  requiring  as  a  preliminary  to  any  further  dis 
cussion  the  restoration  of  the  captives,  we  are  content  to  give  the 
American  people  time  for  deliberation  ;  if  we  are  willing  to  forget 
that  the  discussion  began  by  seizing  the  thing  in  dispute,  and  to  recog 
nize  a  debate  commenced  under  such  circumstances  as  having  nothing 
in  it  either  degrading  or  unusual ;  if,  in  fact,  to  use  the  expression  cur 
rent  in  America,  we  will  enter  into  "  protracted  negotiations,"  there 
is  reason  to  hope  that  America  may  yet  relent,  and  condescend  to  the 
opinion  that,  after  all,  Slidell  and  Mason  are  not  worth  a  war.  We 
fear  Mr.  Weed  in  this  is  over-sanguine,  and  that,  so  long  as  America 
is  allowed  to  retain  what  she  has  taken  from  us  at  the  cheap  price  of 
an  interminable  correspondence,  she  will  too  keenly  appreciate  her  own 
gain  and  our  degradation  to  put  an  end  to  so  agreeable  an  interlude. 

But  her  forbearance  will  never  be  tried.  We  can,  we  think,  con 
vey  to  Mr.  Thurlow  Weed  the  sentiments  of  every  Englishman  on  this 
painful  subject.  We  do  not  ask  from  America  courtesy  or  affection, 
respect  for  our  Queen  or  regard  for  our  Prince.  These  things  are  hers 
to  give  or  to  withhold.  We  do  not  even  ask  that  amount  of  fair  treat 
ment  which  we  are  in  the  habit  of  receiving  from  other  nations.  We 
have  long  ago  made  up  our  minds  to  dispense  with  that ;  but  we  do 
demand  that  she  shall  abstain  from  actual  outrage,  or  that,  if  it  is  com 
mitted,  she  shall  make  reasonable  reparation.  If  she  will  do  this,  it  is 
well ;  if  not,  the  alternative  will  not  come  in  the  desired  form  of  "  pro 
tracted  negotiations." 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
1861. 

A  RECEPTION  AT  LORD  KINNAIRD'S.  —  MR.  WEED  AND  GEORGE  PEABODY. 
—  CAUSES  OF  THE  WAR  REVIEWED.  —  POSITION  OF  THE  MILLIONAIRE 
PHILANTHROPIST.  —  MR.  BIGELOW  TO  MR.  WEED.  —  GENERAL  SCOTT'S 
RETURN  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES.  —  ENGLISH  SOLDIERY  EN  ROUTE  TO 
CANADA.  —  LETTER  IN  REPLY  TO  LIEUTENANT  MAURY. 

WHILE  waiting1  for  the  response  of  our  government  to  the 
demand  of  England  for  the  release  of  Mason  anoSlidell,  intense 
and  painful  solicitude  pervaded  London.  Mr.  Weed  was  in 
constant  communication  with  the  comparatively  few  eminent 
Englishmen  who  sympathized  with  the  North.  But  even  such 
steadfast  friends  of  the  Union  as  the  Duke  of  Argyle,  Sir 
Roundel  Palmer,  Lord  Houghton,  and  Messrs.  Cobden,  Bright, 
and  W.  E.  Forster,  did  not  believe  that  war  could  be  averted,  in 
case  of  a  refusal  to  liberate  the  Confederate  emissaries. 

A  short  time  before  the  assembling  of  Parliament  the  Honor 
able  Arthur  Kinnaird,  now  Lord  Kinnaird,  and  Mrs.  Kinnaird, 
who  were  warm  friends  of  the  Union,  gave  a  reception  at  their 
London  residence,  No.  2  Pall  Mall  East,  in  order  that  the  Bishop 
of  Ohio  and  Mr.  Weed  might  have  an  opportunity  to  present 
their  views  on  the  American  contest  to  several  gentlemen  prom 
inent  in  English  politics  and  society.  When  the  company 
assembled  in  the  drawing-room,  Mr.  Kinnaird  explained  his 
object  in  calling  his  friends  together.  It  was  his  hope,  he  said, 
to  aid  in  removing  misapprehensions  which  existed  in  regard  to 
the  conflict  in  the  United  States.  It  could  not  be  denied  that 
among  certain  classes  in  England  there  was  a  disposition  to 
favor  the  South.  It  was  also  undeniable  that  there  was  a  gen 
eral  lack  of  information  respecting  the  causes  of  the  Kebellion. 
He  had  taken  this  opportunity  to  ask  his  American  friends 
to  give  explanations  as  to  these  causes  as  well  as  the  probable 
results  of  the  war.  Bishop  Mcllvaine  then  made  a  lengthy 
statement,  covering  the  general  subject. 


1861.]  GEORGE  PEABODY.  363 

Mr.  Weed  gave  some  details  in  regard  to  the  policy  of  the 
Whig  and  Republican  parties,  with  which  the  President  had 
uniformly  acted.  He  said  that  he,  the  speaker,  not  only  desired 
but  expected  emancipation.  That  result  must  inevitably  follow 
from  the  success  of  the  Union  army. 

On  other  occasions  and  in  many  ways  Lord  and  Lady  Kin- 
naird  took  pleasure  in  showing  their  friendship  for  this  govern 
ment. 

The  statement  has  been  made  that  Mr.  Peabody,  at  whose 
house  Mr.  Weed  was  a  frequent  visitor  during  the  early  years 
of  the  war,  was  not  a  true  friend  of  the  Union.  This  imputa 
tion  Mr.  Weed,  who  was  certainly  in  a  position  to  know  whereof 
he  spoke,  emphatically  resented.  That  Mr.  Peabody  doubted 
the  ability  of  the  North  to  cope  with  the  Rebellion  he  admitted. 
Such  doubts  were  entertained  by  many  gentlemen,  both  in  the 
United  States  and  England,  whose  loyalty  to  the  Union  was 
never  questioned.  At  Mr.  Peabody's  bank  Mr.  Weed  heard 
the  course  of  English  sympathizers  with  secession  constantly 
and  freely  reprobated.  Mr.  Peabody  has  been  criticised  be 
cause  he  did  not  attend  4th  of  July  and  22d  of  February  cele 
brations.  It  was  his  habit,  both  before  and  during  the  Rebel 
lion,  upon  the  recurrence  of  these  anniversaries,  to  entertain 
his  countrymen  munificently  at  his  own  expense.  Mr.  Weed 
was  his  guest  on  two  such  occasions,  which  furnished  stronger 
evidence  than  mere  professions  of  Mr.  Peabody's  patriotism. 
Expressions  of  regret  that  Mr.  Peabody  did  not  show  more  zeal 
in  our  cause  were  frequently  heard  in  London  ;  but  it  was  never 
intimated  that  he  favored  the  cause  of  the  rebels. 

Mr.  Weed  first  met  Mr.  Peabody  in  1843,  and  their  relations 
soon  ripened  into  a  friendship  which  was  not  interrupted  until 
Mr.  Peabody's  death.  In  1852  Mr.  Weed  was  apprised  of  those 
benevolent  purposes  which  Mr.  Peabody  afterwards  so  nobly  car 
ried  into  effect.  They  discussed  together  his  first  great  project 
for  relieving  the  poor  of  London.  When  Mr.  Peabody  visited 
this  country,  in  18GG,  he  communicated  to  Mr.  Weed  his  then 
immature  scheme  for  the  education  and  elevation  of  the  southern 
poor.  He  urged  Mr.  Weed  to  act  as  trustee,  but  this  honor 
was  declined  in  favor  of  Robert  C.  Winthrop.  On  the  day 
when  Mr.  Peabody  sailed  from  New  York  for  the  last  time,  he 
passed  two  hours  in  confidential  conversation  with  Mr.  Weedo 


364  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

"If  I  am  spared  to  come  again  to  this  country,"  he  said,  in 
parting,  "  it  shall  be  as  a  poorer  man  than  when  I  left  the 
United  States  in  1837." 

Reference  has  been  made  to  Mr.  Weed's  first  visit  to  Mr. 
Peabody's  bank  in  1861.  Their  interview  on  this  occasion  was 
not  wholly  satisfactory.  Mr.  Peabody  opened  the  conversation 
by  expressing  surprise  and  regret  that  the  United  States  should 
have  become  involved  unnecessarily  in  a  civil  war.  Mr.  Weed 
responded  briefly,  admitting  that  the  war  was  a  great  calamity, 
but  maintaining  that  it  had  been  forced  upon  us.  "  The  govern 
ment  might  have  averted  it,"  said  Mr.  Peabody.  "  That  ques 
tion,"  Mr.  Weed  replied,  "  opens  the  whole  question.  I  shall 
be  glad  to  take  an  early  occasion,  when  you  are  at  liberty,  to 
discuss  it  fully."  "  It  will  require  strong  evidence,"  said  Mr. 
Peabody,  "  to  satisfy  me  that  wise  and  good  men  could  not  have 
prevented  such  an  unwarrantable  and  unnatural  conflict  as  that 
which  now  devastates  America."  The  conversation  then  turned 
upon  the  Trent  difficulty.  "  Both  nations  are  so  tenacious  and 
aggressive,"  said  Mr.  Peabody,  "that  I  apprehend  the  most 
serious  consequences." 

A  day  or  so  after  this  conversation  Mr.  Weed  reviewed,  at 
Mr.  Peabody's  request,  the  causes  which  had  occasioned  the  Ive- 
bellion.  lie  spoke  of  the  attitude  of  South  Carolina,  under 
the  inspiration  of  John  C.  Calhoun,  and  of  the  cooperation  of 
other  southern  politicians,  whose  purpose  was  to  preserve  slave 
supremacy  in  the  Union,  or  to  establish  a  slave  confederacy  out 
of  it.  He  recalled  the  adjustment  of  1820,  and  described 
how  the  South,  immediately  availing  itself  of  that  compromise, 
brought  slave  states  into  the  Union.  He  recurred  to  the  re 
sistance  of  the  slave  power  to  the  admission  of  California,  with 
a  constitution  prohibiting  slavery ;  and  described  the  dramatic 
interview  between  Stevens,  Clingman,  and  Toombs,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  "  Old  Zach  "  Taylor,  on  the  other.  He  recalled  the 
Kansas  conflict,  and  showed  how  its  consequences  destroyed  the 
equilibrium  between  the  Slave  and  the  Free  States.  He  then 
referred  at  length  to  later  aspects  of  the  controversy,  asserting 
the  manifest  duty  of  the  government,  when  ruthlessly  attacked, 
to  defend  its  own  existence. 

Mr.  Peabody  was  an  attentive  listener.  For  several  months, 
he  said,  his  conversations  had  been  with  Americans  who  pre- 


1861.]  GEORGE  PEABODY.  365 

sented  the  question  in  a  widely  different  aspect ;  the  business 
years  of  his  American  life  had  been  spent  in  Georgetown  and 
Baltimore  ;  his  sympathies  while  in  England  had  not  been 
with  the  Abolitionists  ;  during  the  many  years  of  excitement  on 
the  subject  of  slavery,  he  had  regarded  fanatics  in  the  North 
and  those  of  the  South  as  equally  mischievous  ;  the  extremists 
of  either  section  were  enemies  of  the  Union.  "  I  must  acknowl 
edge,"  he  said,  filially,  "  that  the  side  of  the  North  is  much 
stronger  than  I  had  supposed.  Indeed,  such  is  my  devotion  to 
the  Union,  that,  painful  as  is  the  thought  of  a  war  with  my 
own  people,  if  I  were  in  the  United  States  I  should  stand  by 
Mr.  Lincoln.  So  long  as  you  remain  in  London,  it  shall  be  my 
pleasure  to  cooperate,  in  whatever  manner  I  may,  with  you  and 
Bishop  Mcllvaine." 

[MR.    PEABODY   TO    MR.   WEED.] 

LONDON,  January  17,  1862. 

DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  One  cloud  between  this  country  and  ours  is 
no  sooner  dispersed  than  another  appears.  To-day  the  "  Times  "  and 
"Post"  are  at  us  again,  backed  by  "little  dogs  and  all."  So,  with 
ugly  extracts  from  the  "  World,"  and  other  New  York  papers,  refer 
ring  to  this  country,  the  feeling  is  almost  as  bad  as  it  was  before  the 
Trent  affair  was  closed. 

The  "  Post,"  I  learn,  takes  up  strongly  the  blockade  of  Charleston 
harbor.  Lampson  told  me  that  lie  thought  both  Sir  Emerson  Tennent 
and  Mr.  Adams  were  in  rather  a  gloomy  mood  on  our  affairs,  both 
with  England  and  France,  and  Sir  Emerson  told  me  that  France  was 
pushing  England  very  hard  to  join  and  recognize  the  Southern  Con 
federacy. 

We  talked  over  the  mystery  hanging  over  the  Seward  and  New 
castle  affair.  Sir  Emerson  said  that  there  can  be  no  doubt  but  that 
what  the  Duke  reported  of  Seward's  remarks  has  strongly  influenced 
the  government  in  war  preparations  for  several  months  past.  The 
Bishop  said  that  he  had  received  the  account  from  Sir  Henry  Holland, 
and,  I  think,  Lord  Shaftesbury,  both  of  whom  had  the  exact  words 
from  the  Duke's  own  lips.  You  should  at  once  write  to  Mr.  Seward 
for  a  letter  to  the  Duke,  and  have  the  matter  cleared  up. 

Ever  yours,  GEORGE  PEABODY. 

During  the  second  week  of  Mr.  Weed's  stay  in  London,  affairs 
assumed  such  a  threatening  aspect  that  General  Scott,  who  had 
been  a  fellow-passenger  on  the  Arago,  determined  to  return  to 
America  by  the  same  steamer. 


366  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

[MR.    BIGELOW    TO   MR.    WEED.] 

PARIS,  Tuesday  Evening. 

MY  DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  General  Scott  leaves  for  the  United  States 
to-morrow  in  the  Arago.  Every  effort  has  been  made  to  keep  his 
departure  a  secret,  and  this  will  doubtless  be  the  first  notice  you  will 
have  of  it.  The  General  was  alarmed  by  the  leading  paragraph  in  the 
"  Constitutionnel "  this  evening,  purporting  to  give  an  account  of  a 
meeting  held  in  Washington  on  the  22d,  at  which  many  members 
of  Congress  assisted.  They  are  reported  to  have  resolved  that  Mason 
and  Slidell  were  lawful  prizes,  and  that  England  has  no  claims  for  sat 
isfaction.  I  told  the  General  that  that  meeting  signified  nothing ;  that 
the  whole  tone  of  the  American  press  gave  no  indication  of  a  disposi 
tion  to  brave  England  in  this  matter  ;  that  no  bne  defended  the  seizure 
in  contemplation  of  its  involving  trouble  with  any  foreign  nation,  and 
the  fact  that  everybody  argued  the  question  at  home  was  proof  that 
there  it  was  seen  to  have  two  sides,  which  was  a  tolerable  security 
against  any  rash  course  of  procedure.  But  the  General  was  not  in  a 
humor  to  be  convinced. 

He  had  determined  to  go  home.  If  we  are  to  have  war  with  Eng 
land,  he  thought,  he  might  still  be  of  some  use  to  his  country ;  and  if 
not,  he  preferred  dying  there  in  trying  to  serve  her,  than  here  of  vexa 
tion,  if  he  were  absent. 

Mrs.  Scott  and  the  General's  family  remain,  and  go  soon  to  Italy,  so 
the  General  has  told  Mr.  Dayton.  He  is  very  anxious  that  his  de 
parture  should  not  be  known,  as  Ii3  fears  it  might  give  needless  alarm 
here,  and  also  might  tempt  some  of  those  pirates  in  England  to  chase 
him.  He  would  make  a  good  offset  for  Slidell  and  Mason. 

The  sentiment  here  seems  to  be  improving  in  certain  quarters  every 
day  since  the  American  papers  arrived.  The  "  Constitutionnel  "  is 
laboring  to  provoke  England  to  war.  The  Paris  correspondent  of  the 
London  "  Post  "  told  me  last  night,  at  my  house,  that  Persigny  and 
the  Emperor  were  both  anxious  for  conciliation  and  a  reglement  of 
the  rights  of  neutrals.  He  was  perfectly  sure  there  was  no  war  in  the 
breeze.  At  the  same  time  he  admitted  that  England  wanted  the  sepa 
ration  of  our  Union,  on  the  ground,  as  he  said,  that  wre  never  could 
unite  again,  and  the  war  was  unprofitable  to  us  and  disastrous  to 
Europe.  M.  Demarest,  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  the  French  law 
yers,  was  here  also.  He  said  England  must  maintain  friendly  rela 
tions  with  us,  for  the  moment  she  began  to  fight  she  ceased  to  occupy 
the  position  of  a  first-class  power  in  Europe.  He  had  no  doubt  she 
would  see  too  many  obstacles  in  her  path  to  be  over  difficult  when 
negotiations  begin. 


* 


1861.]  MR.    WEED   IN  LONDON.  367 

Your  letter  of  Saturday  knocked  all  the  pluck  out  of  me,  but  I  ral 
lied  on  Monday,  and  since  then  I  have  felt  quite  at  ease.  The  ab 
sence  of  any  offensive  bravado  at  home  and  the  reasonable  tone  of  all 
parties  and  presses  there,  shows  the  world  that  the  feeling-  towards 
England  which  was  charged  to  have  prompted  the  seizure  of  the 
Trent  does  not  exist  at  all,  and,  unless  I  am  mistaken,  will  bring  the 
English  government  to  account  with  the  people  for  having  created  an 
unnecessary  and  most  expensive  panic  in  Europe.  Master  Pain l 
must  explain  this  to  the  faithful  who  sold  out,  at  a  loss  of  one  per 
cent.,  a  third  of  their  yearly  incomes.  .  .  . 

I  have  faith  that  we  shall  get  the  better  of  John  Bull  in  this,  as  in 
all  past  time.  Yours  very  truly,  JOHN  BIGELOW. 

In  connection  with  General  Scott's  departure  Mr.  Weed  wrote 
the  following  card,  which  appeared  in  the  London  "  Star  and 
Dial,"  on  the  13th  of  December  :  - 

To  THE  EDITOR,  ETC.  : 

SIR,  —  I  hasten  to  ask  permission  through  your  columns  to  correct 
a  sensational  telegram  from  Paris,  which  affirms  on  the  authority  of 
the  "  Patrie  "  that  Lieutenant-General  Scott's  return  to  America  was 
in  consequence  of  an  urgent  despatch  from  the  Washington  Cabinet. 

I  was  advised  yesterday  by  letter  of  the  veteran  General's  intended 
return  home  on  the  steamer  Arago  ;  but  he  had  received  neither  order 
nor  suggestion  from  his  government.  His  change  of  purpose  was  the 
result,  under  changed  circumstances,  of  his  own  sense  of  duty. 

Deploring,  as  I  know  he  did,  most  painfully,  the  occurrence  which 
occasions  general  solicitude,  and  ardently  hoping  for  its  amicable  solu 
tion,  the  impulse  which  creates  in  an  old  soldier  the  desire  in  times  of 
threatened  danger  to  be  at  his  post  will  be  understood  and  appreciated, 
—  certainly  by  Englishmen. 

Your  obedient  servant,  THURLOW  WEED. 

"  We  are  all  waiting  breathlessly,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed  to  friends 
in  America,  "for  the  response  of  our  government  to  the  demand 
for  the  release  of  the  rebel  emissaries,  for  upon  that  response,  it 
is  believed,  must  hang  the  question  of  peace  or  war.  I  have 
little  inclination  or  leisure  to  enjoy  London,  presented,  as  it  now 
is,  under  favorable  auspices.  .  .  .  Though  really  nobody,  dis 
tinguished  people  receive  me  with  a  consideration  not  a  little 
embarrassing.  .  .  .  Our  Minister,  Mr.  Adams,  and  his  amiable 
family,  are  exceedingly  cordial  in  their  attentions  and  hospitali- 
1  Lord  Palmerston,  then  Premier. 


368  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

ties.  .  .  .  Sir  Henry  Holland,  of  world-wide  medical  fame,  drops 
into  our  hotel  familiarly,  and  is  off  to  Windsor,  to  see  Prince 
Albert,  who  is  seriously  ill.  .  .  .  Sir  John  Wilson,  Governor  of 
the  Chelsea  Hospital,  v/ho  received  five  wounds  at  the  battle  of 
Chippewa,  called  upon  us  last  evening.  .  .  .  Every  day  brings 
its  breakfast  or  dinner  in  the  highest  circles.  Yesterday,  dining 
with  Mr.  Evans,  at  the  Reform  Club,  I  met  Mr.  Thackeray,  who 
told  me  he  had  recently  received  a  barrel  of  beer  from  our  friend 
Dunlop,  of  Watervliet. 

"  Heretofore,  when  in  Europe,  my  thoughts  were  absorbed  by 
objects  which  surrounded  me.  Home,  except  in  its  domestic 
remembrances,  was  forgotten.  All  business  cares  and  political 
responsibilities  were  dismissed.  Not  so  now.  The  condition  of 
our  beloved  country  presses  constantly  and  heavily  upon  my 
mind.  For  the  first  time  in  my  life  my  pillow  fails  to  bring 
repose.  And  reflection  is  aggravated  by  the  evidence  which 
meets  you  everywhere  that  the  public  mind  of  Europe  has  been 
abused  and  perverted  ;  that  the  causes  of  the  war  are  either 
wholly  misunderstood  or  totally  ignored.  .  .  . 

u  I  rose  early  on  Friday  morning  and  went  down  to  St.  James' 
Park  Barracks  to  see  a  regiment  of  Guards  take  up  their  line 
of  march  for  Canada.  Nearly  fifty  years  had  elapsed  since  I 
had  seen '  British  red-coats,'  whose  muskets  were  turned  against 
us.  Something  of  the  old  feeling  —  a  feeling  which  I  supposed 
had  died  out  —  began  to  rise,  and,  after  a  few  moments  o£  pain 
ful  thought,  I  turned  away.1 

"  The  despatch  of  M.  Thouvenel  to  the  French  Minister  ap- 

1  The  outrage  savored  so  much  of  contemptiious  defiance  that  the  national 
feeling  was  wounded  to  the  quick.  "  Bear  this,  bear  all,"  was  the  prevailing 
cry,  and  not  an  hour  was  lost  in  making  preparations  for  the  war,  which  it 
seemed  to  be  the  object  of  the  Americans  to  provoke.  Among  other  meas 
ures,  which  showed  how  thoroughly  we  were  in  earnest,  troops,  to  the  num 
ber  of  eight  thousrgid,  were  despatched  to  Canada.  —  Theodore  Martin's 
Life  of  the  Prince  Consort,  vol.  v.  p.  347. 

Troops  were  despatched  to  Canada  with  all  possible  expedition,  and  that 
brave  and  loyal  colony  called  out  its  militia  and  volunteers,  so  as  to  be  ready 
to  act  at  a  moment's  notice.  Our  dockyards  here  resounded  with  the  din  of 
workmen  getting  vessels  fitted  for  sea,  and  there  was  but  one  feeling  which 
animated  all  classes  and  parties  in  the  country,  and  that  was  a  determination 
to  vindicate  our  insulted  honor  and  uphold  the  inviolability  of  the  national 
flag.  —  Annual  British  Register  for  1861,  p.  254. 


1861.]  REPLY  TO  LIEUTENANT  MAURY.  369 

pears  in  the  evening  papers  of  to-day.  The  instinct  which 
prompted  me  before  hearing  any  opinions  on  the  subject  to  sit 
down  and  write  letters  home  urging  the  surrender  of  Mason  and 
Slidell  —  hard  as  such  fortune  was  —  shows  the  value  of  first 
impressions.  Instinct  and  reason,  unaided  by  much  knowledge 
of  international  law,  taught  me  that  it  was  not  right  to  take 
these  men  from  the  deck  of  a  neutral  ship.  .  .  .  We  do  not 
want  war  with  England.  Above  all,  we  do  not  want  it  unless 
our  cause  4  be  just.'  We  may  well  pause  in  the  present  case 
when  other  and  friendly  governments  are  against  us."  .  .  . 

Among  Secessionists  in  London  whose  published  utterances 
received  Mr.  Weed's  attention  was  Lieutenant  M.  F.  Maury, 
formerly  ^  of  the  United  States  Navy. 

"  Lieutenant  Maury's  letter  to  Admiral  Fitzroy,"  wrote  Mr. 
Weed,  to  the  London  "  Globe,"  "  induces  a  desire  that  your 
readers  may  have  the  opportunity  of  seeing  a  relief  view  of  that 
highly-colored  picture  of  the  American  civil  war ;  and  for  this 
purpose  I  beg  to  tax  your  courtesy  and  their  patience  with  a 
brief  reply. 

"  Long  in  charge  of  our  National  Observatory,  and  the  author 
of  that  valuable  work,  the  4  Physical  Geography  of  the  Sea,' 
Lieutenant  Maury  enjoys  a  world-wide  scientific  reputation,  of 
which  all  his  countrymen  were  justly  proud.  It  is  fortunate 
that  this  distinguished  officer,  in  seeking  submarine  '  knowledge 
under  difficulties,'  completed  his  nautical  discoveries  before  his 
mind  became  affected  with  political  prejudices,  —  else  their  ac 
curacy  and  value  might  be  questioned  and  impaired. 

"  In  America,  where  Lieutenant  Maury  is  universally  known, 
his  letter  will  awaken  painful  surprise,  —  painful,  in  that  a 
gentleman  who  belonged  to  the  Union  is  found  laboring  for 
its  destruction ;  surprise,  that  he  should  look  at  the  war  from  a 
standpoint  which  either  obscures  his  vision  or  clouds  his  judg 
ment. 

"  Perhaps  no  portion  of  his  letter  is  more  pregnant  or  sugges 
tive  than  its  opening  paragraph :  — 

MY  DEAR  ADMIRAL,  —  Since  this  nefarious  war  was  forced  upon  us, 
my  hands  have  been  busy  in  preparing  for  it ;  and  I  have  not  had 
either  the  time  or  the  opportunity  to  let  my  friends  and  former  fel 
low  laborers  on  your  side  of  the  water  know  what  has  become  of  me. 
My  country  was  torn  ;  the  Union  was  gone  ;  a  number  of  states  had 
24 


370  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

renounced  it.  In  this  breaking  up  of  our  once  happy  and  great  Re 
public  it  became  me  to  take  sides.  The  path  of  right  and  duty  was 
clear ;  and  here  I  am. 

"  A  very  few  words  will  suffice  to  show  that  the  bold  but 
naked  assumption,  that  c  this  nefarious  war  was  forced  upon ' 
the  Southern  States,  has  neither  leg  nor  crutch  to  stand  on. 
The  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  for  President  was  the  '  forced ' 
cause  of  '  this  nefarious  war.'  That  cause  was  deliberately 
created  by  the  Southern  States  —  created  intentionally,  as  the 
provocation  or  pretext  for  war.  The  Southern  or  Confederate 
States  had  the  votes  to  elect  a  pro-slavery  President  instead  of 
Mr.  Lincoln.  The  Democratic  national  convention,  which  met 
first  at  Charleston  and  then  at  Baltimore,  by  the  nomination  of 
Mr.  Guthrie,  former  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  or  Justice  Nel 
son,  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  would  have  beaten 
the  Kepublican  nominee.  But  this  would  have  thwarted  the 
long-cherished  purposes  of  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Louisiana, 
and  Mississippi.  Senators  Chesnut,  Slidell,  Toombs,  and  Mason, 
impatient  for  a  southern  confederacy,  would  brook  no  further 
delay.  Hence  the  Democratic  national  convention,  rent  in  twain, 
ran  two  candidates  (Breckenridge  and  Douglas)  in  order  that 
Lincoln  might  be  elected,  and  '  this  nefarious  war  forced  upon 
us.'  These  facts  are  of  record.  Again :  — 

On  the  20th  of  April,  finding  that  this,  my  native  State,  in  the  ex 
ercise  of  her  high  prerogative,  had  withdrawn  from  the  federal  Union 
and  appealed  to  her  sons  to  rally  around  her,  I  would  not,  I  could  not, 
and  did  not  hesitate  to  obey  the  call  and  hasten  to  her  relief. 

"  The  Virginia  convention,  after  a  protracted  struggle,  with 
the  convictions  of  a  majority  of  its  members  adverse  to  seces 
sion,  was  finally,  in  secret  session,  by  the  influence  of  leading 
politicians,  dragooned  into  a  vote  of  secession  ;  without,  how 
ever,  submitting  the  question  to  the  people,  to  whom  the  edict 
was  so  distasteful  that  Western  Virginia  revolted.  Its  inliabi- 

o 

tants  reorganized  their  state  government,  and  are  now,  as  the 
sovereign  State  of  West  Virginia,  loyal  to  the  Union.  So  that 
Lieutenant  Maury,  in  his  hot  haste  for  rebellion,  responded 
only  to  a  section  of  the  '  Ancient  Dominion.'  Again  :  — 

I  left  the  Observatory  at  Washington  once  more  a  free  citizen  of 
Virginia.  Its  associations,  the  treasures  there,  which,  with  your  help, 


1861.]  REPLY  TO   LIEUTENANT  MAURY.  371 

and  that  of  thousands  of  other  friendly  hands,  had  been  collected 
from  the  sea,  were  precious  to  me,  and  as  I  turned  my  back  upon  the 
place  a  tear  furrowed  my  cheek,  for  I  could  not  but  recollect  that  such 
things  were. 

"  It  is  easier  to  understand  why  these  sacrifices  '  furrowed  ' 
the  4  cheek  '  of  Lieutenant  Maury  with  a  '  tear,'  than  that  an 
officer  who  had  been  petted  all  his  life  was  capable  of  turning 
his  back  upon  his  country  and  its  flag ! 

The  Yankees,  as  only  those  who  are  making  war  upon  us  arc  now 
called,  have  shown  themselves  vindictive  to  a  degree  ;  they  have  vili 
fied  me  ;  they  have  set  a  price  upon  my  head. 

"  I  am  mortified  to  find  a  gentleman,  in  whose  veracity  I  had 
ever  placed  implicit  confidence,  drawing  upon  his  imagination 
for  his  facts.  No  '  price '  has  been  '  set  upon '  Lieutenant 
Maury's  '  head.'  Highly  as  it  was  once  appreciated,  he  errs  in 
supposing  that  it  would  command  a  premium  now. 

"  Lieutenant  Maury,  through  several  paragraphs,  enumerates 
imaginary  grievances,  to  which  I  would  reply  with  alacrity  if  it 
would  not  transcend  the  limits  to  which  I  propose  to  restrict 
this  letter :  — 

Finally,  in  1812,  to  protect  northern  interest  and  to  vindicate  the 
commercial  rights  of  New  England  —  for  the  South  had  neither  ships 
to  be  searched  nor  seamen  to  be  impressed  —  we  went  to  war  with  old 
England.  *  The  New  England  States  ignobly  backed  out  of  that  war, 
and  left  the  others  to  bear  the  brunt  of  it. 

"  The  war  of  1812  was  declared  while  Mr.  Madison,  a  Vir 
ginian,  was  President.  Congress  acted  upon  a  strong  warlike 
message  from  the  President.  The  bill  declaratory  of  war  was 
introduced  by  Mr.  Calhoun,  of  South  Carolina,  father  of  the 
existing  rebellion,  as  he  was  of  nullification  (rebellion  in  an 
other  form),  in  1832.  The  war  bill,  which  passed  the  House 
of  Representatives  by  a  vt>te  of  78  to  45,  was  carried  by  the 
representatives  from  the  Slave  States.  Nearly  two  thirds  of 
the  votes  against  the  bill  came  from  New  England  and  New 

O  £> 

York ;  while  full  two  thirds  of  the  affirmative  votes  came  from 
the  Slave  States,  including  all  their  leading  statesmen,  with  one 
exception,  John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke.  Mr.  Williams,  of 
North  Carolina,  it  may  be  even  yet  remembered,  invoked  the 
'thunder  and  lightning  of  Heaven  to  descend  upon  and  sink  the 
island  of  Great  Britain.' 


372  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

With  this  temper  in  the  northern  heart  and  mind  the  federal  gov 
ernment  found  itself  seized  with  a  vast  extent  of  unpeopled  lands,  the 
common  property  alike  of  all  the  states.  Much  of  it  had  been  given 
to  the  federal  government  by  the  Southern  States  for  the  benefit  of 
the  commonwealth ;  some  of  it  had  been  acquired  from  the  Indians 
by  treaty  and  purchase,  —  and  some  had  been  bought  from  France, 
Spain,  and  Mexico, — but  all  was  paid  for  out  of  the  common  treas 
ury.  Into  these  territories  the  North  now  insisted  that  the  Southern 
ers  should  not  go  unless  they  left  their  slaves  behind. 

"  Of  the  territory  thus  acquired,  seven  slave  states,  viz.,  Lou 
isiana,  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Arkansas,  Missouri,  Florida,  and 
Texas  (more  than  half  of  the  number  of  original  states,  which 
constituted  the  old  confederation)  were  formed  and  admitted 
into  the  Union.  The  wilderness  portion  of  that  territory,  lying 
west  and  north  of  this  belt  of  slave  states,  had,  by  the  Missouri 
compact,  been  reserved  for  free  men  ;  but  when,  after  entering 
upon  and  enjoying  the  more  fertile  and  '  lion's  share '  of  a  com 
mon  inheritance  for  thirty  years,  the  wilderness  began  to  bud, 
slavery  demanded  admission  into  Kansas. 

Upon  this  the  Northern  or  "  Free  States,"  as  they  are  called,  com 
bined.  Exceeding  us  in  number  of  states  and  polls  of  people,  they 
drew  a  geographical  line,  and  formally  divided  the  country  into  sec 
tions  —  North  and  South.  This  act,  lawfully  determined,  placed,  ac 
cording  to  the  forms  of  the  Constitution,  the  whole  federal  machinery 
—  executive,  legislative,  and  judicial  —  in  the  hands  of*  a  faction 
formed  of  fanatics,  and  banded  together  for  the  purpose  of  making 
war  upon  our  rights,  our  property,  and  our  liberties. 

"  This  wild  departure  from  indisputable  facts  shows  that 
Lieutenant  Maury's  mind  is  in  a  state  of  hallucination.  After 
the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  the  political  complexion  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  was  undecided,  with  the  chances  in 
favor  of  a  pro-slavery  majority ;  in  the  Senate  there  was  a  de 
cided  pro-slavery  majority ;  while  the  Supreme  Court,  always 
pro-slavery,  had  just  decided  that  a  negro,  in  its  judgment,  not 
possessing  any  attribute  of  the  human  species,  had  no  civil 
rights.  The  executive  department  of  the  government  alone, 
therefore,  was  in  hands  opposed  to  the  extension  of  slavery. 
The  States  of  South  Carolina,  Missouri,  Georgia,  etc.,  etc.,  had 
seceded  from  the  Union,  without  provocation  or  excuse,  before 
Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  inaugurated.  There  was,  as  will  be  seen, 


1861.]  REPLY  TO  LIEUTENANT  MAURY.  373 

no  power,  if  the  disposition  existed,  to  '  make  war '  upon  the 
4  rights,  property,  and  liberties '  of  the  South. 

The  contrast  is  frequently  drawn  by  our  old  men  between  the  con 
duct  of  the  English  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  the  conduct  of  the 
hordes  of  Lincoln  now.  The  English  invaded  us,  but  respected  the 
property  and  regarded  the  rights  of  unarmed  citizens.  The  same 
countries  have  been  invaded  by  Lincoln.  He  has  devastated  and  laid 
them  waste. 

He  has  set  aside  the  civil  authorities  and  declared  martial  law  to 
rule  in  their  stead,  and,  under  the  tyrant's  plea  he  is  proceeding  to  do 
a  great  many  acts  and  things  which  would  more  become  the  savage 
and  the  brute.  He  has  sent  against  us  an  army,  and  provided  them 
with  manacles  to  bind  us  in  his  prisons.  His  Zouaves  who  fell  at 
Manassas  were  equipped  with  halters  already  adjusted  for  our  necks 
and  the  lamp-post. 

"  That  individual  cases  of  excess  and  rapacity,  incident  to 
raw  troops  of  every  nation,  have  occurred,  I  do  not  deny.  But 
that  our  government  has  authorized  or  tolerated  them  is  not 
true.  Our  treatment  of  prisoners,  and  our  respect  for  non-com 
batants,  is  a  distinguishing  feature  in  our  favor.  Indeed,  it  has 
been  hard  for  our  northern  troops  to  engage  in  this  war  '  with 
a  will.'  While  our  enemies  lie  in  ambush  to  shoot  sentinels, 
and  in  battle  aim  systematically  at  officers,  we  have  failed  to 
retaliate  in  either  respect.  The  '  halter'  and  'manacle'  are  un 
worthy  of  the  Lieutenant  Maury  I  once  knew  and  respected. 

"  Nor  is  Lieutenant  Maury  more  fortunate  in  the  '  contrasts ' 
lie  challenges.  The  federal  army,  wherever  it  goes,  spares 
towns  and  respects  household  property.  Not  so  with  the  rebel 
army.  In  retreating  from  Gosport,  Harper's  Ferry,  and  Hamp 
ton,  they  kindled  incendiary  fires,  leaving  the  old,  infirm,  and 
poor,  homeless  and  destitute. 

"  Lieutenant  Maury  seeks  favor  from  England  by  impugning 
history.  England  did  in  the  war  of  1812  invade,  capture,  and 
burn  Buffalo,  Frenchtown,  Havre  de  Grace,  and  Alexandria. 
We  have  taken  Alexandria,  Beaufort,  Accomac,  and  other 
towns  without  burning  any  one  of  them. 

"  With  much  that  follows,  designed  to  excite  prejudice  in 
England  against  the  North,  I  forbear  to  deal,  because  it  can 
only  be  answered  by  rebutting  generalities.  But  I  dwell  a  mo 
ment  upon  a  tangible  averment :  — 


374  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

New  Englanders  are  proverbially  sharp,  keen,  and  cute  ;  so  hav 
ing  once  tasted  of  the  treasury  pap,  through  cunningly  devised  tariff 
bills,  they  soon  discovered  that  heavy  expenditures  from  the  federal 
treasury  would  necessitate  high  tariffs ;  then  they  went  for  an  extrav 
agant  government,  and  engineered  with  Congress  for  large  appropria 
tions.  To  create  demands  upon  the  national  purse,  they  established 
navy  yards  where  they  were  not  required  ;  built  forts  where  they  were 
not  wanted ;  erected  lighthouses  where  they  were  not  needed  ;  and  ac 
tually  studded  the  northern  seaboard  with  establishments  of  this  sort, 
while  the  whole  southern  coast,  from  the  capes  of  Virginia  all  the 
way  round  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  'Grande  in  Texas,  was  but  badly 
lighted,  though  the  navigation  along  the  southern  bays  is  most  difficult 
and  dangerous. 

"  This  statement  when  read  in  America  will  create  very  gen 
eral  astonishment.  In  the  Northern  States  there  are  four  navy 
yards,  namely,  at  Philadelphia,  Brooklyn,  Boston,  and  Ports 
mouth  ;  and  while  materials  and  labor  are  much  more  expen 
sive,  and  other  facilities  inferior,  an  equal  number  of  navy  yards 
were  established  in  the  Southern  States,  namely,  at  Washington, 
Norfolk,  Pensacola,  and  Memphis.  And  in  reference  to  forti 
fications,  vastly  more  money  has  been  expended  upon  southern 
than  upon  northern  fortifications.  This  fact  is  patent  to  every 
eye  that  contrasts  the  formidable  and  massive  fortresses  at  the 
Rip  Raps,  Old  Point  Comfort,  Charleston,  and  Pensacola,  with 
the  inferior  structures  designed  for  the  defense  of  Boston  and 
New  York.  Nor  do  I  doubt,  though  I  cannot  speak  with  knowl 
edge,  that  the  southern  coast  is  as  well  lighted  as  the  northern. 

u  Lieutenant  Maury  quotes  from  an  act  of  the  Virginia 
legislature  of  1788,  in  which  he  affects  to  find  the  right  of  seces 
sion,  but  which  does  not  exist,  although  the  act  itself  is  emas 
culated  to  enable  him  to  reach  an  unauthorized  conclusion.  Vir 
ginia  entered  unconditionally  into  the  Union.  Her  early  and 
ablest  statesmen,  whose  wisdom  and  patriotism  confound  the 
fallacies  and  rebuke  the  treason  of  their  degenerate  descend 
ants,  lived  and  died  in  the  faith  of  Washington,  whose  farewell 
address  admonished  his  countrymen  to  '  frown  indignantly  upon 
the  first  dawning  of  an  attempt '  to  separate  the  states,  or  dis 
solve  the  Union. 

"  Although  Lieutenant  Maury's  letter  invites  it,  I  will  not 


1861.]  REPLY  TO  LIEUTENANT  MAURY.  375 

presume  further  upon  a  journal  whose  columns  have  been  so 
liberally  devoted  to  American  topics  ;  and  conclude  by  revers 
ing  his  assertion,  concerning  4  this  nefarious  war '  (and  history 
points  to  none  so  wanton  and  causeless)  which  was  4  forced '  not 
upon  the  South,  but  upon  the  North." 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 
1861. 

DESPATCHES  TO  LORD  LYONS.  —  "A  PEEP  INTO  THE  BAG." — RELEASE 
OF  THE  REBEL  COMMISSIONERS.  —  How  THE  NEWS  WAS  RECEIVED  IN 
LONDON.  —  JOHN  CASSELL.  —  EDWARD  ELLICE.  —  SIR  HENRY  HOL 
LAND.  —  His  CALL  ON  COMMODORE  VANDERBILT.  —  LETTERS  TO  MR. 
WEED.  —  JOSEPH  PARKES.  —  THE  "  JUNIUS  "  QUESTION.  —  AN  APT 
ANECDOTE.  —  SIR  CURTIS  LAMPSON. 

DESPATCHES  concerning  the  Trent  affair  which  were  to  go 
out  to  Lord  Lyons  for  transmission  to  our  government  were 
forwarded  by  Lord  John  Russell  to  the  Queen,  at  whose  request 
Prince  Albert,  though  then  dangerously  ill,  reviewed  them  care 
fully.  In  an  unofficial  conversation  with  Lord  Lyons,  before 
any  message  reached  this  country,  Mr.  Seward  intimated  that 
everything  would  depend  upon  the  wording  of  it ;  and  it  is 
easy  to  see  that  this  was  the  literal  truth ;  for,  had  England 
called  for  the  release  of  Slidell  and  Mason  in  insolent  or  aggra 
vating  language,  it  would  have  been  impossible  for  the  American 
Secretary  of  State,  acting  for  a  proud,  sensitive,  and  excited 
nation,  to  comply. 

Information  received  by  Mr.  Weed  at  this  time  from  a  con 
fidential  source  greatly  lessened  his  anxiety  touching  the  tone  of 
these  despatches.  Lady  Kinnaird,  whose  devotion  to  our  cause 
entitles  her  to  grateful  remembrance,  was  a  relative  of  Lady 
Palmerston,  with  whom  she  frequently  passed  the  afternoon 
and  evening.  After  the  House  adjourned,  Lord  Kinnaird,  then 
a  member  of  Parliament,  drove  home  with  Lord  Palmerston. 
On  leaving  Lord  Palmerston,  Lord  and  Lady  Kinnaird  drove 
immediately  to  Mr.  Weed's  lodgings  for  the  purpose  of  impart 
ing,  in  strict  confidence,  information  of  the  utmost  importance. 
When  Lord  Palmerston  returned  from  Windsor,  after  an  inter 
view  with  the  Queen,  he  left  his  portfolio  on  the  table  in  the 
library,  where  the  ladies  were  sitting,  and  repaired  to  the  din 
ing-room. 


1861.]  DESPATCHES   TO  LORD  LYONS.  377 

In  his  absence,  one  of  the  ladies  of  the  family,  remarking 
that  she  would  "  have  a  peep  into  the  bag,"  opened  the  portfolio 
containing  the  despatches  to  Lord  Lyons.  With  these  papers 
there  was  also  inclosed  the  following  memorandum  in  the  hand 
writing  of  the  Prince  Consort,  with  corrections  and  interlinea 
tions  in  the  handwriting  of  the  Queen  : 

[MEMORANDUM  BY  PRINCE  ALBERT,  CORRECTED  BY  THE  QUEEX.] 

WINDSOR  CASTLE,  December  1,  18G1. 

The  Queen  returns  these  important  drafts,  which  upon  the  whole 
she  approves ;  but  she  cannot  help  feeling  that  the  main  draft,  that 
for  communication  to  the  American  government,  is  somewhat  meagre. 
She  should  have  liked  to  have  seen  the  expression  of  a  hope  that  the 
American  captain  did  not  act  under  instructions,  or,  if  he  did,  that  he 
misapprehended  them,  that  the  United  States  government  must  be 
fully  aware  that  the  British  government  could  not  allow  its  flag  to  be 
insulted,  and  the  security  of  her  mail  communications  to  be  placed  in 
jeopardy ;  and  her  Majesty's  government  are  unwilling  to  believe  that 
the  United  States  government  intended  wantonly  to  put  an  insult  upon 
this  country,  and  to  add  to  their  many  distressing  complications  by 
forcing  a  question  of  dispute  upon  us,  and  that  we  are  therefore  glad 
to  believe  that  upon  a  full  consideration  of  the  circumstances  of  the 
undoubted  breach  of  international  law  committed,  they  would  spon 
taneously  offer  such  redress  as  alone  could  satisfy  this  country ;  namely, 
the  restoration  of  the  unfortunate  passengers  and  a  suitable  apology. 

The  despatches  to  Lord  Lyons  were  then  taken  from  the 
portfolio  by  the  lady  who  held  it  in  her  hand,  and  read  as  fol 
lows  :  — 

Her  Majesty's  government  bearing  in  mind  the  friendly  relations 
which  have  long  subsisted  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States,  are  willing  to  believe  that  the  United  States  naval  officer  who 
committed  this  aggression  was  not  acting  in  compliance  with  any  au 
thority  from  his  government ;  or  that,  if  he  conceived  himself  to  be  so 
authorized,  he  greatly  misunderstood  the  instructions  which  he  had 
received.  For  the  government  of  the  United  States  must  be  fully 
aware  that  the  British  government  could  not  allow  such  an  affront  to 
the  national  honor  to  pass  without  full  reparation  ;  and  her  Majesty's 
government  are  unwilling  to  believe  that  it  could  be  the  deliberate 
intention  of  the  government  of  the  United  States  unnecessarily  to 
force  into  discussion  between  the  two  governments  a  question  of  so 
grave  a  character,  and  with  regard  to  Avhich  the  whole  British  nation 
would  be  sure  to  entertain  such  unanimity  of  feeling. 


378  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

Her  Majesty's1  government  therefore  trust  that,  when  this  matter 
shall  have  been  brought  under  the  consideration  of  the  United  States, 
that  government  will  of  its  own  accord  offer  to  the  British  govern 
ment  such  redress  as  alone  could  satisfy  the  British  nation  ;  namely, 
the  liberation  of  the  four  gentlemen,  and  their  delivery  to  your  lord 
ship,  in  order  that  they  may  again  be  placed  under  British  protection, 
and  a  suitable  apology  for  the  aggression  which  has  been  committed. 

The  information  communicated  to  Mr.  Weed,  that  in  place 
of  a  harsh  and  peremptory  demand  for  the  surrender  of  the 
rebel  commissioners,  considerate  language  had  been  substituted, 
was  a  source  of  great  encouragement.  When,  finally,  news 
reached  London  that  the  American  government  had  determined 
to  release  Messrs.  Mason  and  Slidell,  Mr.  Weed  was  over 
whelmed  with  a  sense  of  obligation  to  the  Prince  and  Queen, 
whose  humane  intervention,  at  a  most  critical  moment,  were  so 
exercised  as  to  avert  a  third  war  between  £he  United  States  and 
England. 

[MR.    SEWARD   TO   MR.    WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  December  27,  1861.1 

MY  DEAR  WEED,  —  Of  course  I  am  unable  to  write  a  reply  to  your 
many  letters,  which  are  very  useful ;  and  now,  when  possible,  are  shown 
to  the  President,  and  hailed  with  pleasure  by  the  Cabinet. 

You  will  see  what  has  been  done.  You  will  know  who  did  it.  You 
will  hardly  be  more  able  to  shield  me  from  the  reproach  of  doing  it, 
than  you  have  been  to  shield  me  in  England  from  the  reproach  of 
hostility  to  that  country,  and  designs  for  war  against  it.  I  saw  the 
Duke  of  Newcastle  at  Albany,  and  there  had  only  the  few  words  pos 
sible  on  the  way  from  the  hotel  to  the  cars.  The  whole  story,  as  I  see 
it  here,  is  a  mistake.  I  never  said  or  thought  a  word  like  it,  but  all  I 
could  have  said  is  so  opposite,  that  I  am  amazed  that  he  lets  it  pass, 
except  it  be  on  the  ground  I  do,  that  it  is  impossible  to  correct  popular 
errors  engendered  in  political  heads. 
Why  not  go  and  ask  him  about  it? 

Yours  faithfully,  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 

"  London  was  jubilant  yesterday,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed,  the  day 
after  the  American  decision  reached  England.  "  I  was  in  the 
city,  among  the  bankers,  at  half  past  three  o'clock,  when  a  tele 
gram  from  Queenstown  announced  as  a  rumor  that  the  Trent 
affair  had  been  settled.  It  gave  instant  life  to  a  drooping  stock 
1  The  day  after  the  reply  of  this  country  was  sent  to  Lord  Lyons. 


1861.]  THE   COMMISSIONERS  RELEASED.  379 

market.  In  a  few  minutes  information  came  that  a  despatch 
in  cipher  from  Lord  Lyons  was  going  over  the  wires  to  the 
Foreign  Office.  Up  went  the  stocks  again.  Then  came  the  re 
port  that  the  rebel  commissioners  were  on  their  way  to  Eng 
land,  and  another  jump  in  consols. 

"  With  this  very  satisfactory  intelligence  I  took  a  hansom 
and  came  to  the  West  End,  stopping  on  the  way  to  exchange 
congratulations  with  friends  warmly  with  us  for  the  Union. 
Soon  after  I  reached  my  lodgings  came  Sir  Henry  Holland, 
Sir  J.  Emerson  Tennent,  Sir  John  Wilson,  and  others,  to  ex 
change  congratulations.  At  dinner  came  Commissioner  Parkes, 
to  say  that  Earl  Russell's  despatch  from  Lord  Lyons  informed 
him  that  the  Confederate  emissaries  had  been  unconditionally 
surrendered,  whereupon  we  repaired  to  the  Legation,  to  con 
gratulate  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Adams. 

"  Viewing  the  Trent  affair  as  I  have  viewed  it  from  the  be 
ginning,  the  surrender  of  Mason  and  Slidell  is  an  act  as  just 
in  itself  as  honorable  to  our  government.  An  officer  in  our 
navy,  devoted  and  zealous,  acting  from  his  own  convictions,  may 
err  ;  and  if  so,  it  is  no  reflection  upon  him  if  his  government, 
upon  due  consideration,  corrects  his  error.  The  maritime  gov 
ernments  of  the  world  are  all  deeply  interested  —  and  none 
more  so  than  America  —  in  defining,  maintaining,  and  protect 
ing  neutral  rights.  This  noble  example  of  deference  to  interna 
tional  law  is  worth  vastly  more  to  us  in  principle  than  it  costs 
in  feeling. 

"  There  are  two  classes  here  to  whom  the  action  of  our  gov 
ernment  is  distasteful,  namely,  the  English,  who  from  hatred 
or  envy  —  and  this  is  not  a  numerous  class  —  wanted  war  ;  and 
the  Secessionists.  Out  of  the  Trent  affair  they  hoped  every 
thing  for  the  Rebellion.  ...  I  am  sorry  to  add  that,  although 
the  Trent  trouble  is  out  of  the  way,  we  shall  need  the  ser 
vices  of  all  our  friends  in  England.  The  moment  Parliament 
meets,  agitation  of  American  questions  will  begin.  The  block 
ade  will  be  attacked  from  one  quarter,  while  another  section 
will  demand  recognition  of  the  independence  of  the  Confederate 
States.  Nor  is  it  from  England  alone  that  this  kind  of  pressure 
will  come.  France  is  even  more  restive  than  England  under 
the  blockade." 

Among  congenial  acquaintances  formed  by  Mr.  Weed  while 


380  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

in  London  was  Mr.  John  Cassell,  whose  publishing  house  was 
then  the  largest  in  England.  Mr.  Cassell  was  a  staunch  friend 
of  the  American  Union.  Many  pleasant  evenings  were  spent 
at  his  hospitable  home,  on  Avenue  Road,  Hyde  Park,  where  Mr. 
Weed  met,  among  other  celebrities,  Mr.  George  Cruikshank, 
then  apparently  about  fifty  years  of  age,  but  really  sixty-nine, 
—  "a  quiet  gentleman,"  he  wrote,  " who  attributes  his  good 
health  to  abstinence  from  strong  drink." 

Another  English  friend  in  whose  company  many  happy  hours 
were  passed  was  the  late  Edward  Elliee,  —  a  man  after  Mr. 
Weed's  own  model.  Mr.  Ellice  was  a  passenger  up  the  Hudson 
on  Fulton's  first  steamboat,  "  a  dreadful  apparition  "  watched 
by  Mr.  Weed  himself  in  1807.  Mr.  Ellice  represented  Coven 
try  in  Parliament  from  1818  to  18G3,  with  the  exception  of  the 
period  from  1826  to  1830.  The  first  English  merchant  to  go 
from  the  counting-house  to  the  Cabinet,  in  1830  he  became  Sec 
retary  of  the  Treasury,  and  in  1833  Secretary  of  War.  A 
peerage  was  within  his  reach,  but  was  unsought.  Shortly  after 
his  death,  his  son,  also  for  many  years  a  member  of  Parliament, 
and  also  a  friend  of  Mr.  Weed,  wrote  :  — 

[EDWARD  ELLICE  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

INVERGARRY,  November  2,  1863. 

MY  DEAR  MR.  WEED,  — ...  The  last  letter  but  one  which  my 
father  wrote  was  directed  to  you.  The  last  was  to  myself.  I  was  at 
this  place,  a  few  miles  from  where  he  was  staying,  and  he  wrote  to 
me,  late  on  the  evening  of  the  16th,  telling  me  what  his  plans  were 
for  the  next  day.  When  the  letter  came  he  was  no  more.  .  .  . 

Your  friendship  was  reciprocal.  During-  your  stay  in  London  he 
conceived  a  great  regard  for  you,  and  often  expressed  to  me  the  pleas 
ure  he  derived  from  your  society  and  conversation.  I  remember  well 
his  saying,  one  day,  after  you  had  left,  when  you  had  been  breakfast 
ing  with  him  and  discoursing  of  events,  "  What  a  good  fellow  Weed 
is !  If  there  were  half  a  dozen  men  with  the  same  common  sense, 
there  would  yet  be  hope  for  a  settlement."  You  knew  his  views  upon 
America.  His  letters  to  you  sufficiently  indicate  them.  He  was  a 
citizen  of  the  world,  but  all  his  associations,  from  the  earliest  period  of 
his  life,  were  connected  with  your  country,  and  made  him  take  a  warm 
interest  in  what  concerned  ita  welfare.  But  he  could  not  bring  him 
self  to  view  the  present  state  of  its  affairs  in  the  popular  light. 

He  thought  the  Northern  States  risked  too  much  in  striving  to  main- 


1861.]  SIR  HENRY  HOLLAND.  381 

tain  a  nominal  mastery,  and  lost  sight  of  the  practical  object.  He 
seemed  to  think  that  by  a  concentration  of  their  power  they  would  ob 
tain  a  more  real  control,  and  must  of  necessity  remain,  whatever  might 
be  the  changes  in  other  parts,  masters  of  the  continent.  .  .  . 

But  I  did  not  take  up  my  pen  to  enter  upon  politics.  It  was  to 
thank  you  for  your  kindly  remembrance  of  past  days,  and  to  express  a 
hope  that  when  you  again  come  to  England  you  will  allow  me  the  ad 
vantage  of  the  same  friendly  relations  which  gave  my  father  so  much 
enjoyment.  Mrs.  Ellice  desires  to  be  most  kindly  remembered  to  you, 
and  believe  me,  my  dear  Mr.  Weed, 

Your  sincere  friend,  EDWARD  ELLICE. 

Sir  Henry  Holland  was  one  of  the  survivors  of  the  genera 
tion  which  was  in  its  prime  when  Sir  Walter  Scott  and  Words 
worth  were  flourishing  in  England.  He  was  the  physician 
of  Lord  Brougham,  Sydney  Smith,  Macaulay,  ITallam,  Lord 
Lansdowne,  Sir  W.  Pepys,  and  Madame  D'Arblay.  Both 
he  and  Mr.  Ellice  were  friends  of  Lord  Byron.  Between  Sir 
Henry,  who  was  a  zealous  friend  of  the  Union,  as  well  as  a 
warm  personal  friend  of  President  Lincoln,  and  Mr.  Weed 
there  were  for  many  years  affectionate  relations.  In  London 
they  were  together  constantly,  and,  presumptuous  as  the  plan 
was,  they  determined,  when  Mr.  Weed  was  over  seventy  years 
of  age  and  Sir  Henry  over  eighty,  to  make  a  journey  together 
to  California  and  Oregon. 

The  last  time  that  he  was  in  this  country  Sir  Henry,  on  the 
morning  of  his  departure  for  Liverpool,  breakfasted  with  Mr. 
Weed.  "  Now  let  us  see,"  said  the  host,  when  the  meal  was 
finished,  "  have  we  got  through  with  everything  ?  "  "  No,"  Sir 
Henry  answered.  "  There  is  one  of  your  merchant  princes  of 
whom  I  have  heard  a  great  deal  —  Mr.  A.  T.  Stewart,  whom 
I  should  like  to  see."  "  I  will  take  you  to  him,"  said  Mr. 
Weed.  But,  as  he  spoke,  another  well-known  American  came 
to  mind,  and  he  added,  "  There  is  another  friend  of  mine  I 
should  be  glad  to  have  you  meet  first,"  and  together  they  drove 
to  the  private  office  of  Commodore  Vanderbilt.  After  the  usual 
expressions  of  introduction,  Sir  Henry  said,  "  I  should  like,  if 
you  will  permit  me,  sir,  to  see  your  bureaus  of  affairs."  "What 
bureaus  ?  "  asked  the  Commodore.  "Your  departments  of  busi 
ness.  Where  do  you  conduct  your  affairs  ?  "  "  There,"  said 
Mr.  Vanderbilt,  pointing  to  a  boy  at  the  opposite  end  of  the 


382  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

room  seated  on  a  stool.  "  The  rest  is  there,"  said  Mr.  Weed, 
pointing  to  the  Commodore's  head.  "  But  come,  pull  out  your 
business  drawer  for  Sir  Henry.  Show  him  your  materials  for 
work."  The  Commodore  pulled  out  the  drawer,  when  to  the 
astonishment  of  the  eminent  Briton,  its  contents  were  found  to 
be  a  check-book  and  a  box  of  cigars. 

Subsequently  Sir  Henry  went  over  "  Stewart's,"  and,  as  he 
drove  back  to  Mr.  Weed's,  remarked,  "  I  see  that  Mr.  Stewart 
is  a  keen,  close  man  of  business ;  that  he  directs  everything. 
But  your  Commodore  is  a  genius."  Mr.  Weed  then  spoke  of 
Mr.  Vanderbilt's  passion  for  trotting-horses  and  his  habit  of 
spending  many  hours  in  the  open  air.  "  I  divined  as  much," 
said  the  physician,  "  from  the  freshness  and  ease  with  which  he 
transacts  affairs." 

[SIR   HENRY   HOLLAND    TO    MR.    WEED.] 

LONDON,  August  8,  1863. 

DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  I  cannot  feel  satisfied  in  leaving  London,  as 
I  shall  soon,  for  my  autumnal  vacation,  without  writing  a  few  lines  to 
thank  you  for  your  letter  of  the  5th  July.  It  is  gratifying  to  me  to 
obtain  the  friendly  intercourse  we  established  during  your  stay  here; 
still  more  gratifying  would  it  be,  could  you  tell  me  of  the  success  of 
those  upright  and  patriotic  endeavors  which  you  are  ever  directing 
toward  the  reestablishment  of  peace  and  union  in  America.  Hitherto, 
alas !  I  see  no  light  through  the  gloaming,  nor  any  avenue  through 
which  good  counsel  and  prudent  action  may  find  their  way  to  the  ob 
ject  desired. 

Looking  at  the  whole  series  of  events  as  dispassionately  as  I  can,  I 
confess  that  I  am  unable  to  reach  any  other  conclusion  than  that  of 
separation,  —  a  fulfillment  of  the  prediction  which  I  heard  Daniel 
Webster  utter  on  the  subject  seventeen  or  eighteen  years  ago.  There 
can  be  no  such  conquest  as  to  compel  reunion.  If  it  ever  occurs,  I 
think  it  far  more  likely  to  happen  after  a  temporary  and  amicable  sep 
aration.  I  know  and  well  appreciate  the  peculiar  difficulties  of  territo 
rial  arrangement,  and  a  border  line  ;  but  out  of  the  necessity  of  finding 
a  solution,  a  solution  will  come.  I  believe  the  North  would  eventu 
ally  gain  more  by  separation  than  the  South.  I  fear  any  protraction 
of  the  war,  as  endangering  the  unity  and  integrity  of  the  former. 

The  idea  of  any  intervention  on  the  side  of  Europe  is,  I  think, 
wholly  without  foundation  ;  I  cannot,  indeed,  speak  for  France,  —  but 
I  am  persuaded,  from  private  intercourse,  as  well  as  public  decla 
ration  here,  that  the  intention  of  our  government  at  present  is  not  to 


1861.]  SIR   HENRY  HOLLAND'S  LETTERS.  383 

intervene  in  any  way  whatsoever.  The  speech  of  the  Queen  on  proro 
gation  of  Parliament  is  a  simple  but  clear  expression  of  this  intention. 

You  will  be  solicitous  to  know  the  state  of  public  feeling-  here,  as 
well  as  the  course  of  government  policy.  I  fear  I  can  say  little  that 
is  satisfactory  on  this  subject.  Events  that  have  occurred  since  you 
left  England  have  all  tended  to  obliterate  sympathy  with  the  north 
ern  cause,  even  among  those  who  were  most  attached  to  it  at  first.  It 
may  be  well  to  mention  to  you  (who  take  so  much  practical  interest  in 
the  good  feeling  of  the  two  countries  toward  each  other)  some  of  the 
causes  which  I  see  have  contributed  most  to  this  effect.  I  would  name 
as  such  the  confiscation,  and  other  strong  measures  of  recent  adoption  ; 
the  conduct  of  General  Butler,  and  some  other  local  authorities,  on  the 
scene  of  war ;  the  report  of  the  committee  on  fraudulent  contracts  by 
persons  in  high  office ;  the  proofs  variously  given  of  the  excitement  of 
more  southern  sentiment  in  the  North  than  of  Union  feeling  in  the 
South ;  the  absence  of  all  negro  insurrection,  which  here  has  been 
fully  expected  ;  the  arbitrary  form  the  government  has  assumed  in 
the  North ;  and  your  recent  tariffs,  adding  much  to  the  distress 
created  in  our  manufacturing  districts  by  the  want  of  cotton.  I 
might  name  one  or  two  other  causes  which  I  perceive  to  have  effect, 
namely,  a  certain  sympathy  with  the  South  as  the  weaker  party,  and 
an  admiration  of  their  unexpected  vigor  and  unity  of  action,  and  the 
dignified  tone  of  such  of  their  public  documents  as  have  reached  us  ; 
and  further,  the  intimation  we  get,  by  letters  and  otherwise,  of  the 
still-continued  violence  of  feeling  in  the  North  against  England,  —  a 
feeling  which  is  regarded  here  as  fully  unwarranted  by  anything  that 
has  occurred  in  the  course  of  events.  It  is  felt  here  —  and  in  this 
feeling  I  cannot  but  concur  —  that  the  conduct  both  of  the  govern 
ment  and  Parliament  has  been  one  of  consistent  forbearance  through 
out,  I  will  say  no  more  on  this  subject, — perhaps  I  have  already 
said  too  much,  in  making  myself  thus  far  the  interpreter  of  opinions 
here  ;  and  still  more  in  expressing  my  own  judgment  on  points  so  dif 
ficult  to  reason  or  act  upon,  even  with  far  better  information  than  any 
I  possess. 

Everything  of  English  news  you  will  gather  from  the  papers.  But 
for  this  local  distress  (which  has  been  admirably  borne  thus  far)  we 
should  be  in  a  very  prosperous  state.  But  there  are  clouds  still  rest 
ing  on  Europe.  The  Pope  and  Garibaldi  agitate  bitterly  in  different 
directions.  In  Servia,  and  other  of  the  Slavonian  provinces  of  Tur 
key,  there  are  disturbances  which  gain  importance  by  involving  higher 
questions  and  greater  powers.  It  would  seem  as  if  the  human  race 
had  the  destiny  of  unceasing  war  and  formation  inscribed  upon  it.  No 
international  exhibitions  are  of  avail  against  this  primeval  curse. 


384  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

I  am  on  the  point  of  taking  my  own  departure  from  London  in  a 
few  days,  first  to  visit  the  Duke  of  Argyle  and  Edward  Ellice,  in 
Scotland,  where  I  shall  remain  nearly  a  month  ;  then  to  see  some  of 
the  northern  parts  of  Spain,  with  which  I  am  less  familiar  than  other 
parts  of  that  kingdom.  I  shall  pass  a  week  in  London  about  the  mid 
dle  of  September,  between  these  two  journeys,  and  should  gladly  have 
a  few  lines  from  you  at  that  time,  giving  me,  if  you  are  able  to  do  so, 
some  happier  news  from  America  as  to  the  progress  of  events  there 
and  the  prospect  of  the  future.  In  reference  to  the  latter,  I  earnestly 
wish  (as  I  have  always  done)  that  some  other  terms  than  "  rebellion  " 
and  "  rebels  "  had  been  adopted  at  the  outset  of  this  struggle.  Words 
and  names  govern  the  world,  and  these  names  add  to  the  difficulty  of 
a  speedy  and  satisfactory  close  of  the  war.  But  I  cannot  close  my 
letter  without  repeating  my  conviction  that  it  must  be  brought  to  an 
end  as  the  sole  means  of  averting  other  internal  changes,  still  more 
disastrous  in  their  effects.  I  have  some  apology  to  make  to  you  for 
writing  so  long  and  so  conclusively  on  this  subject.  But  I  feel  that  I 
am  writing  confidentially  to  one  who  has  a  still  deeper  and  more  en 
during  interest  in  it.  I  am  sure  your  efforts  will  always  be  directed 
to  what  is  for  the  best.  Pray  remember  me  with  all  kindness  to  Miss 
Weed,  and  believe  me,  Yours  sincerely,  H.  HOLLAND. 

BROOK  STREET,  LONDON,  May  14,  1864. 

DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  So  long  a  time  has  elapsed  since  our  last  com 
munication  by  letter  that  I  am  becoming  solicitous  for  a  renewal  of  our 
correspondence,  —  partly  from  my  earnest  desire  to  hear  good  tidings 
of  yourself  and  of  Miss  Weed,  partly  from  my  wish  to  know  your 
opinion  of  all  that  is  going  on  around  you  at  this  critical  time.  You 
are  well  aware  of  the  great  interest  I  feel  in  American  affairs,  and  of 
my  anxiety  that  this  unhappy  struggle  should  be  brought  to  a  speedy 
end  by  any  means  that  may  be  honorable  in  themselves  and  safe  for 
the  future.  You  know  that  I  have  thought  much  on  the  subject,  and 
with  the  advantage  of  more  knowledge  than  perhaps  is  common  on 
this  side  the  Atlantic.  On  all  main  points  my  opinion  remains  the 
same  as  it  was  two  years  ago.  It  has  been  confirmed,  indeed,  by  all 
the  events  which  have  occurred.  You  know  the  tenor  of  these  opin 
ions,  and  therefore  I  will  not  weary  you  by  repeating  them,  more  es 
pecially  as  some  of  the  suggestions  I  venture  to  find  in  them  are  un 
happily  less  applicable  now  than  they  might  possibly  have  been  when 
I  was  with  you.  The  near  approach  of  the  presidential  election  has 
added  to  the  other  complications  of  the  subject. 

It  is  particularly  on  this  latter  point  I  am  anxious  to  hear  from  you. 
Of  military  events  the  newspapers  give  us  information  more  or  less 


1861.]  SIR   HENRY  HOLLAND'S  LETTERS.  385 

exact ;  but  of  the  internal  movements  arising  out  of  party  or  personal 
interests,  in  an  election  of  such  vital  importance  to  the  United  States, 
I  am  most  solicitous  to  obtain  the  judgment  of  one  so  well  fitted  as 
you  are,  by  sound  sense  and  integrity,  to  give  a  just  opinion.  I  can 
not  myself  hazard  even  a  surmise  on  the  subject.  All  I  see  is  the  ne 
cessity  (for  I  would  use  no  less  a  word)  of  having  a  President  at  this 
juncture  able,  by  his  high  personal  character,  moral  and  intellectual,  and 
by  his  freedom  from  party  taint,  to  meet  the  emergencies  of  the  time 
and  those  which  must  inevitably  follow  a  war  of  this  character  and  du 
ration,  whatever  be  its  result.  The  certainty  I  feel  that  such  emer 
gencies  will  progressively  augment  and  become  more  difficult  of  solu 
tion  as  the  war  goes  on  makes  me  most  earnest  for  all  or  anything  that 
may  tend  to  pacification.  No  one  can  see  more  strongly  than  I  do  dif 
ficulties  which  stand  in  the  way  of  peace.  But  they  are  difficulties 
hardly  susceptible  of  being  removed  by  any  probable  events  of  war, 
and  I  therefore  would  fain  hope  that  they  may  be  met  speedily  by  the 
firm  and  honest  desire  of  removing  them,  if  possible. 

The  main  difficulty  is  doubtless  concentrated  in  the  question  as  to 
separation  or  reunion.  In  seeking  to  establish  the  latter,  regard  must 
ever  be  had  to  the  danger  of  creating  further  separation.  You  may 
remember  my  aspirations  for  "  a  convention  called  for  the  reconstruc 
tion  of  the  Union  and  for  such  changes  in  the  Constitution  as  time  and 
events  may  have  rendered  necessary."  ]  I  think  an  invitation  should 
be  addressed  to  the  South  to  join  in  such  a  convention.  Refusing 
which,  they  injure  their  own  position  :  accepting  which,  the  door,  at 
least,  is  opened  for  pacification.  I  am  convinced  that  the  present 
Congress  can  do  nothing  towards  ending  the  war.  It  will  require  an 
assembly  of  those  citizens  of  the  commonwealth  who  have  acquired 
public  esteem  by  their  public  virtues.  I  fear,  however,  it  is  not  at  this 
moment  when  such  a  convention  may  be  reasonably  spoken  of.  The 
excitement  of  the  impending  election  and  the  bloody  struggle  in  Vir 
ginia  supersede  for  a  time  anything  besides. 

I  had  not  designed  to  have  written  so  much  on  this  distressing  sub 
ject.  I  will  now  pass  to  others. 

Mr.  Evarts  you  will  probably  have  seen  already.  He  will  tell  you 
of  all  your  friends  in  England.  He  has  well  kept  up  here  the  high 
esteem  he  gained  on  his  first  visit.  My  family,  or  rather  I  may  say 
the  four  families  of  which  I  have  the  headship,  are  all  well  and  very 
prosperous.  I  am  fortunate  in  most  excellent  children,  whom  I  can 
blame  only  for  multiplying  grandchildren  rather  too  rapidly. 

The  newspapers  will  tell  you  of  our  European  war,  overwhelming 

1  Mr.  Weed  favored  such  a  convention  late  in  I860,  hoping  that  it  might 
be  the  means  of  averting  war. 
25 


386  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

brave  little  Denmark.  The  feeling  in  England  is  strong  and  almost 
unanimous,  and  yet  there  is  nothing  to  make  a  casus  belli.  It  will 
perhaps,  however,  favorably  impress  the  conference  now  sitting  here  to 
settle  the  question.  I  sent  by  the  mail  bag  last  week  a  copy  of  the 
second  edition  of  a  volume  I  published  a  year  or  two  ago.  I  beg  you 
will  give  it  a  place  among  your  books,  as  some  slight  token  of  friend 
ship  and  regard.  I  often  refer  with  great  pleasure  to  the  memory  of 
my  visits  to  you  and  Miss  Weed.  Pray  remember  me  to  her  with  all 
kindness.  Farewell,  my  dear  sir,  and  believe  me, 

Ever  yours  faithfully.  H.  HOLLAND. 

LONDON,  March  10,  18G5. 

DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  I  received  your  letter  of  the  22d  February, 
which  is  very  welcome  to  me  with  the  expressions  of  friendship  it  con 
veys,  both  from  yourself  and  Mr.  Evarts.  If  your  suppers  together 
lead  to  such  communications  as  in  the  present  instance,  I  pray  that 
they  may  be  repeated  often.  You  are  very  good  in  expressing  so 
much  desire  to  see  me  again  in  the  United  States.  If  anything  could 
seduce  me  to  another  passage  across  the  Atlantic,  it  would  be  the  ear 
nest  wish  to  see  you  all  again  under  restored  peace  and  reunion,  of 
which  there  now  seems  so  much  fairer  and  speedier  a  prospect  than  at 
any  time  heretofore. 

Events  are  at  this  moment  going  on  so  rapidly  that  I  should  proba 
bly  be  out  of  date  already  in  commenting  upon  your  marches  and  vic 
tories.  The  obvious  exhaustion  of  the  South  and  the  growing  disaf 
fection  to  the  Richmond  government  are  indices  as  to  the  future  which 
most  strongly  impress  my  mind,  both  in  private  reflection  and  in  con 
versation  with  Mr.  Adams. 

I  must  still  repeat  the  earnest  hope  I  have  so  often  expressed  to  you 
that  the  time  of  victory  and  superiority  will  be  now  also  the  time  of 
conciliation  —  that  reunion  assured  for  the  future  may  be  based  on 
good  will  and  forgetfulness  of  the  past  rather  than  on  harsh  and  vin 
dictive  conquest.  I  see  clearly  the  many  difficulties  which  beset  the 
reconstruction  of  that  Union  which  has  been  torn  asunder  so  rudely  ; 
but,  giving  my  own  judgment  with  all  humility,  I  cannot  but  think 
that  the  principle  just  stated  is  that  which  most  safely  and  most  expe 
diently  can  be  brought  to  the  termination  of  the  struggle.  It  would 
be  presumptuous  in  me  to  go  one  step  beyond  expressions  of  this  gen 
eral  view,  which  I  am  not  without  the  hope  of  seeing  embodied  in  the 
President's  inaugural  address,  and  continued  through  his  new  term  of 
presidency.1 

Without  knowing  any  details  of  the  case,  I  am  happy  in  learning 
1  How  Sir  Henry  must  have  rejoiced  on  reading  that  inaugural  ! 


1861.]  ENGLISH  FRIENDS.  387 

that  I  may  congratulate  you  on  the  issue  of  the  trial  in  which  you  have 
been  engaged.  I  hear  that  Mr.  Evarts,  a  host  in  himself,  was  your 
counsel.  I  should  gladly  have  his  services  in  my  own  case  against  the 
legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  who,  in  direct  contravention  of  an  act  of 
1840,  guaranteeing  the  interest  of  their  state  debt  "  in  specie  or  its 
equivalent,"  are  now  paying  it  in  paper  currency.  As  I  and  my  family 

hold  nearly of  this  state  stock,  the  wrong  we  suffer  is  serious.     I 

feel  it  the  more,  because  several  friends  who  are  much  less  able  to  bear 
it  than  I  am  have  been  led'  by  my  example  and  opinion  to  invest  in 
the  same  stock. 

I  have  just  been  writing  and  despatching  to  Paris  a  letter  to  the 
Emperor,  expressing  my  thanks  for  a  splendid  volume  he  has  just  sent 
me  as  a  present,  —  the  first  part  of  his  history  of  Julius  Caesar.  Five 
of  the  presentation  copies  of  the  folio  edition  have  been  sent  to  Eng 
land,  and  of  these  mine  is  one,  —  the  fulfillment  of  a  promise  the  Em 
peror  made  me  over  twenty  years  ago  when  I  visited  him  at  Biarritz. 
It  is  seldom  that  promises  thus  distant  in  date  are  so  well  fulfilled. 
The  preface  I  do  not  like.  Everything  else  in  the  book  is  excellent, 
in  thought,  style,  and  method. 

I  am  interrupted  here,  and  must  hastily  finish  my  letter  to  save  this 
mail.  Farewell,  my  dear  sir,  and  pray  believe  me  ever, 

Yours  with  greatest  regard,  II.  HOLLAND. 

There  may  be  added  some  references  to  another  old,  intimate, 
and  cherished  friend  of  Mr.  Weed,  whose  name  has  already 
occurred  in  this  narrative,  —  the  late  Mr.  Joseph  Parkes,  of 
London.  Though  a  most  hospitable  man,  Mr.  Parkes  was  also 
eminently  industrious.  He  held  a  responsible  position  in  the 
taxing  office,  but  at  intervals  of  leisure  labored  upon  his  "  Life 
of  Sir  Philip  Francis."  The  manuscripts  of  this  work  he 
showed  to  Mr.  Weed,  whom  they  convinced  that  Sir  Philip 
was  the  author  of  the  "  Letters  of  Junius."  On  one  occasion 
Mr.  Parkes  took  Mr.  Weed  to  breakfast  with  the  venerable 
John  Taylor,  author  of  "  Junius  Identified."  Mr.  Weed  de 
scribed  Mr.  Taylor  as  "  veritably  4  a  fine  old  English  gentle 
man,'  past  eighty,  but  hale,  active,  and  genial."  After  dispos 
ing  of  the  "  Junius  "  question,  —  which  possessed  more  interest 
to  our  forefathers  than  it  does  to  the  present  generation,  —  Mr. 
Taylor  was  drawn  into  conversation  about  Charles  Lamb,  Han 
nah  More,  and  Horace  Walpole,  "  of  whom  his  reminiscences," 
says,  Mr.  Weed,  "  were  delightfully  fresh  and  graphic."  Mr. 
Parkes,  it  need  scarcely  be  added,  was  an  out-and-out  friend 


388  MEMOIR.  [1861. 

of  the  Union.  It  was  his  invariable  habit  to  breakfast  with 
Edward  Ellice  on  Sunday  mornings. 

At  a  dinner  given  to  Mr.  Weed,  late  in  December,  1861, 
by  Mr.  George  Moffat,  M.  P.,  the  guest  was  seated  next  to 
Lord  Morpeth,  then  the  Hon.  Mr.  Howard.  Mr.  Weed's  won 
derful  memory  for  incidents  of  a  certain  description,  as  well  as 
his  tact  in  selecting  the  proper  time  to  bring  them  out,  was 
illustrated  by  one  of  the  stories  which  he  told  on  this  occasion. 
"  You  may  not  be  aware,  sir,"  he  said,  addressing  Mr.  Howard, 
"that  the  Earl  of  Carlisle,  when  in  America,  in  1825,  was  given 
a  dinner  by  Daniel  Webster.  The  lion.  Mr.  Stanley,  after 
wards  Earl  Derby,  Henry  Labouchere,  ex-Minister  of  State, 
and  Mr.  John  E.  Denison,  who  was  first  chosen  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  I  believe,  in  1857,  were  of  the  party.  They 
had  just  entered  Parliament  and,  during  the  recess,  were  mak 
ing  a  tour  of  America.  Mr.  Stanley  remarked  to  Mr.  Webster, 
that  most  of  our  members  of  Congress  appeared  to  be  familiar 
with  parliamentary  law  and  the  rules  of  legislative  business. 
'  Your  representatives,'  he  said,  '  discourse  as  learnedly  on 
matters  of  procedure  as  though  they  were  lord  chancellors  ; ' 
and  Mr.  Denison  added  :  '  We  leave  all  that  to  the  ministers  on 
one  side  and  a  few  old  chaps  on  the  opposition  benches  on  the 
other.'  Mr.  Webster  somewhat  earnestly  chided  his  visitors 
on  their  lack  of  parliamentary  information,  to  which  Mr.  Den 
ison  said :  '  Well,  it  may  be  all  right  for  Stanley  and  Labou 
chere  to  study  up  the  subject ;  but  why  should  I  bother  with  all 
that  rubbish  ? '  In  his  clear  voice  and  emphatic  manner,  Mr. 
Webster  replied  :  '  It  is  to  you,  sir,  particularly,  that  this  sort 
of  information  is  important ;  for  you  are  to  be  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Commons.' "  The  aptness  of  this  story  consisted  in 
the  fact  that  the  Earl  of  Carlisle  was  Lord  Morpeth's  brother- 
in-law.  It  was  told  to  Mr.  Weed  by  Gulian  C.  Verplaiick,  of 
New  York,  whose  congressional  life  began  in  1825,  and  who, 
as  a  guest  at  Mr.  Webster's  dinner,  himself  heard  the  predic 
tion. 

At  dinner  one  evening  in  London  with  Mr.  Curtis  Lampson, 
Mr.  Weed  was  seated  next  Mrs.  Lampson,  who  inquired  if  he 
was  acquainted  in  the  western  part  of  New  York.  In  reply,  he 
said  that  he  had  resided  in  Rochester  several  years,  and  had 
many  friends  in  that  section.  She  then  asked  if  he  knew  her 


1861.]  SIR    CURTIS  LAMPSON.  389 

brother,  who  lived  at  Le  Roy.  "  I  know  a  merchant  in  Le 
Roy,"  said  Mr.  Weed,  "  who  bears  your  name ;  but  he  cannot 
be  your  brother,  as  he  is  what  we  call  a  Yankee,  —  from  Ver 
mont."  "  Why,"  said  Mrs.  Lampson,  with  a  merry  twinkle  in 
her  eyes,  "  what  do  you  take  us  for?  "  "  I  should  certainly  say," 
replied  Mr.  Weed,  "  that  you  are,  in  every  sense  of  the  word, 
English."  Not  concealing  her  amusement,  Mrs.  Lampson  in 
formed  her  husband,  who  was  sitting  at  the  other  end  of  the 
table,  that  Mr.  Weed  supposed  him  to  be  an  Englishman.  "  I 
would  have  you  know,  sir,"  said  the  host,  addressing  Mr.  Weed, 
"  that  my  native  town  is  Poultney,  Vermont,  where  I  worked 
with  my  father  on  a  farm  until  I  was  eighteen  years  old.  I 
was  digging  potatoes  on  the  side  of  a  hill  one  afternoon,  when  I 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  there  must  be  some  easier  way  to 
earn  a  living.  That  night,  when  I  went  home  to  supper,  I  asked 
my  father  if  he  would  let  me  go  to  Montreal,  where  I  thought  I 
could  get  employment.  He  consented,  and  the  next  day  I  started, 
with  my  clothes  in  a  pack.  I  first  found  employment  in  a  ware 
house,  and  in  six  months  was  promoted  to  a  clerkship.  In  less 
than  a  year  afterwards  I  was  sent  into  upper  Canada  as  a  clerk 
for  the  Northwest  Fur  Company.  Thus  I  became  acquainted 
with  Mr.  Ramsey  Crooks,  an  agent  of  John  Jacob  Astor's. 
When  Crooks  was  transferred  to  New  York  I  was  appointed  his 
successor.  Two  years  afterwards  Mr.  Astor  made  me  his  agent 
in  London,  and  here  I  have  resided  ever  since." 

After  the  death  of  Mr.  Astor,  Mr.  Lampson  established  him 
self  in  business  and  amassed  a  large  fortune.  For  the  promi 
nent  part  which  he  took  with  Mr.  Cyrus  W.  Field,  of  New 
York,  in  laying  the  first  Atlantic  cable,  this  Vermont  farmer's 
boy  received,  in  1866,  a  title  of  nobility. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

18G2. 

THE  BLOCKADE  AT  CHARLESTON. —  How  IT  WAS  REGARDED  IN  FRANCE 
AND  ENGLAND.  —  THE  EMPEROR'S  SPEECH.  —  MR.  WEED  AND  M.  LOU- 
BAT.  —  INTERVIEW  WITH  THE  Due  DE  MOKNY.  —  CITING  THE  TREATY 
OP  UTRECHT.  —  PRINCE  NAPOLEON.  — THE  EMPEROR'S  MESSAGE  MODI 
FIED.  —  AN  AFTER-DINNER  CONVERSATION  REPORTED  BY  MR.  SENIOR, 
OF  ENGLAND. 

ON  the  15th  of  January,  1862,  Mr.  Weed  received  a  despatch 
from  Mr.  Dayton  calling  him  to  Paris.  He  left  London  at 
eight  o'clock  that  evening,  taking  the  steamer  at  Dover,  and 
sitting  on  deck  to  watch  the  flickering  beacons  on  the  English 
coast  until  lights  appeared  in  the  harbor  of  Calais.  He  reached 
Paris  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

After  breakfasting  with  Archbishop  Hughes,  he  drove  to  the 
American  Legation,  where  he  found  Mr.  Dayton  and  Mr.  Bige- 
low  in  consultation.  They  had  learned  that  the  Emperor,  in  his 
usual  New  Year  speech  to  the  legislative  chamber,  would  de 
mand  the  abrogation  of  our  blockade.  By  this  information 
friends  of  the  Union  in  Paris  were  panic-stricken.  There  was 
a  long  and  anxious  conference.  But  no  plan  which  solved  the 
situation  was  suggested. 

Mr.  Weed  left  the  Legation  to  confer  with  the  Archbishop 
and  to  deliver  Secretary  Seward's  letter  to  Prince  Napoleon.  As 
he  was  on  the  way,  the  name  of  the  street  through  which  his  car 
riage  was  passing  called  to  his  mind  the  fact  that  he  had  a  let 
ter  of  introduction  to  a  gentleman  residing  on  that  thoroughfare, 
—  a  letter  which  had  been  handed  to  him  in  New  York,  as  he 
was  leaving  for  the  steamer,  by  Mr.  Anthony  J.  Hill,  a  West 
India  planter  with  whom  he  had  been  long  intimate.  The  in 
troduction  was  to  M.  Alphonse  Loubat.  Obeying  an  irresistible 
impulse  (which  he  once  said,  years  afterwards,  must  have  been 
caused  by  special  intervention  of  an  all-wise  Providence),  Mr. 
Weed  determined  to  deliver  this  letter  at  once. 


1862.]  M.  ALPHONSE  LOUBAT.  391 

He  changed  his  direction  accordingly,  and  a  few  moments 
later  was  ushered  into  M.  Loubat's  parlor. 

Here,  after  the  first  formalities  had  been  exchanged,  he  was 
received  with  the  utmost  cordiality.  "  I  hope  it  may  prove," 
said  M.  Loubat,  "  that  you  have  arrived  in  season  to  prevent  a 
great  calamity."  It  had  been  intimated  to  him,  also,  that  the 
Emperor  in  his  annual  address,  while  reviewing  relations  exist 
ing  between  France  and  other  powers,  would  assume  an  aggres 
sive  attitude  towards  our  government.  Unlike  most  Parisians 
at  this  period,  M.  Loubat  was  a  zealous  friend  of  the  Union. 
His  expressions  of  interest  in  the  success  of  our  armies  were  a 
delightful  surprise.  The  conversation  had  lasted  but  a  few  mo 
ments  when  he  said  :  "  An  interview  with  the  Emperor  must  be 
arranged.  Leave  that  to  me.  But  no,"  he  added,  after  a  few 
moments'  reflection,  "  the  Emperor  is  hostile.  For  you  to  see 
him  might  avail  nothing.  You  must  see  his  brother,  the  Due 
de  Moray,1  —  shall  we  say  at  ten  o'clock  to-morrow  morning  ?  " 
Under  ordinary  circumstances  Mr.  Weed  would  have  distrusted 
the  promises  of  a  private  citizen  to  obtain  immediate  audiences 
with  royalty.  But  there  was  about  M.  Loubat  a  certain  air  of 
reserve  power  which  won  implicit  confidence.  "  Yes,"  said  Mr. 
Weed  without  hesitation,  "  if  I  may  see  the  Due  de  Moray,  I 
shall  be  most  grateful  for  the  privilege."  A  few  moments  after 
wards,  remarking  that  he  would  embrace  an  early  opportunity 
to  deliver  his  letter  to  Prince  Napoleon,  he  rose  to  take  his  de 
parture.  "  The  Prince  is  out  of  favor,"  said  M.  Loubat ;  "  but 
he  sympathizes  with  the  North,  and  may  make  some  valuable 
suggestions." 

At  his  rooms  that  evening  Mr.  Weed  talked  over  events  of 
the  day  with  Archbishop  Hughes,  who  was  incredulous.  At  the 
Legation  both  Mr.  Dayton  and  Mr.  Bigelow  declared  that  Mr. 
Weed's  friend  had  mistaken  his  position. 

Still  later  in  the  evening  M.  Loubat  called  at  Mr.  Weed's 
apartments  to  say  that  the  Duke  would  see  him  in  the  morning, 

1  He  was  the  son,  it  is  conceded,  of  Count  Flahault  and  Hortense,  Queen 
of  Holland.  A  gentleman  by  the  name  of  De  Moray  was  paid  to  claim  him 
as  belonging  to  that  family,  and  he  was  educated  by  the  Count  de  Flahault's 
mother,  receiving-  on  the  death  of  Hortense  a  handsome  legacy.  He  assisted 
in  the  coup  d'etat  of  1851,  and  was  President  of  the  Corps  Legislatif  in 
1854.  He  was  Minister  to  Russia,  and  married  the  Princess  Troubetzkoi. 


392  MEMOIR.  [1862. 

and  to  announce,  in  addition,  that  the  Emperor  in  the  first  para 
graph  of  his  message  would  take  ground  against  the  blockade  at 
Charleston  as  "  a  monstrous  and  barbarous  policy,  which,  from  a 
mere  sentiment  of  revenge  upon  a  people  struggling  for  freedom, 
would  forever  close  and  destroy  harbors  necessary  for  the  com 
merce  of  mankind." 

The  main  channel  at  Charleston  had  been  obstructed,  it  will 
be  remembered,  by  the  sinking  of  sixteen  vessels  of  the  "  stone 
fleet,"  which  sailed  south  from  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts 
on  the  19th  of  November,  1861.  There  was  a  powerful  se 
cession  sentiment  both  in  England  and  France,  stimulated  and 
intrenched  by  several  important  Confederate  victories,  and  with 
this  sentiment  the  Emperor  did  not  conceal  his  sympathy.  He 
felt,  as  many  other  Europeans  felt,  at  this  time,  that  Union  dis 
asters,  followed  as  they  were,  by  the  suspension  of  specie  pay 
ments  in  New  York,  argued  that  the  Washington  government 
must  collapse  speedily. 

The  feeling  in  England  is  shown  by  the  following  article  from 
the  London  "  Post,"  government  organ,  of  January  17,  18G2:  — 

We  rejoice  to  perceive  that  the  destruction  of  the  port  of  Charleston 
is  encountering  that  general  condemnation  in  this  country  which  it  has 
already  received  from  the  French  press,  and  especially  from  the  offi 
cial  organ  of  the  French  government.  Mr.  Beresforcl-Hope  may  stand 
for  an  example.  He  has  just  characterized  it  as  "'  an  atrocious  barbarity, 
almost  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the  world."  And  the  practical 
significance  of  the  question  it  involves  at  this  moment  is,  not  only  that 
an  outrage  has  been  committed  upon  the  rights  and  laws  of  civilization 
itself,  but  that  there  is  the  best  ground  to  apprehend  that  similar 
barbarities  are  in  course  of  perpetration  or  design  against  the  other 
great  commercial  ports  of  the  Southern  Confederation.  We  appre 
hend  that  nothing  but  the  firmly  expressed  views  of  maritime  Europe 
can  avail  to  arrest  the  further  development  of  this  horrible  project. 

The  commercial  interests  of  great  sea-board  countries  have  always 
formed  one  of  the  most  cherished  objects  of  European  diplomacy. 
The  rights  of  blockade,  meanwhile,  have  been  preserved  intact ;  be 
cause  blockades,  being  created  only  by  the  actual  presence  and  effec 
tive  operation  of  ships  of  war,  are  in  their  nature  temporary,  and 
necessarily  terminate  with  the  settlement  of  the  difference  in  which 
they  have  arisen.  But,  subject  to  these  rights,  —  still  most  rigorously 
defined  and  limited,  both  in  point  of  character  and  point  of  time,  — 
the  free  navigation  of  rivers  and  the  free  entrance  of  ports  are  princi- 


1862.]     FOREIGN  FEELING  AGAINST  THE  BLOCKADE.    393 

pies  which  every  government  of  Europe  has  addressed  itself  to  pro 
mote.  It  would  have  seemed  incredible  until  a  few  weeks  ago  that, 
after  a  century  of  international  legislation,  marked  by  gradual  mitiga 
tion  of  the  severities  of  war  and  unbroken  progress  in  the  interests  of 
commerce,  an  ostensibly  civilized  government  should  prosecute  a  war,  of 
the  original  legality  of  which  grave  doubts  have  been  entertained,  on 
principles  of  barbarity  and  destruction  to  be  equaled  only  by  the 
captains  of  piratical  junks  in  the  East  Indian  Archipelago.  .  .  . 

The  barbarities  now  perpetrated  by  the  Federal  government  are 
equally  bracing  the  energies  of  the  South  and  rousing  European  gov 
ernments  to  a  common  sentiment  of  indignation.  We  hardly  know  why 
Europe  has  hitherto  acted  toward  the  Northern  government  with  so 
much  more  long-suffering  than  she  showed  towards  Holland  in  1831 
and  1832.  Holland  was  never  guilty  of  the  barbarities  committed  by 
the  Washington  Cabinet ;  but.  France  and  Great  Britain,  as  soon  as  the 
Belgians  showed  that  they  could  hold  their  own,  and  the  war  grew 
destructive  to  commerce  and  general  security,  recognized  unhesitatingly 
the  independence  of  Belgium.1 

His  pillow  did  not  "  bring  repose  "  to  Mr.  Weed  that  night. 
He  knew  that,  in  all  probability,  an  unfriendly  declaration  in 
the  Emperor's  message  would  be  supplemented  by  a  similar 
declaration  from  England,  and  that  soon  afterwards  the  navies 
of  these  nations  would  appear  along  the  defenseless  seacoast  of 
the  United  States,  ostensibly  to  protect  the  interests  of  neutrals, 
but  really  to  paralyze  our  government.  Brief  reflection  con 
vinced  him  that  it  would  be  idle  to  approach  the  Emperor 
directly.  Archbishop  Hughes  had  visited  his  majesty  without 
making  any  visible  impression.  In  seeking  to  influence  the 
Due  de  Morny,  Mr.  Weed  felt  that  he  was  on  the  right  track. 
But  what  arguments  could  be  brought  to  bear  ?  That  was  by 
no  means  a  simple  question.  Mr.  Weed  prepared  for  the  inter 
view  by  revisiting  the  Legation,  where  volume  after  volume  was 
eagerly  searched  for  citations  and  precedents.  He  particularly 
desired  to  find  a  certain  record  thought  to  be  applicable  in  the 
present  instance. 

In  the  morning  at  the  appointe'd  hour,  in  company  with  M. 

1  Mr.  Beresford-IIope  was  a  member  of  Parliament,  proprietor  of  the 
Saturday  Review,  vice-president  of  the  Manchester  Southern  Independence 
Association,  treasurer  of  the  Stonewall  Jackson  fund,  and  a  large  owner  of 
Confederate  bonds.  Mr.  Rideout,  proprietor  and  editor  of  the  Post,  was  also 
a  holder  of  Confederate  securities. 


394  MEMOIR.  [1862. 

Loubat,  Mr.  Weed  sought  the  palace  of  the  Due  de  Morny. 
A  servant,  taking  their  cards,  ushered  them  into  the  luxurious 
salon  reserved  for  visitors  in  waiting.  It  was  customary  for 
callers,  while  De  Morny  was  engaged,  to  beguile  the  time  by 
walking  through  his  art  galleries,  which  were  the  talk  of  Paris. 
Several  gentlemen  of  distinction  were  thus  occupied  when  M. 
Loubat  and  Mr.  Weed  entered.  Returning  in  a  few  moments, 
the  servant  said  that  the  Duke  wished  to  see  the  American  gen 
tleman  immediately.  Mr.  Weed  was  introduced  by  M.  Loubat, 
who,  remarking  that  a  pressing  business  matter  required  his 
attention  withdrew.  "  Do  what  you  can  with  the  Duke,"  he 
had  said  to  Mr.  Weed  that  morning.  If  you  gain  him,  the  way 
is  clear.  If  you  fail,  the  result  cannot  but  prove  most  unfor 
tunate." 

The  Duke  assumed  at  once  the  leading  part  in  the  conversa 
tion.  He  was  exceedingly  affable  and  unreserved.  It  gave 
him  great  pleasure,  he  said,  to  meet  Mr.  Weed.  He  extended 
an  invitation  to  the  opera.  The  season  was  rather  dull,  to  be 
sure,  but  a  new  singer  was  soon  to  make  her  appearance. 

Mr.  Weed  referred  to  public  topics  by  gradual  stages.  He 
could  not  let  the  Duke  know  that  he  had  been  informed  of  the 
nature  of  the  Emperor's  message.  He  was  obliged  to  criticise 
a  policy  which  France  had  not  adopted,  and  which  he  was  not 
supposed  to  have  any  information  that  she  intended  to  adopt. 
But  he  was  equal  to  the  occasion. 

"  After  some  general  remarks  in  regard  to  the  tone  of  the 
British  press,"  writes  an  ex-diplomat,  "  Mr.  Weed  finally  suc 
ceeded  in  breaking  ground. 

"  '  Nothing,'  he  said,  '  could  be  more  absurd  than  for  Eng 
land,  which  had  never  hesitated  at  any  miscreancy  requisite  to 
uphold  or  extend  her  power,  —  for  England,  yet  bloody  to  the 
armpits  from  the  massacre  of  many  thousand  unarmed  Sepoy 
prisoners,  —  belligerents  as  much  as  our  southern  rebels,  —  to 
pretend  to  affect  horror  at  our  attempted  blockade  of  southern 
ports  by  means  of  sunken  vessels.  Certainly  England  had  no 
right  to  become  the  champion  of  humanity  or  civilization,  what 
ever  claim  might  be  put  forward  on  the  part  of  France  to  that 
distinction.' 

"  De  Morny  acknowledged  the  compliment  to  France  with  a 
cold  bow.  In  this  matter,  however,  he  must  think  that  Eng- 


1862.]       INTERVIEW    WITH    THE   DUG  DE  MORNY.         395 

land's  complaints  were  justified.  Harbors  were  places  of  refuge 
for  distressed  ships,  as  well  as  ports  of  entry  for  commerce. 
Thev  were  constructed  by  nature,  and  should  not  be  held  sub 
ject  to  the  wrath  of  man.  To  turn  from  an  unpleasant  subject, 
however,  if  Mr.  Weed  and  his  charming  daughter  would  do  him 
the  honor,  and  afford  him  the  pleasure,  etc.,  etc. 

"  The  disinclination  to  discuss  the  question  of  the  stone  fleet 
blockade,  on  the  Due  de  Morny's  part  was  so  obvious,  and  yet 
so  courteously  expressed,  that  our  American  diplomatist  —  plain, 
farmer-like  person  that  he  was,  in  appearance  —  had  no  little 
difficulty  in  returning  to  the  charge.  To  return,  however,  was 
a  necessity  ;  and,  mentally  deciding  that  his  next  sentence  must 
either  close  the  conversation  or  arouse  De  Morny's  interest,  he 
made  a  dash  at  that  point  of  character  whfch  his  experience  told 
him  is  the  most  sensitive  in  every  true  Frenchman's  organiza 
tion. 

"  Pushing  aside  the  social  invitation  with  a  polite  and  com 
plimentary  acknowledgment,  he  resumed  :  '  But,  let  England's 
course  be  what  it  will,  France  certainly,  with  her  very  peculiar 
position  in  history  (De  Morny  suddenly  became  attentive),  can 
not  afford  to  take  sides  with  her  on  this  question.' 

u  '  Ah,'  said  the  Duke,  '  you  were  saying '  - 

"  4 1  was  saying,'  continued  Mr.  Weed,  who  saw  that  the  point 
of  the  barb  was  in  the  palate,  and  only  needed  a  scientific  jerk 
to  be  sent  home,  — '  I  was  saying  that,  from  the  historical  posi 
tion  of  France  on  this  question,  and  the  noble  pride  of  your 
nation,  which  so  keenly  dislikes  to  be  placed  in  a  self -condem 
natory  or  in  the  least  humiliating  attitude,  that  we  of  the  United 
States  expect  the  cordial  support  of  your  government  in  our 
right  to  blockade  or  destroy  any  ports  on  our  own  seacoast.' 

"  'All  —  ah  —  indeed  ! '  The  Minister  was  evidently  troubled, 
—  evidently  at  sea  as  to  what  could  be  the  meaning  of  the  far 
mer-like  personage,  with  shaggy  gray  eyebrows  and  a  long  fore 
finger,  from  the  working  of  which  some  mysterious  power  of 
electricity  seemed  to  radiate. 

"  At  length  De  Morny  brightened.  lie  had,  he  thought, 
caught  the  meaning,  and  it  was  not  so  serious  as  he  had  sup 
posed.  '  Ah,  yes.  You  doubtless  allude  to  Napoleon  the  First's 
blockade  of  the  Scheldt  with  piles,  —  but  that  was  an  entirely 
different  matter  '  — 


396  MEMOIR.  [1862. 

"  '  No,  no,  no,'  was  the  slow  but  impressive  rejoinder,  made 
impressive  by  three  shakes  of  the  long  forefinger,  —  a  smile,  as 
if  in  half  sympathy  for  unfortunate  France,  and  half  at  the 
Minister's  error  passed  quickly  over  Mr.  Weed's  face.  c  I  al 
lude  —  but  pardon  me.  You  are  a  Frenchman  —  almost  the 
highest  Frenchman.  I  do  not  wish  to  give  you  pain.  Let  me 
take  my  leave.  The  interest  awakened  by  your  conversation  led 
me  further  than  I  intended.  If  my  daughter  be  well  enough, 
we  shall  certainly  have  much  pleasure,'  etc.,  etc. 

"  Oh !  subtle  angler  of  men,  your  hook  was  well  home  by  this 
time.  The  leviathan  of  the  French  Cabinet  could  now  be 
played  as  easily  as  a  drum-fish  in  Port  Royal  harbor. 

"  ;  Stay,  stay,  Mr.  Weed,'  said  the  Minister.  4  If  any  prece 
dents  have  escaped  me,  which  could  have  the  effect  you  imply, 
it  might  possibly  be  of  importance  that  my  attention  should  be 
drawn  to  them.' 

"  Mr.  Weed  shook  his  head.  The  chief  and  controlling  pre 
cedent,  to  his  view,  could  not  possibly  have  escaped  the  Due  de 
Morny.  Perhaps  he  had  overestimated  the  punctilio  of  honor, 
—  the  sensitiveness  of  the  French  people.  For  his  part,  he 
could  not  imagine  that  the  Duke  could,  by  any  stress  of  affairs 
or  other  occupations,  have  overlooked  that  painful  paragraph  in 
one  of  France's  most  important  treaties  which  bore  upon  this 
subject.  As  it  had  been  one  of  England's  greatest  and  most 
durable  triumphs  —  indeed  her  most  durable,  and,  therefore, 
the  most  afflictive  to  French-  pride,  he  was  not  able  to  do  more 
than  thus  remotely  refer  to  it.  Even  for  this  distant  refer 
ence  he  apologized  sincerely ;  and  would  now  beg  to  be  allowed 
to  take  his  leave. 

"  No  more  coldness  in  the  Due  de  Morny  now  —  no  more 
disinclination  to  discuss  the  topic  of  tne  stone  fleet.  He  paced 
the  room  with  fingers  locked  behind  his  back  and  twitching 
nervously.  He  was  ransacking  his  memory  vainly  for  the 
treaty  in  which  this  disastrous  paragraph  was  encased.  At 
length,  recovering  himself,  he  sat  down,  and  motioned  Mr. 
Weed,  who  had  risen  as  if  to  take  his  leave,  to  be  again 
seated. 

"  '  It  is  important,  my  good  friend  —  that  is  to  say  (correct 
ing  himself),  it  is  not  important  to  my  government,  but  it 
would  give  me  personal  pleasure  to  know  the  treaty  to  which 


1862.]      INTERVIEW   WITH   THE  DUC  DE  HORNY.         397 

you  refer,  and  the  character  of  the  paragraph  therein  to  which 
you  but  now  alluded.' 

"  4  The  treaty  of  Utrecht '  • 

"  '  Ah.     Well,  what  of  that  ?  ' 

"  '  Its  second  paragraph  '  • 

«<  Well --well.' 

"  '  The  principal  advantage  therein  taken  by  Holland  and 
Great  Britain  of  the  temporary  weakness  -  But  pardon  me  ! 
This  reference,  made  as  delicately  as  possible,  will  recall  all 
the  facts  to  your  remembrance.' 

"  '  No  —  no  ;  spare  me  nothing.  Punish  my  memory  for  its 
default  by  telling  me  all  our  humiliation  ;  for  to  this,  I  see, 
though  you  would  avoid  it,  you  must  come.' 

"  c  Since  you  compel  me,  then,  thus  briefly :  The  second  par 
agraph  of  that  treaty  provides  for  the  destruction  by  the  French 
of  the  second  best  harbor  in  their  Empire ;  for  the  permanent 
sealing  up  and  total  destruction  of  Dunkirk,  the  llollandaise 
and  British  averring  openly  that  the  continuance  of  this  harbor 
was  injurious  to  their  maritime  interests,  and  a  constant  men 
ace  against  their  coasts.' 1 

O 

"  c  And  France  submitted  ?  ' 

"  '  Two  years  after  that  treaty  you  will  find  a  formal  com 
plaint  from  the  government  of  Holland  to  the  Court  of  St. 
James,  that  France  had  not  fully  carried  out  the  destruction  of 

1  "  The  Treaty  of  Peace  and  Friendship  between  the  most  Serene  raid 
most  Potent  Princess  Anne  by  the  grace  of  God  Queen  of  Great  Britain, 
France,  and  Ireland,  and  the  most  Serene  and  most  Potent  Prince  Lewis 
XlVth,  the  most  Christian  King,  concluded  at  Utrecht  31  day  of  March, 
1713.  .  .  . 

"  IX.  —  The  most  Christian  King  shall  take  care  that  all  the  fortifications 
of  the  City  of  Dunkirk  be  razed,  that  the  harbour  be  filled  up,  and  that  the 
sluices  or  moles  which  serve  to  cleanse  the  harbour  be  levelled,  and  that  at  the 
said  King's  own  expense,  within  the  space  of  five  months  after  the  condi 
tions  of  peace  are  concluded  and  signed,  that  is*  to  say,  the  fortifications 
towards  the  sea  within  the  space  of  two  months,  and  those  towards  the  land, 
together  with  the  said  banks,  within  three  months  ;  on  this  express  con 
dition  also,  that  the  said  fortifications,  harbour,  moles  or  sluices  be  never 
repaired  again. 

"All  which  shall  not,  however,  be  begun  to  be  ruined  till  after  that 
everything  is  put  into  his  Christian  Majesty's  hands,  which  is  to  be  given 
him,  instead  thereof,  or  as  an  equivalent."  —  Extract  from  "  The  Treaty  of 
Utrecht,"  from  the  copy  which  was  published  by  authority  in  1713. 


398  MEMOIR.  [1862. 

the  works  and  harbor ;  that  ships  of  light  draft  could  still  pass 
in  and  out.' 

"  l  And  after  this,  what  ?  ' 

"  '  England  represented  the  alleged  breach  of  faith  to  the 
French  Court,  demanding,  in  her  own  name  and  that  of  Hol 
land,  that  instant  measures  should  be  taken  by  France  for  the 
total  sealing  up,  by  stone  barriers,  of  the  harbor.' 

"  c  And  it  was  done  ?  ' 

"  i  The  harbor  is  sealed  up  to  this  day  for  all  but  smacks  or 
vessels  of  the  lightest  draft.  You  see  no  large  river  emptied 
into  the  harbor  of  Dunkirk,  and  there  was  no  current  to  cut 
new  channels  for  the  imprisoned  waters.  With  us,  at  Charles 
ton,  Mobile,  and  the  mouths  of  the  Mississippi,  the  thing  is  dif 
ferent.  Our  stone  fleets  are  a  farce  —  a  scheme  of  folly.  One 
week  of  the  river-flow  will,  beyond  any  doubt,  cut  deeper^  be 
cause  narrower,  channels  than  those  we  are  attempting  to 
blockade.  Our  action,  therefore,  will  have  no  practical  ill  effect 
upon  the  commerce  of  the  world.  But  any  discussion  of  it  at 
this  time  could  not  fail  to  embarrass  France  by  directing  the 
attention  of  her  proud  and  gallant  people  to  the  desolate  memo 
rial  in  the  harbor  of  Dunkirk  of  British  ascendancy  at  one 
time,  and  the  brutal  manner  in  which  that  ascendancy  was  ex 
ercised.  The  Emperor  still  continues  on  terms  of  friendship, 
does  he  not,  with  the  British  Court  ?  ' 

"  '  The  best  terms  —  the  best,'  said  De  Morny,  suddenly  rous 
ing  himself  out  of  a  profound  reverie,  which  had  not  been  a 
pleasant  one,  to  judge  by  his  countenance  during  its  continu 
ance.  4I  confess  with  something  of  shame  that  the  Utrecht 
treaty,  or  rather  the  second  paragraph  of  it,  had  escaped  me. 
You  have  put  me  under  an  additional  obligation  by  recalling  it. 
Adieu,  my  very  good  friend,  I  have  an  engagement  with  the 
Emperor,  and  already  the  interest  of  your  conversation  has 
detained  me  past  my  time.' 

"  Mr.  Weed  retired,  bowing,  to  the  door,  well  satisfied  with 
his  interview.  Never  in  state  or  national  convention  did  he 
feel  more  certain  of  the  success  of  his  arts.  Leviathan  was 
hooked  and  might  struggle.  But  the  hook  was  tangled  round 
and  round,  backwards  and  forwards,  in  and  out,  through  all  the 
tissues  of  national  pride,  and  the  hook  would  hold. 

"  Driving  home,  our  farmer-like  diplomatist  called  upon  the 


1862.]          THE  EMPEROR'S  ADDRESS  MODIFIED.  399 

Prince  Napoleon,  and  briefly  gave  an  outline  of  the  interview 
here  roughly  but  faithfully  sketched. 

"  4  You  have  him,'  said  the  Prince,  rubbing  his  hands  and 
laughing  heartily.  '  You  have  him,  my  dear  sir,  and  may  now 
go  to  your  hotel  and  enjoy  yourself.  Think  no  more  of  the 
matter.  It  is  all  settled.  The  speech  will  be  silent  about  the 
stone  fleet.  1  rejoice  that  you  have  succeeded.  You  know 
that  my  heart  is  with  you  in  American  affairs  ;  but  I  am  re 
garded  as  a  northern  partisan,  and  can  do  nothing  with  •  the 
Emperor.' ' 

A  few  words  conclude  this  curious  story.  When  the  address 
was  delivered,  it  was  shorn  of  the  passage  relating  to  our 
blockade.  The  paragraph  referring  to  America  was  short  and 
non-committal.  Something  had  plainly  been  suppressed.  "  The 
civil  war  which  desolates  the  United  States,"  declared  the  Em 
peror,  "  has  greatly  compromised  our  commercial  interests.  So 
long  as  the  rights  of  neutrals  are  respected,  however,  we  must 
con  line  ourselves  to  expressing  wishes  for  an  early  termination 
of  these  dissensions."  Commenting  upon  the  message,  the  Lon 
don  "  Times,"  in  its  editorial  and  financial  columns,  took  sharp 
notice  of  the  "  sober  second  thought "  which  had  mollified  this 
important  official  utterance. 

We  dined  with  Mr.  Dayton,  American  Minister  in  Paris  in  1862 
[writes  the  late  Mr.  Senior,  of  England1],  and  met  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Adams,  Mr.  Weed  (the  American  commissioner  sent  by  Lincoln  on  a 
private  mission  to  conciliate  Europe),  Mr.  Doremus,  the  first  chemist 
in  America,  and  Mr.  Bigelow,  a  lawyer. 

After  dinner,  all  the  men,  except  Mr.  Adams,  retired  into  the 
smoking-room. 

We  trust  [they  said]  that  we  now  see  the  beginning  of  the  end. 
In  a  fe\v  weeks  our  troops  will  be  in  possession  of  Richmond,  of  New 
Orleans,  and  of  the  other  important  southern  towns.  The  Unionist 
party  will  be  able  to  show  itself.  It  will  hang  or  drive  out  the  trai 
tors  who  have  deceived  the  country,  and  will  offer,  or  accept  from  us, 
fair  terms  of  reconciliation. 

Senior.  —  And  what  will  be  the  terms  which  you  will  offer  ? 
Weed.  —  Very  simple  ones, — merely  the  abolition  of  the  law  by 
which  a  master  has  a  vote  in  respect  to  his  slaves. 

1  Conversations  with  Distinguished  Persons  during  the  Second  Empire.  By 
Nassau  William  Senior,  Master  in  Chancery,  etc.  Londou  :  Hurst  &  Black- 
ett,  publishers,  1880.  Vol.  ii.,  pp.  136-142.' 


400  MEMOIR.  [1862. 

Senior.  —  And  also  the  prohibition  of  slavery  in  the  territories,  or 
in  new  states  ? 

Weed.  —  It  will  not  be  necessary.  As  soon  as  the  political  value  of 
slaves  is  gone,  slavery,  though  it  may  continue  where  it  exists,  will  not 
be  introduced  into  any  country  not  now  polluted  by  it. 

Senior.  —  Will  you  give  them  a  fugitive  slave  law  ? 

Weed.  —  Certainly,  and  a  better  one  than  they  have  now.  The 
state  which  assisted  the  escape  of  a  fugitive,  or  has  even  connived  at 
it,  will  have  to  repay  to  the  master  his  value.  We  offered  this  law 
several  years  ago,  but  the  southern  agitators  rejected  it.  They  chose 
to  keep  the  sore  open,  to  force  the  officers  of  the  Union  and  the  in 
habitants  of  the  Free  States  to  be  their  slave  catchers. 

Senior.  —  Will  you  repeal  the  state  laws  which  keep  the  negro  ig 
norant,  allow  the  separation  of  families,  and  the  internal  slave  trade, 
and  exclude  the  testimony  of  blacks  against  whites  ? 

Weed.  —  We  cannot  do  so ;  we  cannot  interfere  with  the  municipal 
laws  of  the  state. 

Senior.  —  But  you  must  have  a  convention,  in  order  to  deprive  the 
master  of  his  vote  in  respect  of  his  slave ;  a  convention  is  omnipotent, 
and  might  abolish  the  slave  laws  of  the  states,  or  establish  a  mild, 
and  so  far  as  a  slave  law  can  be,  a  just  slave  law  throughout  the 
Union. 

Weed.  — •  We  shall  not  do  so  ;  we  shall  do  nothing  that  will  increase 
the  difficulty  of  the  reconciliation. 

Senior.  —  What  will  you  do  with  the  southern  debt  ? 

Weed.  —  Assume  it  as  a  part  of  the  debt  of  the  Union. 

Bif/eloiv.  —  The  North  will  have  to  pay  the  costs  on  each  side. 

Senior.  —  And  if  the  South  refuse  your  offer  ? 

Weed.  —  Then  we  employ  our  last  and  worst  weapon,  —  we  eman 
cipate  the  slaves. 

Senior.  —  By  an  act  of  Congress  ? 

Weed.  —  No,  by  virtue  of  the  rights  of  war.  Every  General  will 
have  the  power  to  declare  the  slaves  of  a  district  in  his  military  pos 
session,  free.  Fremont  did  this,  but  it  was  thought  premature. 

Senior.  —  But  what  is  to  become  of  four  millions  of  negroes  —  igno 
rant  and  helpless  —  suddenly  set  adrift  ? 

Weed.  — That  is  a  question  which  we  choose  not  to  examine. 

Senior.  —  And  what  is  to  become  of  the  millions  of  whites,  whose 
property  will  be  valueless  when  their  slaves  are  set  free  ? 

Weed.  —  That,  again,  is  a  question  which  we  refuse  to  examine. 
They  have  been  guilty  of  the  most  wicked  rebellion  that  history  re 
cords.  If  they  refuse  not  merely  fair,  but  generous  terms  of  recon 
ciliation,  their  ruin,  even  their  blood,  be  on  their  own  heads. 


1862.]  AT  THE  AMERICAN  LEGATION.  401 

Senior.- — But  you  must  examine  these  questions.  You  cannot  do 
acts  implying  enormous  consequences,  without  inquiring  what  these 
consequences  will  be.  If  you  do,  the  ruin  and  the  bloodshed  will  be 
on  your  heads.  Do  you  look  calmly  on  the  prospect  of  a  St.  Do 
mingo  ?  Of  spreading  devastation  over  a  country  as  large  as  Europe  ? 

Bigdow.  —  With  respect  to  the  slaves,  the  North,  by  emancipating 
them,  will  obtain  a  right,  and  will  incur  a  responsibility.  It  must  pro 
vide  for  them,  and  must  require  them  to  do  all  that  they  can  to 
lighten  that  heavy  burden.  The  best  mode  will,  perhaps,  be  to  trans 
plant  them  to  some  country  where  the  soil  and  the  climate  will  allow 
them  to  subsist  with  little  labor.  I  am  told  that  you  want  people  in 
Jamaica. 

Senior.  —  Yes;  but  we  want  thousands,  not  millions.  We  do  not 
want  men  to  squat  on  our  waste  lands.  We  want  voluntary  and 
hard-working  emigrants,  not  transported  slaves. 

Bigelow.  —  Then  there  is  Central  America. 

Senior. — Yes,  but  there  is  no  land  there  without  a  master  ;  there 
is  no  capital  to  employ  them.  If  fifty  thousand  of  your  freed  negroes 
were  endeavored  to  be  put  ashore  on  any  of  the  coasts  of  Central 
America,  I  doubt  whether  they  would  be  allowed  to  land,  and  I  am 
sure  that  they  would  die  of  hunger. 

Weed.  —  My  belief  is  that  we  shall  provide  for  them  in  a  different 
way.  We  shall  confiscate  all  the  lands  and  estates  of  the  rebels  and 
sell  or  grant  them  to  loyal  northern  men ;  they  will  be  rewards  for 
the  army.  The  slaves  on  those  estates  will  naturally  remain  on  them. 
We  shall  subject  them  to  a  kind  of  apprenticeship,  as  you  did  when 
you  emancipated  the  slaves  in  your  island. 

Dayton.  —  As  we  did  in  New  Jersey.  We  did  not  give  to  the 
emancipated  slaves  perfect  or  immediate  freedom. 

Weed.  —  We  shall  treat  the  South  as  William  the  Conqueror  did 
England.  We  shall  divide  it  into  territories,  make  a  military  man 
the  governor  of  each  territory,  give  the  estates  to  well-deserving  offi 
cers  and  men,  and  let  the  slaves,  who  cultivate  them  for  the  rebels, 
now  cultivate  them  for  loyal  men.  As  for  the  whites,  they  will  not 
be  eight  millions  ;  they  will  not  be  five  millions,  for  the  Border  States 
will  return  to  the  Union.  Of  the  five  millions  in  the  Gulf  States, 
three  fifths  own  no  slaves,  and  therefore  will  be  uninjured.  The  mill 
ion  of  slave-owners  will  be  ruined,  and  they  will  deserve  to  be  ruined. 

Senior.  —  It  will  be  the  destruction  of  the  whole  aristocracy  of  the 
country. 

Weed.  —  Itjiyill,  and  it  deserves  to  be  destroyed. 

Senior.  —  Bilt  when  you  have  emancipated  the  ^^IHp  the  Gulf 
States,  what  wiB  you  do  with  those  in  the  Border 


402  MEMOIR.  [1862. 

Weed.  —  Of  course  they  cannot  remain  slaves,  surrounded  by  free 
states.  We  must  buy  them  up.  There  are  about  a  million  of  them, 
worth,  at  a  rough  calculation,  four  hundred  dollars,  or  eighty  pounds, 
a  head.  It  will  cost  about  eighty  millions  sterling. 

Senior.  —  And  will  they  be  able  to  provide  for  themselves  ? 

Weed.  —  I  think  so,  if  they  are  not  too  quickly  freed  from  all  re 
straint  and  thrown  on  their  own  resources.  They  must  probably  be 
subjected  to  an  apprenticeship.  But  I  trust  that  it  will  not  come  to 
this.  I  trust  that  the  South  will  accept  our  terms,  and  that  in  six 
months'  time  the  Union  will  be  restored. 

Senior.  —  Still  you  will  have  to  buy  up  the  slaves  in  the  Border 
States  ? 

Weed.  —  If  those  states  consent ;  but  it  will  not  be  absolutely  nec 
essary,  for  slavery  will  in  that  case  continue  in  the  Gulf  States.  In 
the  Border  States  I  hope  that  it  will  gradually  cease,  as  it  has  done  in 
the  North,  not,  however,  so  slowly,  for  the  President's  message  offer 
ing  the  assistance  of  the  whole  Union  in  its  eradication  is  a  new  ele 
ment. 

Senior.  —  It  appears,  then,  that  slavery  can  become  extinct  only  in 
one  of  three  events.  If  the  Gulf  States  achieve  their  independence, 
slavery  will  continue.  If  the  Gulf  States  reenter  the  Union,  slavery 
will  continue.  Slavery  will  be  extinguished  only  in  case  the  Gulf 
States  stubbornly  resist  and  are  conquered ;  and  you  believe  this  to  be 
very  improbable. 

Weed.  —  I  believe  their  resistance  to  be  improbable  ;  but  if,  to  use 
your  words,  they  "  stubbornly  resist,"  I  feel  no  doubt  as  to  their  being 
eventually  conquered.  In  the  mean  time  we  shall  exert  ourselves  to 
raise  a  supply  of  cotton  for  ourselves,  and  also  for  Europe,  from  the 
countries  in  our  possession.  We  cannot  but  feel  that  the  war  would 
be  protracted  if  Europe  were  to  raise  the  blockade,  and  you  and  the 
French  are  becoming  impatient.  The  French  nation  sympathizes 
with  us,  but  not  the  Emperor,  and  the  distress  is  greater  here  than 
with  you,  as  it  comes  on  a  poorer  people.  The  French,  too,  are  less 
acquainted  with  international  law,  and  care  less  about  it.  You  re 
spect  our  blockade,  because  you  think  that  you  may  yourselves  have 
to  use  blockades.  The  French  have  no  such  expectation ;  they  proba 
bly  would  not  be  sorry  to  see  the  whole  law  of  blockade  abolished. 
With  the  slightest  encouragement  from  you.  or,  to  speak  more  cor 
rectly,  if  not  discouraged  by  you,  they  would  break  the  blockade  and 
probably  acknowledge  the  South. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

18G2. 

RETURN  TO  LONDON.  —  APPEALS  TO  THE  ENGLISH  MANUFACTURING  DIS 
TRICTS.  —  THE  EFFORT  IN  PARLIAMENT  TO  SECURE  FOREIGN  INTERVEN 
TION  ON  BEHALF  OF  THE  REBEL  STATES.  —  ARRIVAL  OF  THE  CONFED 
ERATE  EMISSARIES.  —  AUGUST  BELMONT.  —  MR.  SEWARD  TO  MR.  WEED. 
—  THE  FREEDOM  OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK.  —  LETTER  TO  THE 
MUNICIPAL  AUTHORITIES. 

RETURNING  to  London,  Mr.  Weed  found  that  a  very  differ 
ent  reference  to  America  in  tlie  address  to  the  French  Chamber 
had  been  anticipated.  A  prominent  member  of  the  House  of 
Commons  who  warmly  espoused  the  cause  of  the  South  had  been 
in  conference  with  the  Emperor,  and  had  brought  back  assur 
ances  that  the  blockade  would  be  denounced,  and  that  commer 
cial  nations  would  be  invited  to  intervene,  against  our  govern 
ment.  Stock  speculators  had  received  kindred  assurances  from 
the  French  Minister  at  the  English  capital.  It  was  part  of  the 
secession  plan  to  have  the  Emperor's  appeal  promptly  responded 
to  by  a  movement  in  Parliament ;  but  his  speech,  as  delivered, 
occasioned  embarrassment  and  delay. 

Writing  to  Mr.  Weed,  Mr.  J.  S.  Morgan,  of  London,  said  : 
"  It  occurs  to  me  that  there  may  be  some  sort  of  understand 
ing  between  England  and  France.  Suppose  they  decide  to  ask 
us  to  open  southern  ports,  and  Lincoln  declines,  would  not  that 
mean  war  instanter?  Are  they  blind  and  deaf  at  Washington, 
that  they  neglect  such  important  interests  and  leave  you  to 
work  single-handed  ?  " 

In  the  effort  to  secure  foreign  intervention,  English  cupidity 
was  skillfully  played  upon.  An  extract  from  the  American  cor 
respondence  of  the  Manchester  "  Guardian "  shows  what  sort 
of  argument  was  advanced  to  excite  the  ire  of  the  manufactur 
ing  districts.  The  information  here  subjoined  was  indorsed  as 
coming  from  "  a  firm  of  the  highest  respectability  :  "  — 


404  MEMOIR.  [1862. 

CHARLESTON,  November  20,  18G1. 

You  will  have  heard,  ere  this  reaches  you,  that  the  great  Yankee 
fleet  of  130  ships  made  an  attack  on  our  batteries  at  Hilton  Head,  and, 
after  a  severe  fight  of  five  hours,  our  little  fort  of  sixteen  guns  had  to 
yield  to  120.  The  Yankees  then  landed,  under  cover  of  their  guns, 
and  have  occupied  one  or  more  islands  on  the  coast.  You  are  well 
aware  that  our  seacoast,  like  that  of  Georgia  and  part  of  Florida,  is 
adapted  to  the  growth  of  sea  island  or  long  staple  cotton.  Now,  the 
appearance  of  the  Yankees  has  caused  the  abandonment  of  the  plan 
tations.  The  negroes  run  into  the  interior  to  escape  Yankee  freedom  ; 
the  planters  are  burning  their  houses,  their  crops,  and  their  fields  ;  and 
we  doubt  if  the  vandals  are  able  to  steal  more  than  100  bags  or  so. 

The  island  called  Edisto,  where  extra  fine  cotton  is  grown,  is  almost 
in  a  state  of  ruin.  One  planter  burned  $42,000  worth  of  cotton,  be 
sides  houses,  provisions,  etc. ;  and  we  fully  expect  the  action  of  the 
Edisto  planters  wih1  be  followed  by  all,  whenever  the  Yankees  make 
their  appearance.  Whether  they  confine  themselves  to  this  State 
alone,  or  Georgia  and  Florida  share  the  same  fate,  we  feel  confident 
that  the  planters,  rather  than  permit  their  crops  to  fall  into  the 
hands  of  these  thieves  and  desperadoes,  will  all  burn  their  crops  and 
destroy  their  cotton.  Thus  the  entire  long  staple  crop,  generally  esti 
mated  at  40,000  to  45,000  bags,  may  be  nearly,  if  not  all,  destroyed. 
But  the  mischief  does  not  end  here  ;  the  negroes  are  run  off,  the  plan 
tations  abandoned,  and  no  more  long-staple  cotton  can  be  planted  so 
long  as  the  war  lasts.  Whether  this  is  a  very  serious  matter  or  not  to 
your  fine  spinners  and  thread  manufacturers,  you  can  better  determine. 
A  vast  amount  of  labor  must  be  diverted  to  grain  and  meat.  The 
short  staple  planters,  finding  no  market  for  the  crop  of  this  year,  will 
not  plant  a  single  seed  of  cotton  the  coming  spring.  Grain  will  mo 
nopolize  their  entire  attention.  These  are  serious  matters  to  those  on 
your  side  who  are  so  deeply  interested  in  the  cultivation  of  cotton. 

We  foresaw  all  this  months  ago,  and  did  not  fail  to  urge  you  to 
induce  your  government  to  recognize  the  independence  of  the  Confed 
eracy,  which  would  have  put  a  stop  to  the  war  by  the  consequence 
of  its  moral  effect  alone ;  for,  as  to  England  having  to  fight  the  Yan 
kees,  they  are  too  base-minded  and  cowardly  for  that ;  but  it  seems 
your  ministry  are  more  lenient  to  Yankee  insolence  than  was  ever  ex 
pected  of  them.  True,  the  Yankees  are  on  the  soil  of  this  noble  State, 
but  they  take  care  not  to  leave  the  islands.  When  they  approach  the 
mainland  you  will  see  some  tall  fighting  on  our  side,  and  as  for  run 
ning,  why  Bull  Run  will  not  be  a  circumstance  to  it.  But,  laying 
aside  jesting,  we  cannot  be  subjugated  by  these  Yankees,  though  they 
are  inciting  our  slaves  to  insurrection,  and  in  fact  arming  them  to 


1862.]  SEEKING  FOREIGN  SYMPATHY.  405 

make  war  on  us,  our  wives,  and  little  ones  ;  yet  we  fear  them  not. 
They  may  steal  some  cotton,  burn  a  few  villages,  kill  a  few  women 
and  children,  do  us  much  real  injury  in  the  way  of  pillage  and  vandal 
ism  ;  but  they  can  never  take  from  us  our  liberty  ;  and  as  for  con 
quering  us,  the  thing  is  impossible,  with  our  means,  resources,  and 
determined  spirit. 

When  Messrs.  Mason  and  Slidell  had  been  released,  there  was 
a  strong  disposition  in  England  to  censure  that  government  for 
incurring"  such  "  vast  expense  "  in  preparing  for  war  with  the 
United  States,  without  waiting  for  the  reply  of  our  government 
to  the  English  remonstrances.  In  a  great  speech  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  Mr.  Cobden  sharply  criticised  what  he  called 
Lord  Palmer ston's  "  sensation  policy."  The  following  letter, 
which  appeared  in  the  London  "  Herald,"  on  the  13th  of  Jan 
uary,  indicates  the  state  of  English  feeling  just  prior  to  the 
arrival  at  the  English  capital  of  the  belated  Confederate  emis 
sary  :  — 

I  have  observed  for  several  days  past  that  the  style  of  coarse  vitu 
peration  which  characterizes  the  journalism  of  the  city  of  New  York 
has  been  adopted  by  some  of  the  newspapers  published  in  London, 
when  speaking  of  the  anticipated  arrival  of  the  southern  commission 
ers  unjustly  taken  from  the  royal  mail  steamer  Trent.  The  Daily 
"  News,"  "  Star  and  Dial,"  and  "  Telegraph  "  seem  to  have  lost  their 
sense  of  propriety,  and  their  misstatements  have  been  followed  by  as 
vulgar  a  leader  in  the  "  Times  "  of  this  morning  as  could  have  been 
penned.  It  appears  that  the  Yankees  in  London  have  industriously 
circulated  a  canard  that  Messrs.  Mason  and  Slidell  were  to  receive  an 
ovation,  which  they  considered  would  be  tantamount  to  a  recognition 
by  the  people.  No  such  display,  however,  I  am  assured,  has  been  in 
tended,  and  the  unostentatious  bearing  of  their  colleagues,  Messrs. 
Yancey,  Mann,  and  Rost,  during  a  sojourn  of  many  months  in  Europe, 
is  a  safe  indication  that  no  public  demonstrations  of  regard  would  be 
acceptable  to  the  gentlemen  in  question,  or,  to  use  the  words  of  the 
"Times,"  "the  fellows,"  who  have  "cost  us  a  million  apiece;"  for 
getting  that  the  money  has  been  spent  for  the  honor  of  our  flag,  and 
most  happily  spent  too,  when  we  reflect  that  the  reinforcements  to 
Canada  have  brought  Mr.  Seward  to  terms,  and  that  they  may  be 
found  necessary  before  the  winter  is  over  to  prevent  that  unprincipled 
politician  from  carrying  out  his  long-cherished  scheme  of  annexing 
that  much  coveted  province. 

Neither  Mr.  Mason  nor  Mr.  Slidell  are  enemies  of  England ;  the 


406  MEMOIR.  [1862. 

only  affair  of  importance  which  occurred  that  particularly  concerned 
the  British  people  during  their  career  in  the  Federal  Senate  was  the 
matter  of  the  derelict  Arctic  ship  Resolute,  found  at  sea  by  an 
American  man-of-war,  and  carried  into  an  American  port.  Upon  the 
motion  of  Mr.  Mason,  supported  by  Mr.  Slidell,  that  vessel  was  fitted 
out  at  the  expense  of  the  United  States  government,  and  returned  to 
us  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant  Hartstein,  now  of  the  Confeder 
ate  navy,  who  brought  her  into  Southampton  waters,  where  she  was 
formally  received  by  our  Queen  and  the  late  lamented  Prince  Consort. 
This  was  an  act  of  comity  which  was  considered  at  the  time  to  be  the 
end  of  all  wrangling  between  the  two  governments,  and  these  southern 
gentlemen  were  the  authors  of  it ;  the  idea  could  never  have  originated 
in  the  penurious  brain  of  a  Yankee  member  of  Congress,  or  that  of  the 
particular  friends  of  the  Thunderer,  "  Pompey  and  Caesar,"  the  "  col 
ored  gentlemen,"  whom  that  journal  places  on  a  level  with  the  distin 
guished  statesmen  who  have  been  sent  by  President  Davis  on  a  mis 
sion  of  peace  and  Free  Trade  to  the  governments  of  Great  Britain 
and  France. 

In  heaping  such  insults  upon  the  commissioners,  the  "  Times  "  must 
forget  that  it  is  equally  discourteous  to  Queen  Victoria  and  the  Em 
peror  Napoleon.  If,  as  is  insinuated  by  your  contemporary  of  Print 
ing-House  Square,  "  Pompey  and  Caesar  "  are  considered  fit  persons 
to  hold  the  same  position  that  is  now  occupied  by  Messrs.  Mason  and 
Slidell,  President  Davis  might  have  retained  those  gentlemen  at  home, 
and  despatched  two  individuals  of  the  African  race,  who  could  have 
been  readily  spared  at  the  present  time  from  the  cotton  fields,  at  much 
less  loss  to  the  Confederacy  than  the  absence  of  the  gentlemen  just 
surrendered,  whose  talents,  education,  and  experience  would  render 
their  services  at  home  preeminently  useful  during  this  critical  moment 
in  the  affairs  of  their  country.  Whatever  views  Mr.  Mason  or  Mr. 
Slidell  may  entertain  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  they  are  precisely  those 
held  by  Washington,  Jefferson,  and  other  illustrious  founders  of  the 
American  Republic.  Slavery  is  an  affair  of  their  own  and  not  ours ; 
they  have  never  attempted  to  impose  it  upon  us,  and  we  have  no  more 
right  to  meddle  with  their  local  concerns  or  legislation  than  they  would 
have  to  interfere  with  us  in  a  similar  way.  Such  intrusion  we  would 
consider  the  height  of  impertinence.  Whenever  we  have  despatched 
ministers  or  envoys  to  America,  they  have  been  received  with  courtesy 
both  by  the  press  and  the  people. 

It  is  understood  that  Mr.  Thurlow  Weed,  a  New  York  political 
trickster  and  wire-puller,  and  the  secret  agent  of  Mr.  Seward,  is  here, 
and  that  he  is  using  his  influence  against  the  Confederates.  Can  it  be 
possible  that  such  ill  weeds,  imported  from  beyond  the  seas,  are  per- 


1862.]  SEEKING  FOREIGN  INTERVENTION.  407 

mitted  to  grow  in  the  columns  of  the  British  press  ?  or  that  a  portion  of 
the  Federal  secret  service  fund,  of  which  we  have  heard  so  much,  has 
been  diverted  from  the  system  of  espionage  inaugurated  in  this  country 
by  our  transatlantic  [Yankee]  cousins  towards  influencing  the  public, 
mind?  One  journal  has  already  received  the  cognomen  of  "The 
Organ  of  the  Puritan  Embassy."  Fortunately,  however,  for  the  credit 
of  your  calling,  it  is  a  "  lesser  light,"  as  its  title  indicates,  and  it  is  not 
regarded  as  being  quite  as  Bright  as  it  would  like  to  be  considered. 
Mr.  Weed  is  the  individual  who,  a  short  time  back,  wrote  an  offensive 
letter  to  the  people  of  this  country,  which  he  published  in  the  "  Times," 
wherein  he  stated  that  if  Earl  Russell's  demands  were  for  the  peremp 
tory  return  of  the  "  rebels  "  they  would  not  be  acceded  to.  This  shows 
very  clearly  that  either  Mr.  Weed  is  not  a  very  good  authority  on 
American  matters,  or  that  his  master,  Mr.  Seward,  became  frightened 
when  he  found  Britannia  pointing  her  guns  while  waiting  for  an 
answer. 

1862. — Early  in  the  session  of  Parliament,  after  the  arri 
val  of  Mr.  Mason,  Confederate  commissioner,  Mr.  Gregory, 
of  Galway,  a  supporter  of  Lord  Palmerston,  introduced  reso 
lutions  declaring  foreign  nations  not  bound  to  recognize  the 
Charleston  blockade.  These  resolutions  were  debated  at  length 
in  March.  They  were  opposed  by  John  Bright,  Richard  Cobden, 
William  E.  Forster,  Richard  Moncton  Milnes  (now  Lord  Hough- 
ton),  and  the  Solicitor-General,  Sir  Roundel  Palmer.  Other 
members  of  Parliament,  among  wh$>m  were  Mr.  Kinnaird,  Mr. 
Stansfeld,  Mr.  Baxter,  Mr.  Bazley,  Mr.  Potter,  and  Mr.  Smith, 
of  Stockport,  would  have  spoken  for  the  Union,  had  their  ser 
vices  been  required.  But  the  capture  of  Fort  Donelson  was  a 
strong  argument  against  foreign  interference,  and  when  it  came 
to  a  vote  Mr.  Gregory's  motion  was  defeated. 

Among  Americans  whom  Mr.  Weed  met  in  France  and  Eng 
land,  who  were  outspoken  in  defense  of  the  government,  was 
Mr.  August  Belmont.  Breakfasting  one  morning  at  the  Hotel 
Bristol,  in  Paris,  with  Mr.  Belmont  and  Mr.  Edward  Ellice,  the 
conversation  was  wholly  devoted  to  American  affairs.  The 
opinions  of  Mr.  Ellice  were  high  authority  both  in  London 
and  Paris.  He  maintained  very  earnestly  that  the  North  would 
be  compelled  by  financial  exhaustion  to  submit  to  a  division 
of  the  Union.  He  believed  that  the  war  would  become  so  oner 
ous  to  the  northern  people  that  they  would  force  the  govern- 


408  MEMOIR.  [1862. 

rnent  to  make  terms  with  the  South.  He  thought  also  that  a 
tariff  which  was  so  seriously  affecting  the  manufacturing  inter 
ests  of  England  and  France,  must  soon  arouse  the  intervention 
of  those  governments.  Mr.  Belmont  joined  with  Mr.  Weed  in 
controverting  these  assumptions.  He  insisted  that  if,  as  Mr. 
Ellice  affirmed,  foreign  countries  remained  neutral,  our  govern 
ment  and  people  were  strong  enough  in  men  and  money  to  pre 
serve  the  Union.  There  was  particular  significance  in  the  opin 
ions  of  Mr.  Belmont  at  this  time,  as  he  was  a  prominent  leader 
in  the  Democratic  party,  and  the  representative  at  New  York  of 
the  Rothschilds,  and  there  was  perhaps  even  greater  value  at 
tached  to  his  utterances  on  account  of  the  fact  that  he  was 
allied  by  family  connections  to  Mr.  Slidell,  then  in  Paris  urging 
the  Emperor  to  assert  himself  on  the  side  of  the  rebels.  During 
the  early  part  of  the  war  Mr.  Ellice  expressed  himself  freely  as 
above  quoted.  But  ere  long  his  position  was  reversed,  and  when 
the  attempt  was  made  in  Parliament  to  raise  the  blockade  he 
cooperated  with  the  majority. 

[MR.    SEWARD  TO    MR.    WEED.~| 

WASHINGTON,  January  2,  1862. 

MY  DEAR  WEED,  —  If  I  had  not  nerves  of  steel  I  should  give  up 
my  place  and  let  some  less  offending  man  take  it  up. 

They  say  I  sent  John  Brown  to  Virginia  to  raise  a  slave  insurrec 
tion.  Everybody  waits  for  me  to  prove  that  I  did  not.  They  charge 
me  with  "  compromising."  The  press  calls  upon  me  to  prove  that  I  am 
not  guilty.  They  charge  me  with  gross  vices.  Friends  ask,  can  it  be 
so  bad  ?  and  call  upon  me  for  refutations.  They  say  I  want  war  with 
England.  Immediately  I  must  prove  that  I  love  England  better  than 
our  own  country.  The  Duke  of  Newcastle,  forgetful  of  the  amenities 
of  a  dinner,  gives  the  press  a  story  about  insulting  the  Prince  of  Wales 
and  his  whole  party,  and  I  must  immediately  go  into  a  defense. 

Now  either  I  have  character  enough  for  sense  and  decency  to  live 
through  silly  falsehoods  like  these,  caused  by  hatred  of  our  country 
and  her  cause,  or  I  have  not.  If  I  have  not,  I  ought  to  be  compelled 
at  once  to  relinquish  a  place  which  some  other  can  fill  better. 

I  had  prepared  a  note  to  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  but  have  thrown 
it  into  the  fire.  Before  this  silly  canard  of  his  could  be  exposed,  some 
new  one  would  be  started. 

With  love  to  Harriet,  I  am  ever  your  unfortunate  friend,  who  has 
faith  in  everybody,  and  enjoys  the  confidence  of  nobody, 

WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 


1862.]  MR.   SEWARD   TO  MR.   WEED.  409 

WASHINGTON,  January  22,  1862. 

MY  DEAR  WEED,  —  If  anything  had  been  wanted  to  complete  the 
embarrassments  of  my  position  here  in  relation  to  the  disposition  of 
foreign  questions,  it  would  have  been  the  fact  you  have  supplied ; 
namely,  that  Mr.  Adams  and  yourself  have  been  living  jn  the  belief, 
that  from  the  first  inception  of  the  recent  difficulty,  I  knew  and  could 
have  intimated  from  day  to  day,  as  was  so  much  to  be  desired  in  Lon 
don,  what  would  be  the  solution  of  the  affair  —  and  that  I  would  not. 
I  must  not  allow  myself  to  be  set  down  as  guilty  of  criminal  neglect  or 
obliquity. 

Pray  understand  that  I  neither  can  advise  Mr.  Adams  beforehand, 
nor  even  know  for  myself  what  will  be  the  action  of  the  government 
two  days  in  advance  of  the  actual  decision  it  may  make,  when  ready 
to  make  it,  or,  in  other  words,  when  obliged  to  make  it.  The  con 
sideration  of  the  Trent  case  was  crowded  out  by  pressing  domestic 
affairs  until  Christmas  day.  It  was  considered  on  my  presentation  of 
it  on  the  25th  and  26th  of  December.  The  government,  when  it  took 
the  subject  up,  had  no  idea  of  the  grounds  upon  which  it  would  explain 
its  action,  nor  did  it  believe  that  it  would  concede  the  case.  Yet  it 
was  heartily  unanimous  in  the  actual  result  after  two  days'  examina 
tion,  and  in  favor  of  the  release.  Remember  that  in  a  council  like 
ours  there  are  some  strong  wills  to  be  reconciled.  Lord  Lyons  sub 
mitted  the  case  to  me  only  on  Friday,  and  on  the  Friday  following  the 
matter  was  disposed  of.  ... 

I  am  concerned  deeply  about  the  agitation  apprehended  in  Parlia 
ment.  I  fear  that  there  may  be  precipitancy  there.  If  there  is,  the 
world  has  never  seen  such  a  commotion  as  there  will  be. 

The  people  are  very  determined  to  push  the  war  ;  .  .  .  they  are 
ready  for  sacrifices  heretofore  thought  impossible.  If  there  is  to  be 
an  onset  in  Parliament  for  recognition  and  the  breaking-up  of  our 
blockade,  and  the  temper  of  the  ministry  and  the  country  is  ripened 
to  maintain  that  position,  of  course  I  do  not  know  what  we  can  do  to 
prevent  the  disaster.  It  would  be  a  foregone  conclusion.  No  argu- 
guments  will  be  heard  against  it.  Moreover,  if  the  distrust  of  our 
ability  to  put  down  insurrection  is  so  deep  and  so  universal  in  Europe 
as  to  encourage  Great  Britain  and  France  into  such  a  policy,  that,  too, 
is  an  evil  that,  though  understood  by  us,  we  cannot  avert.  It  results 
from  the  incapacity  of  Europeans  to  understand  the  magnitude  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  time  and  expense  required  to  meet  so  extensive 
a  conspiracy  and  subdue  it.  No  nation  can  perform  in  sixty  days  so 
great  a  task  as  we  have  on  hand.  But  if  I  am  expected  to  be  able  to 
convince  the  prejudices  of  parties  in  Europe,  I  confess  that  I  cannot. 
They  discredit  me  so  that  they  may  not  be  convinced.  Nevertheless, 


410  MEMOIR.  [1862. 

I  do  know  this,  that  whatever  nation  makes  war  against  us,  or  forces 
itself  into  a  war,  will  find  out  that  we  can  and  shall  suppress  rebellion 
and  defeat  invaders  besides.  The  courage  and  the  determination  of 
the  American  people  are  aroused  for  any  needful  effort  —  any  national 
sacrifices. 

My  dear  Weed,  you  have  wrung  out  of  me  what  you  yourself  will 
regard  as  too  sanguine  expressions  of  my  confidence  in  the  success  of 
our  cause,  and  you  will  undervalue  them,  though  I  shall  not  give  them 
up.  But  you  must  not  insist  on  my  writing  in  such  a  crisis  my  full 
thoughts,  and  you  must  trust  that  when  I  may  seem  to  you  to  be  doing 
nothing,  I  am  doing  all  I  am  capable  of  doing  to  save  our  country,  un 
der  embarrassments  that  you,  while  abroad,  know  nothing  of. 

Best  love  to  Harriet.  Don't  lose  your  pocketbook,  but  if  you  are 
going  to,  burn  my  letters  first. 

WASHINGTON,  January  30,  1862. 

MY  DEAR  WEED,  —  Cyrus  W.  Field  is  the  only  man  with  concep 
tions  equal  to  the  difficulties  of  our  correspondence.1  I  have  just  now 
your  letters  of  4th,  5th,  6th,  and  8th  of  January.  .  .  .  We  are  doing 
all  that  we  can  do.  Rains  and  storms  for  three  weeks.  They  render 
marches  or  field  movements  impossible.  ...  It  will  be  a  sad  day  for 
us  if  Europe  intervenes.  What  we  can  do  to  prevent  it  we  are  doing, 
but  if  it  must  come  we  must  meet  the  end.  Everything  you  write  tends 
to  impress  me  with  the  conviction  that  we  cannot  be  understood  in 
England.  But  for  all  that  my  courage  and  confidence  do  not  fail. 
The  story  about  my  speech  in  Canada  which  you  contradicted  was  ut 
terly  groundless.  What  I  did  say  was  so  flattering  to  the  British  that 
the  French  took  offense.  But  how  could  I  prevent  such  things,  or 
even  hope  to  correct  them  ?  The  excitement  of  one  day  is  chased  off 
by  the  fresh  excitement  of  another.  I  never  saw  until  now  the  strength 
of  the  prophecy,  "  wars  and  rumors  of  wars."  ...  At  last  blows  be 
gin  to  tell  on  the  side  of  the  Union.  I  trust  that  the  news  will  reach 
Europe  in  time  to  produce  a  good  effect. 

Yours  faithfully,  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 

[MR.    EVARTS    TO    ME.    WEED.] 

NEW  YORK,  February  2,  18G2. 

MY  DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  I  was  delighted  to  get  your  letter  and  to 
know  that  amid  the  attractions  and  distractions  of  your  London  life 
you  had  a  few  moments  for  me.  I  had  read  your  public  correspon 
dence,  and  Mr.  Blatchford  had  shown  me  most  of  your  letters  to  him, 
so  that  I  have  kept  up  with  your  rapid  movements  in  society  and  your 
continued  and  useful  labors  for  the  country. 

1  Referring,  of  course,  to  Mr.  Field's  efforts  in  connection  with  an  inter 
national  telegraph. 


1862.]  LETTERS   TO  MR.   WEED.  411 

We  were  all  exceedingly  gratified  with  Governor  Se ward's  conduct 
of  the  diplomatic  question,  through  which  he  carried  us  so  ably  and 
gracefully.  In  the  general  judgment  even  of  those  least  inclined  to 
him,  he  showed,  in  substance  and  in  manner,  temper  and  abilities 
equal  to  the  very  difficult  problem  he  had  to  solve.  As  our  arms  have 
made  no  progress  and  our  generals  have  made  no  fame  for  them 
selves,  as  our  finances  are  in  disorder  and  the  administration  of  our 
treasury  in  disgrace,  Governor  Seward  and  diplomacy  have  thus  far 
carried  away  all  the  credit  which  has  fallen  to  anybody  in  the  disas 
trous  course  which  our  affairs  have  taken. 

I  had  some  hopes  that  Governor  Seward  would  feel  strong  enough, 
upon  the  flood  of  his  now  popular  favor,  to  attempt  the  formation  of  a 
public-spirited  Cabinet,  framed  to  the  issues  that  have  arisen  since  the 
election. 

I  expect  foreign  interference  may  come  unless  our  arms  have  somo 
speedy  and  decisive  successes  ;  and  were  I  in  Governor  Seward's  place, 
I  should  strive  to  have  that  interference,  when  it  could  be  no  longer 
averted,  take  the  shape  of  mediation  rather  than  recognition  of  the 
Confederacy.  I  have  no  doubt  the  two  sections  of  the  country  have 
learned  to  correct  some  of  their  opinions  of  one  another,  and  if  neither 
can  be  allowed  to  whip  the  other,  they  would  think  twice  before  they 
would  expose  themselves  to  the  mercies  of  foreign  interests. 

You  cannot  complain  that  I  have  not  answered  your  letter,  though 
I  have  sent  you  nothing  worth  reading.  Yet  it  is  about  the  staple  of 
opinion  and  conversation  when  men  talk  freely.  We  all  miss  you  as 
the  only  permanent  institution  in  the  ever-changing  personnel  of  our 
public  life.  I  shall  be  very  glad  always  to  hear  from  you,  and  with 
my  kindest  regards  to  Miss  Weed  and  best  wishes  for  her  and  your 
safe  return,  I  am,  Very  truly  yours,  WILLIAM  M.  EVARTS. 

[MR.    STEWART    TO    MR.    WEED.] 

NEW  YORK,  February  4,  1862. 

MY  DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  I  was  delighted  to  receive  your  letter 
from  London.  I  know  quite  well  the  history  of  Sir  Emerson  Ten- 
nent,  by  whom  you  were  entertained.  He  is  one  of  those  whose  sin 
gular  good  fortune  it  is  to  rise  by  the  force  of  circumstances  and  acci 
dent  to  a  high  position,  due  in  great  part  to  the  wisdom  which  provided 
him  with  a  good  education.  That  is  a  blessing  beyond  almost  all  oth 
ers  which  a  parent  can  bestow,  and  particularly  when  the  mind  and 
character  are  improved  together.  I  fear  our  system  of  public  instruc 
tion  neglects  the  latter  too  much.  .  .  . 

I  have  great  hopes  from  your  influence  in  behalf  of  our  country  on 
the  public  men  of  Europe,  who  seem  to  be  drifting  into  an  antagonis- 


412  MEMOIR.  [1862. 

tic  position  to  the  United  States,  arising  in  part,  no  doubt,  from  their 
jealousy  of  free  institutions  of  government,  the  success  of  which  they 
probably  suppose  condemns  the  existence  of  others  of  an  opposite  char 
acter.  I  trust  they  will  keep  their  hands  off  and  leave  us  to  master 
this  rebellion,  the  wickedness  of  which  is  more  apparent,  when  we  see 
that  it  invites  foreign  intervention,  and  may  yet  involve  many  nations 
in  terrible  struggles.  We,  by  acting  on  the  policy  that  we  could  ex 
haust  the  South  by  holding  them  in  check,  have  given  a  justification  to 
intervention,  which  a  vigorous  policy,  founded  on  the  enthusiasm  first 
created,  would  have  prevented.  It  has  given  the  South  time  which  it 
wanted,  and  made  the  task  of  subjugation  more  difficult ;  but  I  have 
confidence,  founded  on  personal  knowledge,  that  the  new  Secretary  of 
War  will  see  that  our  army  fights  with  the  earnestness  which  the  cause 
requires.  I  hope  new  strength  will  be  infused  into  the  Cabinet  by  se 
lections  from  experienced  men,  and  that  the  finances  of  the  govern 
ment,  now  wretchedly  managed,  will  soon  be  in  proper  condition,  as 
they  may  be,  by  establishing  the  national  credit  on  a  system  of  imme 
diate  and  thorough  taxation. 

I  should  be  glad  to  be  with  you  in  England.  So  rapid  are  the 
changes  during  war,  that  attention  to  health  is  omitted  in  the  greater 
attention  which  business  now  requires. 

Present  my  regards  to  your  daughter,  and  believe  me, 

Truly  yours,  ALEX'R  T.  STEWART. 

[GOVERNOR  MORGAN  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

ALBANY,  January  11,  18G2. 

MY  DEAR  WEED,  —  You  have  done  great  good  at  home  as  well  as 
abroad  by  your  letters  and  counsel.  Just  at  this  moment  there  is  a 
greater  feeling  of  security  against  trouble  with  England  than  has  been 
felt  in  many  months. 

When  affairs  looked  the  worst  I  conferred  with  several  competent 
engineers  and  purchased  about  380.000  feet  of  timber  at  the  yards  in 
New  York  city,  at  a  cost  of  about  $80,000,  with  a  view  to  using  it  as 
an  obstruction  to  vessels  crossing  the  Narrows.  The  timber  was  to 
be  converted  into  rafts  and  booms,  according  to  the  most  improved 
plans  ;  which  are  now  being  made  and  will  in  a  few  day  be  submitted 
for  adoption.  It  is  not  proposed  to  proceed  with  this  expense  if  all 
appears  right  abroad,  but  it  is  important  that  the  State  should  proceed 
to  fortify  her  harbors  upon  the  Lakes,  and  improve  the  fortifications 
in  and  around  New  York.  The  government  talk  about  doing  it,  and 
promise  pretty  well,  but  thus  far  they  have  accomplished  really  noth 
ing.  Whether  they  are  paralyzed  by  the  discussions  in  Congress  I 
cannot  say  :  but  I  think  they  are  really  unable  to  cope  with  affairs  im 
mediately  pressing  upon  them. 


1862.]  GOVERNOR  MORGAN   TO  MR.    WEED.  413 

We  may  hear  of  some  good  results,  and  I  think  we  shall,  in  the  next 
ten  days,  but  there  is  a  very  strong  disposition  to  complain  of  the  inac 
tivity  of  our  generals,  as  well  as  the  enormous  expense  of  the  army. 

You  are  aware  that  I  have  been  quite  apprehensive  of  the  discre 
tion  of  the  law  makers  elected  last  November  in  this  State,  I  begin  to 
feel,  however,  without  any  real  cause.  They  have  been  three  or 
four  days  in  session,  and  will  commence  business  earnestly  the  coining 
week  when  the  committees  are  named.  I  have  directed  one  or  more 
copies  of  the  message  sent  you.  I  missed  you  greatly  in  its  prepara 
tion.  It  was  a  rare  tiling  not  to  have  the  benefit  of  your  counsel. 

Nothing  whatever  is  said  about  the  fall  campaign.  All  are  too  much 
engrossed  in  the  cares  of  the  present  hour  to  do  that.  I  cannot,  how 
ever,  but  feel  that  General  Wadsworth  will  be  willing,  and  will  be  far 
more  available  than  any  one  yet  mentioned  as  my  successor.  Upon 
this  and  many  other  important  subjects  we  will  have  ample  time  to  con 
sult  after  you  return  home.  Cordially  yours,  E.  D.  MORGAX. 

Mr.  Weed  returned  to  the  United  States  in  June.  As  lie 
stepped  off  the  steamer  he  was  met  by  a  committee  of  the  Com 
mon  Council  delegated  to  inform  him  that  in  recognition  of 
his  services  in  Europe  he  had  been  tendered,  by  a  unanimous 
vote,  the  freedom  of  the  city  of  New  York ;  which  would  be 
presented  in  a  costly  gold  box,  at  a  public  dinner  given  by  the 
city  in  honor  of  the  recipient,  that  custom  having  been  estab 
lished  when  this  distinguished  honor  was  conferred  upon  Wash 
ington  and  Lafayette. 

[MR.  WEED    TO    THE    XEW   YORK    COMMON    COUNCIL.] 

ALBANY,  July  1,  1862. 

GENTLEMEN,  —  I  receive,  with^a  grateful  sense  of  the  honor  they 
confer,  the  very  nattering  resolutions  adopted  by  the  Common  Council 
of  our  commercial  metropolis.  I  accept  them  frankly  and  proudly,  as 
emanations  rather  of  your  own  generous  constructions  than  as  merited 
by  any  service  it  may  have  been  in  my  power  to  render  our  country. 

If,  during  a  temporary  residence  in  Europe,  I  have  been  enabled, 
in  some  degree,  to  relieve  the  complications  in  which  our  affairs  were 
involved  ;  to  do  something  towards  vindicating  our  government  from 
unjust  aspersions  ;  or  to  aid  in  turning  back  the  tide  of  popular  senti 
ment  setting  so  strongly  against  our  cause,  it  was  owing  to  the  prompt 
and  generous  confidence  reposed  in  me  by  our  distinguished  repre 
sentatives  in  England  and  France.  In  bearing  testimony,  as  is  both  a 
duty  and  a  pleasure,  to  the  ability  and  fidelity  of  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr. 


414  MEMOIR.  [1862. 

Dayton,  I  cannot  forbear  to  add  that,  rising  above  considerations 
which  might  have  disturbed  ministers  less  truly  devoted  to  their  coun 
try,  they  not  only  accepted  unofficial  cooperation,  but  disembarrassed 
my  colleagues  and  myself  by  cheerfully  facilitating  our  efforts.  It  is 
a  pleasure,  also,  to  add  that,  on  several  occasions  and  in  essential 
ways,  I  was  efficiently  aided  by  Mr.  Sanford,  our  indefatigable  Min 
ister  to  Belgium.  Nor  could  the  government,  in  a  season  of  trial  and 
difficulty,  have  made  happier  selections  of  consuls  in  Paris  and 
London.  Messrs.  Bigelow  and  Morse  are  discharging  their  responsi 
ble  duties  in  a  manner  worthy  of  all  praise. 

Our  government  was  by  no  means  too  prompt  in  inviting  some  of 
its  citizens  to  visit  Europe.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  two  or  three 
eminent  gentlemen,  to  whom  it  is  understood  that  invitation  extended, 
were  unable  to  accept,  for  the  field  was  large  and  the  laborers  few. 
In  the  designation  of  Archbishop  Hughes  and  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  how 
ever,  the  government  was  peculiarly  fortunate.  The  services  of  those 
enlightened  and  eminent  divines  and  devoted  Union  men,  the  former 
in  Paris  and  the  latter  all  over  England,  were  seasonable  and  effective. 
Their  exalted  positions,  their  high  characters,  and  their  fervid  zeal, 
gave  weight  and  authority  to  their  statements  and  opinions. 

Secession,  while  undermining  for  ultimate  rebellion,  was  thoughtful 
of  the  importance  of  the  favor  of  Europe.  The  South,  with  its  long 
cherished  purpose,  worked  as  diligently  abroad  as  at  home.  The 
North,  unconscious  of  the  great  crime  meditated,  slept.  Active  emissa 
ries  of  secession,  aided  too  often  by  sympathizing  ministers  and  con 
suls,  settled  the  public  mind  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  against 
us.  Public  opinion  was  formed  against  the  Union  before  our  side  of 
the  question  was  presented  or  heard.  By  turning  truth  end  for  end, 
and  reading  history  backwards,  we  were  held  by  Europeans  as  the 
aggressors  !  The  last  three  months  of  Mr.  Buchanan's  administration 
were  almost  as  injurious  abroad  as  at  home  ;  for  there,  as  here,  loyal 
men  occupied  the  places  of  disloyal  Cabinet  and  foreign  ministers  too 
late  to  nip  rebellion  in  the  bud. 

But  there  were  causes,  as  well  as  pretexts,  for  the  lack  of  sympa 
thy  which  we  encountered  in  Europe.  The  governments  of  the  Old 
World  remember  that  from  the  nature  of  our  institutions,  our  own 
sympathies  have  generally  run  with  those  who  struggled  to  overthrow 
monarchies,  and  that  we  have  shown  alacrity  in  recognizing  the  inde 
pendence  of  such  as  struggled  successfully.  By  the  nations  most  in 
timately  connected  with  us,  the  Morrill  tariff  was  regarded  with  great 
disfavor.  In  England,  it  was  believed  that  we  not  only  cherished  un 
friendly  feelings  towards  that  country,  but  that  we  desired  a  disruption 
of  friendly  relations.  The  emissaries  of  rebellion  seized  upon  these 


1862.]  REPLY  TO   THE   COMMON  COUNCIL.  415 

causes  and  pretexts  to  turn  the  current  of  feeling  in  their  favor.  It 
was,  too,  plausibly  urged,  that  the  difference  in  climate,  soil,  habits, 
and  "  want  of  congeniality  "  between  the  North  and  South  constituted 
snch  radical  discordance  that  our  Union  had  become  an  impossibility. 
These  fallacies  were  so  successfully  pressed  that  Mr.  Gladstone,  in  a 
speech  at  Manchester,  stated  that  the  Union  was  but  a  copartnership, 
dissoluble  whenever  passion  or  caprice  prompted  in  any  of  the  parties 
a  desire  to  withdraw.  That  eminent  statesman  —  if  for  a  moment, 
we  adopt  his  theory  —  overlooked  or  ignored  the  circumstance  that 
our  secession  copartners,  in  retiring,  broke  open  the  safe,  and  stole 
valuable  securities,  the  common  property  of  the  firm  —  or,  in  other 
words,  that  in  separating,  they  seized  fortifications,  arms,  custom 
houses,  post-offices,  and  public  moneys  —  acts  of  treason  in  a  public 
or  of  robbery  in  a  private  sense  which  would,  if  perpetrated  in  Eng 
land,  have  consigned  them  to  the  Tower  or  the  penitentiary. 

While  England,  France,  Belgium,  and  Germany  begin  to  experience 
serious  inconvenience  from  their  short  supply  of  cotton,  I  do  not  ap 
prehend  that  these  governments  will  intervene,  immediately,  though  by 
the  two  former  the  subject  has  been  considered.  It  is  proper  to  say 
that  France  is  even  more  impatient  than  England  ;  not,  however,  from 
unfriendliness,  but  because  the  Emperor  assumes,  in  the  absence  of  em 
ployment,  to  supply  his  people  with  food. 

But  we  have  nothing  to  fear  from  Europe  if  we  are  successful  in 
the  prosecution  of  the  war.  Fort  Donelson,  Nashville,  Winchester, 
New  Orleans,  and  Memphis  are  our  strongest  arguments  against  inter 
vention,  with  governments  that  determine  all  questions  by  military 
measurement. 

There  are,  however,  but  too  well  founded  reasons  for  apprehending 
future  embroilment  with  England.  Nor  can  I  doubt  the  propriety  of 
dwelling  briefly,  but  earnestly,  upon  a  danger  fraught  with  conse 
quences  so  vital  to  the  welfare  of  both  nations.  The  Trent  affair, 
though  happily,  because  rightfully  settled,  has  left  an  arrow  with  poi 
soned  barb  festering  in  our  flesh,  and  irritating  our  nerves.  The  impres 
sion  that  England,  willing  to  take  us  at  a  disadvantage,  availed  herself 
of  the  erring  judgment  or  impulsive  zeal  of  a  naval  commander  to 
wage  war  upon  us  has  obtained  throughout  our  country.  That  Eng 
land  expected  war  and  intended  war,  making,  with  unparalleled  alacrity 
and  in  gigantic  proportions,  preparations  for  war,  is  admitted  to  be 
true.  But,  with  opportunities  favorable  to  a  correct  understanding  of 
the  views  of  the  English  government  and  of  the  feelings  that  swayed 
the  English  mind,  I  am  bound,  in  truth  and  fairness,  to  say,  that  that 
government  and  people  sincerely  believed  that  we  desired  a  rupture 
with  them ;  that  we  sought  occasion  to  taunt  and  snub  them ;  and, 


416  MEMOIR.  [18G2. 

egregiously  unfounded  as  the  supposition  was,  that  the  present  Secre 
tary  of  State  was  the  representative  of  this  hostile  sentiment.  In 
justification  of  these  impressions,  it  was  said  that  by  "bullying  "  we  ob 
tained  advantages  in  the  settlement  of  the  Northeastern  and  Van 
couver  boundary  questions  ;  that  we  abruptly  dismissed  their  Minister, 
Mr.  Crampton,  and  their  Consul,  Mr.  Barclay ;  that  our  sympathies 
in  the  war  with  Russia  were  with  their  enemy ;  that  we  had  threat 
ened  often  to  wrest  Canada  from  them ;  and,  finally,  that  Secretary 
Seward  had  avowed  hostile  intentions  towards  England. 

Some  of  these  grounds  of  complaint  were,  as  we  know,  well  taken  ; 
all  were  believed  to  be  so. 

We  all  felt  that  recognition  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  as  a  bel 
ligerent,  by  England  and  France,  was  an  over-hasty  and  ungracious 
act.  But  in  submitting  the  proposition  to  the  French  Emperor,  the 
English  crown  lawyers  enforced  it  by  arguments  which,  from  their 
standpoint,  were  forcible.  Each  government  supposed  that  the  insur 
gent  states  had  or  could  fit  out  vessels  of  war,  and  wished  to  relieve 
itself  from  the  responsibility  of  treating  such  vessels  as  pirates.  In 
this  they  erred,  for,  without  the  impunity  thus  extended  to  them,  not 
even  the  Nashville  or  Sumter  would  have  ventured  to  sea. 

But,  notwithstanding  these  adverse  influences,  and  the  existence,  in 
certain  high  quarters,  of  views  not  friendly  to  the  success  of  our  form 
of  government,  the  Union  has  many  ardent,  well-wishing  friends  in 
England,  and  can  have  many  more  if  we  act  justly  ourselves,  and 
labor  to  correct  impressions  grossly  erroneous.  The  paths  of  peace 
are  the  only  paths  of  pleasantness  for  England  and  America.  In 
view  of  dangers  which  I  do  not  exaggerate  —  dangers  growing  out  of 
mutual  misapprehension  of  each  other's  real  sentiments  —  it  behooves 
the  government,  the  press,  and  the  people  of  both  countries,  by  en 
lightened  counsels,  large  toleration,  and  wise  forbearance,  to  soothe 
rather  than  stimulate  existing  irritations.  Nor,  in  forming  our  esti 
mate  of  the  degree  and  value  of  English  sympathy  during  our  do 
mestic  troubles,  is  the  fact  that  her  Queen  and  House  of  Commons 
modified  harsh  despatches  and  resisted  unfriendly  legislation  without 
significance. 

To  have  been  deemed  worthy,  by  the  boards  of  aldermen  and 
councilmen  of  the  city  of  New  York,  of  the  high  municipal  honors 
which  their  resolutions  confer,  is  a  distinction  of  which  any  man 
would  be  proud,  —  to  me  it  is  a  treasure  "  more  precious  than  rubies 
or  fine  gold."  In  thanking  you  again  for  this  undeserved  honor,  I  beg 
to  assure  you  that,  while  I  may  be  unable  to  justify  this  partiality,  I 
shall  at  least  do  nothing  that  will  induce  the  common  council  to  re 
gret  its  action. 


1862.]  REPLY  TO   THE  COMMON  COUNCIL.  417 

Born  upon  the  banks  of  the  Hudson  River,  my  advent  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  in  the  year  1807,  was  in  the  capacity  of  cabin-boy  to  the 
sloop  Jefferson,  Captain  Bogardus,  of  Catskill ;  and  my  first  entrance 
to  the  city,  from  Coenties  Slip  up  Broad  Street,  with  the  trunk  of  a 
passenger  on  my  shoulder,  is  a  well-remembered  incident. 

Subsequently,  in  1816,  '17,  and  '18,  I  wrought  there  as  a  journey 
man  printer.  Having,  therefore,  obtained  an  early  foothold  in  our 
great  metropolis,  and  witnessed  its  wonderful  growth,  its  unparalleled 
prosperity,  and  its  unfolding  material  and  intellectual  glories,  during  a 
period  which  has  augmented  its  population  from  less  than  one  hun 
dred  thousand  to  more  than  a  million,  you  will  pardon  the  weakness 
which  confesses  its  pride  in  being  invested  with  the  freedom  of  a 
city  destined  to  become  what  London  is,  —  a  centre  and  depositary  of 
the  wealth,  power,  and  wisdom  of  the  world. 

In  declining  the  hospitalities  which  your  resolutions  contemplate 
and  your  committee  tender,  —  though  your  own  generous  sympathies 
need  no  prompting,  permit  me  to  suggest  that  the  city's  good  cheer 
be  reserved  for  and  dispensed  among  the  survivors  of  the  gallant  men 
who  uphold  the  cause  of  the  Union  in  sanguinary  battles  with  a  stead 
iness  and  heroism  which  entitle  them  to  our  affection  and  gratitude. 
Respectfully  and  truly  your  obedient  servant, 

THURLOW  WEED. 
27 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

1862-1863. 

THE  WAR  FOR  THE  UNION.  —  STATE  ELECTIONS  OF  1862.  —  ATTEMPTS 
TO  MODIFY  THE  NATIONAL  ISSUE. — LETTERS  FROM  BISHOP  MC!L- 
VAINE,  AUGUST  BELMONT,  AND  GENERAL  Dix.  —  DEFEAT  OF  GEN 
ERAL  WADSWORTH.  —  GOVERNOR  SEYMOUR  AND  GENERAL  MCCLELLAN. 
—  MR.  McELRATii  TO  MR.  WEED.  —  GOVERNOR  MORGAN  ELECTED 
SENATOR.  —  WITHDRAWAL  FROM  JOURNALISM. 

DURING  the  summer  of  1862  the  radical  section  o£  the  Re 
publican  party,  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Chase,  Charles 
Sunnier,  Benjamin  F.  Wade,  "  Zach  "  Chandler,  and  a  number 
of  prominent  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  sought 
to  establish  the  impression  that  the  war  was  carried  on  by  our 
armies  not  so  much  to  preserve  the  government  as  to  destroy 
slavery.  Referring  to  the  claim  that  the  war  must  make  an 
end  of  slavery,  Mr.  Sumner,  at  the  Massachusetts  state  conven 
tion  in  the  fall  of  1861,  defined  his  position  by  saying,  "  That  is 
probable.  But  it  is  surer  still  that  the  overthrow  of  slavery  will 
make  an  end  of  the  war."  "  While  Mr.  Sumner  was  disposed," 
says  his  biographer,  "  to  render  all  the  aid  he  could  to  Mr.  Lin 
coln,  he  everywhere  advocated  a  widely  different  policy."  l 

An  election  was  to  be  held  in  Maine  in  September,  and 
Mr.  Weed  appealed  to 'the  Republicans  of  that  State  not  to  ac 
cept  any  modification  of  the  spirit  of  the  contest.  He  pointed 
out  that,  inasmuch  as  slavery  was  destined  to  disappear,  in  con 
sequence  of  and  as  a  penalty  for  secession,  it  was  as  unnecessary 
as  it  was  hazardous  to  abandon  President  Lincoln's  platform. 
"  My  paramount  object,"  said  the  President,  in  August,  1862, 
"  is  to  save  the  Union,  and  not  either  to  save  or  to  destroy 
slavery.  If  I  could  save  the  Union  without  freeing  any  slave, 
I  would  do  it ;  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  all  the  slaves,  I 
would  do  it ;  and  if  I  could  do  it  by  freeing  some  and  leaving 
1  Lester's  Life  of  Sumner,  p.  3GO. 


1862.]  LETTERS    TO  MR.    WEED.  419 

others  alone,  I  would  also  do  that.  What  I  do  about  slavery 
and  the  colored  race,  I  do  because  I  believe  it  helps  to  save  this 
Union,  and  what  I  forbear,  I  forbear  because  I  do  not  believe 
it  would  help  to  save  the  Union." : 

Accepting  advice,  the  Republicans  of  Maine  kept  the  aboli 
tion  question  out  of  their  canvass,  and  were  rewarded  by  an 
emphatic  victory.  But  in  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  the  Radicals 
succeeded  in  forcing  their  issue  into  the  elections,  and  the  Dem 
ocrats  reversed  a  Republican  majority  of  30,000  in  one  State 
and  of  50,000  in  the  other. 

In  his  own  State  Mr.  Weed  made  a  great  effort  to  get  his 
party  out  of  shallow  water  before  the  November  election,  when 
state  officers,  including  a  successor  to  Governor  Morgan,  were 
to  be  chosen.  Meanwhile  he  was  also  engaged  vigorously  in  the 
work  of  forwarding  troops,  —  not  an  easy  task  at  this  time,  for 
men  did  not  rush  to  arms  in  response  to  abolition  watchwords. 
"  Let  the  move  be  quick  and  strong,"  telegraphed  Mr.  Seward 
to  Mr.  Weed  on  the  5th  of  July,  "  every  man  who  goes  into  the 
service  now  counts  for  more  than  twenty  men  ever  did  before, 
and  more  than  he  could  at  any  future  time." 

[BISHOP    McILVAIXE    TO    MR.    WEED.] 

CINCINNATI,  July  10,  1862. 

MY  DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  Though  I  wrote  you  only  the  other  day, 
I  cannot  but  write  again  to  thank  you  for  the  letter  to  the  corporation 
of  the  city  of  New  York,  which  I  have  read  to-day.  I  do  not  mean 
merely  for  the  kind  terms  in  which  you  have  mentioned  me,  but  chiefly 
for  the  just  views  exhibiting  our  relations  to  England,  and  for  the 
effort  you  have  made  to  abate  the  excessive  and  perilous  exasperation 
of  the  American  mind  towards  Great  Britain.  ...  I  accept  entirely 
your  explanation  of  the  feeling  and  acts  of  England  in  the  Trent 
affair.  .  .  . 

After  reading  your  letter,  one  sees  why  the  English  government  and 
people  so  hastily  took  up  the  impression  that  we  intended  to  insult 
England,  or  supposed  it  could  be  done  without  trouble.  However 
faulty  that  conclusion,  there  was  a  great  deal  in  our  history  to  excuse 
it.  One  can  understand  also  much  of  the  coldness  towards  our  cause, 
and  much  of  the  disposition  to  feel  tenderly  towards  the  South.  .  .  . 
I  say  .this,  not  ignorant  that  there  was,  in  certain  English  sections,  an 
evil  and  hostile  feeling  which  would  rejoice  in  our  downfall  as  a  great 
1  See  Raymond's  Life  of  Lincoln,  pp.  252-2G1. 


420  MEMOIR.  [1862. 

nation,  and  which  would  not  be  averse  to  a  cause  of  war  with  us,  for 
the  purpose  of  "teaching  us  our  place." 

Yours,  very  truly,  CHARLES  P.  MC!LVAINE. 

[AUGUST  BELMONT  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

NEWPORT,  R.  I.,  July  20,  1862. 

MY  DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  I  have  made  several  attempts  to  see  you 
during  youv  fleeting  visits  to  New  York,  but  have  not  been  so  fortunate 
as  to  find  you  in. 

Our  national  affairs  are  in  a  most  critical  position,  more  so  than  they 
have  been  at  any  time  since  the  beginning  of  this  unfortunate  war. 

What  frightens  me  more  than  the  disasters  in  the  field  is  the  apathy 
and  distrust  which,  I  grieve  to  say,  I  meet  at  every  step,  even  from  men 
of  standing,  and  hitherto  of  undoubted  loyalty  to  the  Union. 

You  know  my  own  feelings  and  convictions  on  the  subject  of  our 
national  troubles,  and  I  am  sure  I  can  speak  to  you  in  all  candor,  with 
out  the  fear  of  having  my  thoughts  misconstrued,  though  you  may, 
perhaps,  not  share  my  views. 

My  firm  conviction  is,  that  any  other  solution  to  our  present  diffi 
culties  than  a  reconstruction  of  but  one  government  over  all  the  states 
of  our  confederacy  would  entail  upon  us  and  our  children  an  inheri 
tance  of  the  most  fearful  consequences,  which  would  end  in  the  utter 
disintegration  and  ruin  of  the  whole  country.  .  .  . 

Our  army  has  been  decimated  by  disease  and  the  casualties  of  war. 
I  am  informed  from  reliable  sources  that  McClellan  has  barely  70,000 
men,  all  told ;  and  Pope's  army,  including  the  corps  of  McDowell, 
Sigel,  and  Banks,  is  said  to  number  barely  40,000  men.  What  can 
we  expect  to  do  with  such  a  force  against  Richmond,  which  is  defended 
by  an  enemy  having  probably  double  that  number  under  arms,  flushed 
with  recent  successes,  commanded  by  generals  at  least  equal  to  ours, 
directed  by  one  master-spirit,  and  occupying  a  central  position  in  a 
country  hostile  to  us  ? 

It  is  true  the  President  has  called  out  300,000  men,  but  it  would 
be  a  fatal  delusion  to  believe  that  this  number  would  be  sufficient  to 
crush  the  enemy,  even  if  it  were  sure  that,  under  the  present  system 
of  volunteers,  the  men  would  come  forward. 

I  think  I  make  a  liberal  estimate  if  I  put  the  figure  of  the  Federal 
armies,  all  told,  at  400.000  effective  men,  and  this  number  will  be  re 
duced  to  at  least  300,000  before  the  new  levies  can  be  brought  into  the 
field. 

When  we  stopped  recruiting  in  the  midst  of  our  successes,  we  dealt 
a  fatal  blow  to  our  army,  and  it  is  really  a  wonder  to  me  that  our 
commanding  generals  consented  to  submit  to  such  a  measure,  which 


1862.]  AUGUST  BELMONT  ON  THE    WAR.  421 

crippled  them  at  a  time  when  an  overwhelming  force  became  neces 
sary  to  finish  up  the  good  work.  It  was  a  policy  hardly  less  suicidal 
than  if  we  had  stopped  sending  supplies  and  ammunition  to  our  men 
in  the  field.  Where  we  would  have  found  last  winter  ten  men  eager 
to  enlist,  anxious  to  share  in  our  triumphs,  we  will  scarcely  now  find 
one,  so  deep  is  the  gloom  and  distrust  which  has  taken  hold  of  our 
people.  It  would  be  worse  than  folly  to  shut  our  eyes  to  this  fact. 
I  think  ours  is  the  first  instance  in  history  where  a  government  shut 
off  supplies  of  men  in  the  midst  of  a  gigantic  war.  Look  at  England. 
Her  enlistments  in  the  Crimean  war  lasted  until  the  very  day  of  the 
conclusion  of  peace.  * 

There  is  only  one  way  to  remedy  our  fatal  error,  that  is,  for  the  Pres 
ident  at  once  to  establish  a  system  of  conscription,  by  which,  instead 
of  300,000,  at  least  500,000  men*should  be  called  under  arms. 

A  straightforward  proclamation  of  the  President,  setting  forth  the 
necessities  of  the  case,  and  appealing  to  the  patriotism  of  the  people, 
will  give  more  confidence  than  all  the  ill-concealed  attempts  at  palliat 
ing  our  desperate  condition. 

Instead  of  levying  new  regiments,  commanded  by  inexperienced 
officers  of  their  own  choosing,  and  who,  for  a  year  to  come,  would 
barely  add  anything  to  our  efficiency  in  the  field,  the  raw  recruits 
ought  to  be  collected  at  camps  of  instruction,  in  healthy  localities, 
east  and  west,  where  under  the  direction  of  West  Point  graduates, 
they  should  be  drilled  and  disciplined. 

From  thence,  as  they  are  fit  for  active  service,  they  should  be  fur- 
'nished  to  the  army  to  be  incorporated  into  the  old  regiments,  without 
reference  to  States,  and  only  where  they  are  most  needed.  This  is  the 
only  way  to  create  for  this  war  an  efficient  United  States  army,  and 
will  strike  a  severe  blow  to  that  fatal  heresy  [state  sovereignty  and 
state  pride]  which  lies  at  the  bottom  of  all  our  misfortunes.  Besides, 
such  a  mode  would  be  infinitely  more  economical,  and  the  raw  recruits, 
mixed  with  our  old  soldiers,  would  be,  of  course,  much  more  reliable 
and  steady  under  the  enemy's  fire  than  in  separate  regiments  com 
manded  by  officers  just  as  inexperienced  as  themselves. 

Simultaneously  with  these  measures,  which  ought  to  be  taken  with 
the  utmost  vigor  and  despatch,  we  must  infuse  more  life  and  energy 
into  our  naval  department. 

The  fact  is,  we  have  made  a  great  mistake  to  undertake  a  war  on  a 
gigantic  scale  by  land,  where  our  opponents  are,  at  least,  nearly  as 
strong  as  we  are,  instead  of  throwing  our  best  resources  and  energies 
upon  that  mode  of  warfare  where  we  could  have  had  the  enemy  at 
our  mercy.  Had  we,  at  the  very  outset  of  the  Rebellion,  ordered  fifty 
iron  gunboats,  even  at  a  cost  of  one  million  dollars  apiece,  we  should 


422  MEMOIR.  [1862, 

before  last  January  have  been  in  possession  of  every  southern  port. 
With  two  hundred  thousand  men  we  could  have  held,  by  land,  the  line 
of  the  Potomac,  Missouri,  and  Tennessee,  and  thus  hemmed  in,  we 
would  have  brought  the  South  to  terms,  just  as  Russia  had  to  sue  for 
peace  after  the  fall  of  Sebastopol. 

I  think  it  is  still  in  our  power  to  accomplish  this,  though  the  task 
has  become  more  difficult  since  Charleston,  Savannah,  and  Mobile 
have  been  so  strongly  fortified  during  the  last  six  months.  No  time, 
money,  and  efforts  should  be  spared  to  build  at  least  twenty  more 
large  new  iron  steamships,  with  which  to  take  and  hold  every  impor 
tant  city  on  the  rebel  coast,  from  North  Carolina  to  Texas. 

If  authority  for  all  these  measures  is  not  vested  in  the  President,  he 
ought  at  once  to  call  an  extra  session  of  Congress. 

I  have  thus  far  given  you  my  vi^ws  of  the  steps  which  I  consider 
indispensable,  if  the  sword  is  to  be  the  arbiter  of  our  future ;  but  is 
there  no  other  way  of  saving  our  country  from  all  the  horrors  and 
calamities  which  even  a  successful  war  must  entail  upon  us  ? 

It  may  appear  almost  hopeless  to  attempt  to  bring  the  South  back 
to  the  Union  by  negotiation.  Men  and  women  alike,  in  that  dis 
tracted  portion  of  our  country,  have  become  frantic  and  exasperated 
by  the  teachings  of  unprincipled  leaders  and  the  miseries  of  civil  war. 
Still,  I  cannot  bring  myself  to  the  belief  that  the  door  to  a  reconcilia 
tion  between  the  two  sections  is  irrevocably  and  forever  shut.  The 
losses  and  sufferings  which  have  befallen  us  have  been  felt  tenfold  in 
the  revolted  states,  and  the  thinking  men  of  the  South  must  see  that  a 
continuation  of  the  war  must  end  in  the  utter  destruction  of  their 
property  and  institutions.  The  frightful  carnage  of  many  a  battle 
field  must  have  convinced  each  section  of  the  bravery  of  its  opponents, 
and  how  much  better  it  would  be  to  have  them  as  friends  than  foes. 

While  I  am  convinced  that  the  President  would  be  willing  to  see 
the  South  in  the  lawful  possession  of  all  its  constitutional  rights,  I 
have  not  lost  all  hope,  that  with  these  rights  guaranteed,  a  reunion  of 
the  two  sections  might  be  accomplished.  In  any  event,  it  seems  to  me 
that  an  attempt  at  negotiation  should  be  made,  and  that  the  time  for 
it  has  not  entirely  passed  away. 

If  one  or  two  conservative  men,  who,  without  holding  any  official 
position,  possess  influence  and  weight  enough  with  our  people  and  the 
government  to  inspire  confidence  in  their  statements  to  the  leading 
men  of  the  South,  could  be  found  to  proceed  under  the  authority,  or 
at  least  with  the  knowledge  of  the  President,  to  Richmond,  in  order  to 
open  negotiations,  I  think  success  might  crown  their  efforts.  .  .  . 

I  firmly  believe  that  the  President  would  find  the  hearty  support  of 
the  vast  majority  of  our  people  in  such  a  policy,  and  he  ought  not  to 


1862.]  GENERAL  DIX   TO  MR.    WEED.  423 

lose  any  time  in  carrying  out  these  views.  Such  men,  for  instance,  as 
yourself  and  Governor  H.  Seymour,  would  soon  be  able  to  find  out 
whether  the  men  who  are  guiding  the  destinies  of  the  South  could  be 
brought  to  listen  to  the  dictates  of  reason  and  moderation. 

Before  we  enter  upon  a  new  phase  in  this  terrible  war,  which  must 
carry  with  it  horror  and  misery  far  greater  than  what  we  have  wit 
nessed  yet,  I  cannot  but  think  that  patriotism  and  humanity  alike  call 
for  an  earnest  effort  toward  reconciliation  and  peace. 

If  our  offers  should  be  rejected,  we  shall  stand  justified  before  God 
and  men,  and  our  good  cause  will  have  His  blessing  and  the  world's 
sympathy.  Truly  yours,  AUGUST  BELMOXT. 

[GENERAL  DIX  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

FORTRESS  MONROE,  September  27,  18G2. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  have  not  since  the  beginning  of  the  war  felt  half 
so  anxious  as  I  do  now.  I  cannot  see  into  the  action  of  parties.  I  do 
not  think  the  magnitude  of  the  danger  is  appreciated. 

We  ought  ah1  to  unite  in  aiding  the  government  to  put  down  rebel 
lion,  leaving  to  the  future  the  settlement  of  conditions,  both  in  regard 
to  measures  and  men.  I  am  satisfied  that  if  our  people  do  not  turn 
out  in  mass  and  rally  around  the  President,  so  as  to  enable  him  speed 
ily  to  drive  the  enemy  out  of  Virginia,  the  prospect  will  be  gloomy  in 
deed.  Yours  sincerely,  JOHN  A.  DIX. 

[MR.    WEED   TO    ROBERT    B.    MIXTURE.] 

WASHINGTON,  December  4,  1862. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  am  happy  to  learn  that  the  enterprise  about  which 
we  conversed  in  New  York  on  Tuesday  last  has  been  auspiciously  in 
augurated.  The  organization  effected  in  New  York  will  speedily  ag 
gregate  the  contributions  of  our  citizens,  and  relief  will  soon  be  on  its 
way  to  the  suffering  families  of  the  cotton  manufacturing  districts  of 
England. 

There  can  be  no  form  of  suffering  which  appeals  with  such  emphasis 
to  intelligent  American  benevolence.  Our  unavoidable  civil  war  is 
the  immediate  though  blameless  occasion  of  the  want  of  employment 
and  food  which  pervades  and  desolates  the  manufacturing  towns  of 
England.  Their  distress,  therefore,  appeals  as  earnestly  to  our  heads 
as  to  our  hearts.  Nor  is  the  fact  that  our  war  leaves  the  laborers  of 
Lancashire  without  employment,  and  their  families  without  bread, 
their  only  claim  upon  us.  They  are  our  friends.  While  the  sympa 
thies  of  many  of  the  commercial  classes  of  England  are  with  the  in 
surgent  States,  while  the  cotton  houses  of  Liverpool  were  furnishing 
"  material  aid  "  to  the  Confederates,  the  operatives  of  the  cotton  dis- 


424  MEMOIR.  [186-2. 

tricts  and  their  representatives  in  Parliament  resisted  reiterated  efforts 
to  secure  cooperation  against  our  blockade  and  in  favor  of  foreign  in 
tervention. 

Though  often  reminded  of  the  source  of  their  suffering,  the  opera 
tives,  reduced  from  short  labor  and  diminished  wages  to  idleness  and 
starvation,  bear  their  burthens  with  a  patient  fortitude  which  chal 
lenges  more  than  our  sympathy. 

Their  destitution  and  forbearance  appeal  to  us,  fortified  by  an  argu 
ment  founded  in  such  eloquent  justice  that  I  am  sure  it  will  be  re 
sponded  to  with  equal  alacrity  and  munificence. 

Let  us  then  make  haste  to  "  cast  our  bread  upon  the  waters."  En 
closed  please  find  my  check  for  $1,000. 

Very  truly  yours,  THURLOW  WEED. 

Deeply  impressed  with  a  sense  of  the  importance  of  sustain 
ing  the  President  and  making  the  war  issne  so  broad  as  to  re 
new  enthusiasm  at  the  North,  Mr.  Weed  sought  to  secure  the 
renomination  of  Governor  Morgan,  who  was  serving  the  State  so 
well  that  history  classes  him  justly  with  Dennison,  Morton,  An 
drew,  and  Randall,  the  illustrious  "  War  Governors  "  of  Ohio, 
Indiana,  Massachusetts,  and  Wisconsin.  Called  to  the  executive 
station  on  the  1st  of  January,  1859,  in  an  era  of  profound  peace, 
during  his  incumbency  more  than  250,000  troops  were  sent  to 
the  front  from  New  York.  His  term  was  closing  in  the  midst 
of  a  desolating  war,  but  the  state  debt  was  actually  diminishing. 
His  energy  was  tireless ;  his  patriotism  above  question. 

But  during  the  summer  Governor  Morgan  was  opposed  with 
so  much  bitterness  and  skill,  that  when  the  convention  assem 
bled,  it  was  found  that  he  could  muster  only  about  one  third 
of  the  delegates.  Mr.  Greeley  still  aspired  to  the  Senate,  and 
Governor  Morgan,  a  resident  of  New  York,  was  in  his  way.  He 
therefore  urged  the  nomination  of  General  Wadsworth,  a  west 
ern  man,  of  Democratic  antecedents,  so  that  the  field  for  the 
Senate  might  remain  open.  General  Wadsworth,  a  gallant 
Union  officer  and  a  gentleman  of  unimpeachable  character,  was 
a  personal  friend  of  Mr.  Weed's,  though  they  had  not  agreed 
in  politics  while  the  General  was  a  Democrat,  nor  since  he  had 
become  an  Abolitionist. 

When  it  was  plain  that  Governor  Morgan  could  not  be  re- 
nominated,  Mr.  Weed  suggested  other  Republicans,  as  brave 
and  deserving  as  General  Wadsworth,  but  more  conservative. 


18G2.J     SQUANDERING  A    POLITICAL   INHERITANCE.     425 

Rejecting  all  such  propositions,  the  convention  nominated  the 
radical  candidate  by  acclamation.  Mr.  Weed  then  insisted 
that  the  ticket  should  be  "  ballasted,"  by  yielding  the  selection 
of  Lieutenant-Governor  to  the  minority.  But  the  Radicals 
were  inexorable.  Rejecting  R.  M.  Blatchford,  James  M.  Cook, 
E.  W.  Leavenworth,  and  other  Republicans  of  Whig  antece 
dents,  put  forward  by  Mr.  Weed,  the  convention  named  for 
Lieutenant-Governor,  Lyman  Tremaine,  another  Democratic- 
Republican,  who  less  than  six  months  before  had  made  a  Cop 
perhead  speech  at  a  Democratic  mass-meeting  in  Albany.  So 
as  to  "  drive  the  nail  home,"  the  convention  concluded  its  labors 
by  appointing  a  state  committee  from  which  "  Weed  men  "  were 
carefully  excluded.  The  headquarters  of  the  party  were  then 
moved  from  Albany  to  New  York,  where,  by  the  way,  they  have 
remained  from  that  day  to  this. 

Mr.  Weed  went  to  New  York,  shortly  afterward,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  conferring  with  the  committee,  in  session  at  the  Astor 
House.  Somewhat  to  his  chagrin,  he  was  informed  by  James 
Kelly,  an  accredited  delegate,  that  his  presence  and  cooperation 
could  be  dispensed  with.  Mr.  Weed's  room  in  the  hotel  was 
directly  opposite  the  Republican  headquarters.  He  was  in  New 
York  again,  about  a  fortnight  later,  when  his  friend  Wakeman 
informed  him  that  General  Wadsworth  was  expected  in  the 
city,  and  had  been  invited  by  the  committee  to  speak  at  a  Re 
publican  ratification  meeting.  When  General  Wadsworth  ar 
rived  shortly  afterwards,  he  walked  into  Mr.  Weed's  room,  who, 
as  he  entered,  said :  "  James,  for  the  first  time  in  my  life,  I  am 
not  glad  to  see  you,"  adding,  in  explanation,  "  you  have  been 
sent  for  to  make  an  abolition  speech.  You  will  do  it,  and  thus 
throw  away  the  State."  Mr.  Weed  then  urged  the  General  to 
discard  the  advice  of  the  committee ;  tell  the  people  what  the 
army  had  done,  was  doing,  and  hoped  to  do ;  denounce  Val- 
laiidigham  and  other  disloyal  Democrats  ;  leave  the  slavery 
question  to  take  care  of  itself,  and  appeal  to  the  friends  of  the 
Union,  irrespective  of  politics,  to  rally  in  defense  of  the  govern 
ment.  The  meeting  was  held  and  General  Wadsworth  made  an 
abolition  speech.  A  few  days  afterwards  the  Democrats  held 
a  mass  meeting  in  Brooklyn,  and  their  candidate,  Mr.  Seymour, 
made  a  Union  speech. 

Instantly  the  bottom  fell  out  of  the  Republican  canvass. 


426  MEMOIR.  [1862. 

Dismayed  at  the  prospect,  the  radical  managers  finally  im 
plored  Mr.  Weed's  assistance.  They  had  been  unable  to  raise 
funds.  He  sent  for  Abram  Wakeman,  James  Terwilliger,  and 
other  zealous  party  workers,  through  whose  vigorous  efforts,  at 
the  eleventh  hour,  the  Republican  candidate  fell  only  11,000 
votes  behind  his  Democratic  competitor.  Two  years  before, 
Governor  Morgan's  majority  was  nearly  50,000. 

1862.  —  There  was  great  uneasiness  during  the  latter  part  of 
the  year  with  regard  to  the  attitude  of  Europe,  where  rebel 
agents  were  still  at  work  industriously. 

[MR.    SEWARD    TO    MR.    WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  November  7,  1802. 

MY  DEAR  WEED,  —  I  find  it  safe  in  these  times  of  general  surprise 
and  mutual  distrust  to  say  as  little  as  possible,  and  to  write  nothing 
at  all. 

But  I  think  it  will  be  wise  for  you  to  return  to  London  to  watch 
things  there.  On  this  just  now  there  is  happily  no  difference  of  opin 
ion  here.  Can  you  go? 

Dayton  and  Sanforcl  write  a  thousand  fears  about  France.  It  is 
true  that  we  have  the  best  assurances  from  there,  but  the  diplomatic 
condition  there  is  becoming  alarming.  If  you  could  go  to  Paris  for  a 
few  weeks  it  might  reassure  us  all.  I  know  it  may  be  more  desirable 
than  ever  for  you  to  remain  at  home  this  winter.  You  must  judge  for 
yourself  where  it  is  most  important  that  you  should  be. 

Yours  faithfully,  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 

Mr.  Weed  went  to  Washington  to  discuss  with  the  Secre 
tary  of  State  the  suggestion  in  his  letter.  While  at  breakfast, 
after  briefly  alluding  to  the  objects  of  the  proposed  visit,  Mr. 
Seward  remarked :  "  You  go  this  time  with  the  approval  of 
both  the  President  and  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ;  "  adding. 
"  you  had  better  drop  into  the  Treasury  Department  during 
the  day."  Mr.  Weed  did  so,  and  was  received  cordially  by 
Mr.  Chase,  who  after  a  brief  conversation  extended  an  invita 
tion  to  dine  with  him  that  evening,  which  was  accepted.  In  the 
afternoon  Mr.  Weed  called  upon  the  President,  who  spoke 
kindly  of  the  first  and  hopefully  of  the  second  mission.  At 
dinner  with  Secretary  Chase  and  family,  the  war  in  its  various 
aspects  was  discussed,  and  the  contemplated  visit  to  Europe 
pleasantly  referred  to.  Mr.  Weed  then  returned  to  Albany 
and  made  hurried  preparations  for  departure. 


1862.]  ANOTHER  MISSION  IN  PROSPECT.  427 

[MR.    WEED    TO    GOVERNOR   SEYMOUR.] 

ALBANY,  November  10,  1862. 

DEAR  GOVERNOR,  —  If  I  go  away  without  seeing  you,  let  me  entreat 
you  to  use  the  power  and  position  the  people  have  confided  to  you  in 
such  a  way  as  will  promote  the  interests  of  our  whole  country,  and 
make  your  name  illustrious  and  your  memory  blessed.  Your  Brooklyn 
speech  contains  ah1  that  is  needful.  Only  stand  by  it,  and  our  govern 
ment  can  be  preserved.  Truly  yours,  THURLOW  WEED. 

[MR.    EVARTS    TO    MR.    WEED.] 

WINDSOR,  VT.,  November  9,  1862. 

MY  DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  By  a  letter  from  Mr.  Blatchf ord,  received 
yesterday,  I  learn  that  you  go  to  Washington  on  Monday,  and  to 
Europe  on  the  16th  inst.  This  plan  will,  I  suppose,  deprive  me  of 
your  expected  visit. 

I  am  pleased  to  see  Mr.  Blatchford  nominated  as  Minister  to  Rome, 
both  because  it  will  be,  very  properly,  gratifying  to  him,  and  because 
it  shows  that  Governor  Seward's  tenure  of  his  own  office  no  longer  re 
quires  the  universal  proscription  of  his  friends.  If  Mr.  Blatchford 
looks  upon  public  affairs  at  home  with  as  much  solicitude  as  I  do,  he 
will  hesitate  about  leaving  the  country. 

I  hear  of  your  proposed  absence  in  Europe  with  most  profound 
regret.  No  one  knows  more  fully  than  myself  the  great  public  need 
which  led  to  your  late  visit,  and  the  great  public  advantage  which  fol 
lowed  from  it.  I  have  not  the  least  knowledge  how  important  the 
occasion  of  your  new  voyage  may  be,  but  I  am  sure  you  will  serve 
the  public  necessity,  however  urgent  it  may  be,  as  well  as  you  did 
before. 

But  I  know  that  the  next  three  months  at  home  demand  your  pres 
ence  here,  and  that  no  one  can  supply  your  place.  Accumulated  per 
sonal  power  and  influence  is  a  scarce  article  with  us,  and  cannot  be 
made  to  order.  It  is  much  needed  to  help  the  administration  with 
the  people,  especially  as  the  President  seems  resolved  that  no  new 
ability  shall  be  brought  into  its  councils.  If  you  are  as  indispensable 
on  the  other  side  of  the  water  as  you  seem  to  be  on  this,  we  must  take 
our  luck  in  your  absence. 

The  appeal  of  the  government  to  the  physical  force  of  the  country 
has  been  responded  to  nobly ;  but  with  great  distrust  of  the  ability  of 
the  administration  to  use  the  new  means  placed  at  its  disposal.  The 
people  do  not  believe  that  lack  of  soldiers  is,  in  the  least,  the  cause  of 
our  deficiencies  or  disasters.  They  are  waiting  to  see  whether  real 
difficulties  will  be  remedied  or  not.  If  they  are  not,  the  administra- 


428  MEMOIR.  [1862. 

tion  will  be  overthrown,  —  a  disaster  to  be  averted  by  every  public 
effort  of  all  of  us,  for  what  would  follow  no  man  can  foresee.  As  I 
believe  you  can  do  more  than  any  one  else  to  save  us  from  these 
dangers,  I  regret  your  contemplated  absence  as  a  public  misfortune. 

But,  dismissing  these  cares,  I  wish  you  a  prosperous  voyage  and  a 
safe  return,  and  am 

Yours  very  truly,  WILLIAM  M.  EVARTS. 

[MR.    SEWARD    TO    MR.    WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  November  9,  1862. 

MY  DEAR  WEED,  —  It  is  necessary  to  give  up  definitely  the  thought 
of  going  to  Europe.  Just  deny  it  at  once.  The  reasons  you  can 
imagine.  All  is  well  and  cheerful  here  to-day. 

Faithfully  yours,  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 

No  time  was  wasted  in  seeking  to  account  for  this  change  of 
plan.  Mr.  Weed  never  even  asked  Mr.  Seward  upon  what 
reasons  his  peremptory  letter  was  founded. 

One  evening  in  December,  1862,  Mr.  Weed  was  sitting  with 
the  President,  when  Mr.  Lincoln  said,  "  Governor  Seymour  has 
greater  power  just  now  for  good  than  any  other  man  in  the 
country.  He  can  wheel  the  Democratic  party  into  line,  put 
down  rebellion,  and  preserve  the  government.  Tell  him  for 
me,  that  if  lie  will  render  this  service  to  his  country,  I  shall 
cheerfully  make  way  for  him  as  my  successor."  Mr.  Weed  de 
livered  this  message  to  the  Governor,  and  urged  him  to  accept 
the  suggestion.  Their  conversation  occurred,  of  course,  before 
the  Governor  was  inaugurated.  When  the  legislature  met,  in 
January,  1863,  the  Governor  sent  in  a  partisan  message,  dealing 
largely  with  the  "  rights  of  states."  And  thus  Horatio  Sey 
mour,  not  rising  to  the  level  of  the  "  War  Democrats,"  though 
subsequently  a  candidate,  never  became  President. 

Again,  in  1863,  when  the  President,  after  the  series  of  defeats 
which  our  armies  had  suffered,  felt  that  the  nation  could  not 
be  saved  if  the  Democrats,  as  a  peace  party,  carried  the  North 
ern  States,  Mr.  Lincoln  made  almost  identical  overtures  to 
General  McClellan,  Mr.  Weed  acting  again  as  mediator.  It 
was  arranged  that  a  great  war  meeting  should  be  held  in  one  of 
the  parks  in  New  York,  and  that  General  McClellan  should  pre 
side.  This  demonstration  was  intended  to  give  him  an  oppor 
tunity  to  take  unqualified  ground  in  support  of  the  government, 


lacs.]  MCCLELLAND  GREAT  MISTAKE.  429 

and  to  be  the  first  step  in  an  organized  movement  to  secure  his 
candidacy  on  a  Union  ticket. 

Everything  was  satisfactorily  arranged,  when  General  Mc- 
Clellan  suddenly  evinced  inability  to  rise  above  political  asso 
ciations  and  surroundings. 


[GENERAL  MCCLELLAN  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

OAKLANDS,  June  13,  1863. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  Your  kind  note  is  just  received.  For  what  I  can 
not  doubt  that  you  would  consider  good  reasons,  I  have  determined  to 
decline  the  compliment  of  presiding  over  the  proposed  meeting  of 
Monday  next. 

I  fully  concur  with  you  in  the  conviction  that  an  honorable  peace  is 
not  now  possible,  and  that  the  war  must  be  prosecuted  to  save  the 
Union  and  the  government  at  whatever  cost  of  time,  treasure,  and 
blood.  I  am  clear  in  the  conviction  that  the  policy  governing  the  con 
duct  of  the  war  should  be  one  looking  not  only  to  military  success,  but 
also  to  ultimate  reunion,  and  that  it  should  consequently  be  such  as  to 
preserve  the  rights  of  all  union-loving  citizens  wherever  they  may  be, 
as  far  as  compatible  with  military  necessity. 

My  views  as  to  the  prosecution  of  the  war  remain  substantially  as 
they  have  been  from  the  beginning  of  the  contest.    These  views  I  have 
often  made  known  officially.      I  will  endeavor  to  write  you  more  fully 
before  Monday.     In  the  mean  time,  believe  me  to  be,  in  great  haste, 
Truly  your  friend,  GEORGE  B.  MCCLELLAN. 

The  day  on  which  this  letter  was  written  it  was  reported  that 
General  Grant  would  be  obliged  to  raise  the  Vicksburg  siege. 
A  few  days  before,  great  meetings  had  been  held  in  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  Chicago,  and  elsewhere,  denouncing  the  govern 
ment  for  arresting  Vallandigham,  and  mobs  in  Indiana  were 
resisting  the  draft  and  killing  army  officers. 

1863.  —  Governor  Seymour  was  inaugurated  on  the  1st  of 
January.  Nearly  one  half  of  the  electors  of  the  State  voted 
against  him,  but  there  was  deep  sympathy  for  him  in  his  avowed 
purpose  to  sustain  the  Union.  On  the  day  when  he  took  office, 
Mr.  Weed  bespoke  for  him  the  cooperation  of  all  loyal  citizens, 
calling  upon  the  people  to  hold  party  in  subjection  to  country. 
"  We  shall  hail  as  the  best  patriot,"  said  he,  "  whoever  does  the 
most  for  the  Union,  to  whatever  party  he  has  hitherto  acknowl 
edged  allegiance." 


430  MEMOIR.  [1863. 

On  the  same  day  President  Lincoln's  Emancipation  Proclama 
tion  was  issued,  and  Mr.  Weed  wrote :  "  The  most  ungenerous 
enemies  of  our  cause  will  be  compelled  to  respect  this  docu 
ment,  and  to  stand  rebuked  by  its  deep  and  solemn  emphasis. 
It  must  awaken  responsive  echoes  in  every  land  where  liberty 
is  loved  and  justice  cherished." 

One  of  the  first  duties  which  devolved  upon  the  legislature 
of  1863  was  the  election  of  a  United  States  Senator  to  succeed 
Preston  King.  Mr.  Weed  indicated  his  preference  for  Gover 
nor  Morgan,  but,  as  the  canvass  began,  many  friends,  renewed 
an  old  suggestion. 

[MR.    McELRATH   TO   MR.    WEED.] 

NEW  YORK,  January  3,  1863. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  There  is  a  deep  feeling  of  solicitude  in  this  State 
for  your  success  as  United  States  Senator.  It  is  thought  here  that  you 
can  easily  enough  carry  your  own  election,  but  that  you  will  fail  in  an 
endeavor  to  transfer  your  influence  to  any  one  else. 

Do  not,  for  the  sake  of  the  country,  —  do  not  interfere  with  clear 
indications  of  popular  and  patriotic  feeling  in  your  favor.  I  don't 
suppose  I  could  be  of  any  service  in  Albany  ;  I  would  walk  there  to 
secure  your  success.  Truly  yours,  THOMAS  MCELRATH. 

"  You  have  full  authority  to  act  in  my  behalf  in  all  respects," 
wrote  Governor  Morgan  to  Mr.  Weed,  on  the  1st  of  February. 
"  Unless  there  is  positive  necessity  for  my  going  to  Albany,  my 
feelings  lead  me  to  remain  here." 

The  caucus  was  held  on  the  2d  of  February. 

[GOVERNOR  MORGAN  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

NEW  YORK,  February  3,  18G3. 

MY  DEAR  WEED,  —  It  is  difficult  for  me  to  express  my  personal 
obligations  to  you  for  this  renewed  evidence  of  your  friendship,  as 
manifested  by  the  result  of  yesterday's  proceedings  at  Albany. 

At  this  moment  I  can  only  say  I  hope  I  shall  prove  worthy  of  the 
confidence  placed  in  me  by  my  friends,  both  in  and  out  of  the  legisla 
ture. 

It  is  a  most  pleasing  circumstance  to  me  that  during  the  whole  fif 
teen  years  that  I  have  been  in  public  life  I  have  had  your  personal 
friendship,  and  for  the  greater  part  of  the  time,  or  rather  in  all  the 
later  years,  your  confidence  also. 

As  ever  yours,  EDWIN  D.  MORGAN. 


18GJ5.J  THIRD    YEAR    OF   THE    WAR.  431 

At  the  end  of  the  month  of  January,  the  New  York  As 
sembly  had  not  organized,  nor  had  anything  been  done  in  the 
House  at  Washington.  Every  day  the  South  was  becoming 
more  and  more  united ;  the  North  more  and  more  divided.  Ex 
cited  public  meetings  were  held  in  the  Union  States,  at  which 
Abolitionists  competed  with  Copperheads  in  the  eloquence  of 
animosity.  Secret  societies  hostile  to  the  government  were  or 
ganized  in  the  West.  In  February,  when  the  President  called 
for  500,000  volunteers,  hostility  to  the  war  became  formidable. 
It  was  then  that  Mr.  Greeley,  with  that  candor  which  was  one 
of  his  redeeming  qualities,  confessed  that  he  was  "  beginning 
to  see  that  the  worst  battle  lost  to  the  Union  cause  thus  far  was 
the  New  York  state  election,"  meaning  of  course,  the  election 
of  1862,  lost  because  Mr.  Weed's  advice  was  rejected. 

Many  considerations  combined  during  this  trying  period  to 
confirm  Mr.  Weed  in  a  definite  determination  to  retire  from 
editorial  service.  The  field  of  his  activity  had  greatly  enlarged 
since  the  beginning  of  the  war,  and  at  the  age  of  sixty-six  it 
was  natural  that  he  should  seek  release  from  political  journal 
ism,  particularly  when  his  views  conflicted  with  those  held  by 
a  majority  of  his  party. 

"  Though  but  a  few  hours  have  passed  since  the  transfer  papers 
were  executed,"  he  wrote,  withdrawing  from  his  Albany  paper, 
on  the  28th  of  January,  1803,  "  memory  has  been  busy  summon 
ing  back  the  dead  past,  in  which  good  and  evil  are  necessarily 
blended.  .  .  .  During  thirty-three  years  I  have,  in  some  sense  — 
and  I  hope  the  comparison  may  not  be  deemed  irreverent  —  oc 
cupied  an  editorial  pulpit,  speaking  daily  to  a  large  congregation, 
for  whom  I  have  come  to  feel  the  relation  of  pastor  and  friend  ; 
and  from  whom  I  have  certainly  experienced  all  the  benefits 
and  bounties  that  a  generous  flock  bestows  upon  its  shepherd. 
Never  in  the  history  of  the  State  has  an  editor  enjoyed  so  long 
and  so  largely  the  confidence  and  regard  of  those  politically  as 
sociated  with  him,  nor  in  any  other  editor's  experience  have  po 
litical  and  personal  relations  been  blended  more  happily.  .  .  . 
It  is  fifty-three  years  since  I  was  first  introduced  as  an  appren 
tice  to  the  '  space  box,'  and  forty-five  years  since  I  became  an 
editor.  During  more  than  half  a  century  of  toil  and  care  I  have 
experienced  so  much  that  is  good  and  bright  in  life ;  partaken 
so  richly  of  its  blessings ;  have  found  so  many  of  my  race  to 


432  MEMOIR.  [1863. 

honor  and  love,  that  this  hour  of  isolation  prostrates  the  heart  in 
thankfulness  to  man  for  his  support,  and  gratitude  to  God  for 
His  abiding  protection  and  mercy.  .  .  . 

"  But  we  have  fallen  upon  evil  times.  Our  country  is  in  im 
mediate  and  imminent  danger.  I  differ  widely  with  my  party 
about  the  best  means  of  crushing  the  Rebellion.  That  differ 
ence  is  radical  and  irreconcilable.  I  can  neither  impress  others 
with  my  views,  nor  surrender  my  own  solemn  convictions.  The 
alternative  of  living  in  strife  with  those  whom  I  have  esteemed, 
or  withdrawing,  is  presented.  I  have  not  hesitated  in  choosing 
the  path  of  peace  as  the  path  of  duty.  If  those  who  differ  with 
me  are  right,  and  the  country  is  carried  safely  through  its  pres 
ent  struggle,  all  will  be  well,  and  c  nobody  hurt.' 

"  If  the  country  was  not  in  a  condition  to  awaken  deep  anxi 
ety,  I  should  look  forward  with  cheerfulness  and  hope  to  that 
condition  of  life  which 

*  Exempt  from  public  haunt, 

Finds  tongues  in  trees,  books  in  the  running  brooks, 
Sermons  in  stones,  and  good  in  everything.' 

"  But  for  an  infirm  leg  and  a  broken  arm  I  would  go  into  the 
army,  for  the  country  is  entitled  to  the  services  of  all  its  citizens  : 
and  it  is  more  a  privilege  than  a  duty  to  defend  a  government 
under  whose  beneficent  sway  and  benign  rule  we  have  enjoyed 
protection,  prosperity,  and  happiness ;  and  in  the  destruction  of 
which  the  best  hopes  of  the  highest  civilization  perish. 

"  So  far  as  all  things  personal  are  concerned,  my  work  is  done. 
Should  the  occasion  or  the  opportunity  to  serve  my  country  or 
friends  with  head  or  hand  offer,  it  will  be  embraced  gladly. 
And  now,  with  all  that  relates  to  material  wants  in  life  abun 
dantly  supplied  ;  with  no  personal  interest  or  aspiration  ungrat- 
ified ;  with  a  humbling  consciousness  of  having  experienced 
through  life  more  benefits  than  I  have  deserved,  and  vastly  more 
than  I  have  been  able  to  reciprocate ;  and  with  a  determination 
to  devote  such  brief  time  as  may  be  allotted  me  to  the  practice 
of  Dr.  Franklin's  golden  precept  of  doing  4  as  much  good  and 
as  little  evil '  to  others,  as  possible,  I  come  to  the  inevitable  — 
FareweUJ  " 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

1863-1864.- 

GOING  TO  NEW  YORK.  —  RAISING  MONEY  FOR  THE  PRESIDENT.  —  THE 
GLOOMY  PERIOD  OF  THE  WAR.  —  MR.  WEED'S  PLAN  FOR  PUTTING  AN 
END  TO  HOSTILITIES.  —  RADICAL  EFFORTS  AGAINST  MR.  LINCOLN'S 
RENOMINATION.  —  A  PREDICTION  WHICH  WAS  VERIFIED.  —  THE  PUB 
LIC  DEBT  AND  THE  PUBLIC  DOMAIN.  —  NOMINATION  OF  MR.  FENTON. 
—  ISSUES  OF  THE  NATIONAL  CONTEST. 

LONG  as  he  had  been  in  harness  at  Albany,  it  hardly  seemed 
an  important  change  to  Mr.  Weed  when  he  sold  his  newspaper 
property  and  his  residence  in  that  city,  to  make  a  home  for 
himself  and  daughter  in  New  York.  For  years  he  had  spent  a 
great  portion  of  his  time  at  the  Astor  House  and  in  Washing 
ton,  and  he  was  glad  to  escape  the  necessity  of  passing  so  many 
hours  on  river  and  railroad.  In  New  York  he  rented  the  resi 
dence  of  Henry  J.  Raymond,  on  West  Ninth  Street,  for  a  year 
or  more,  and  then  purchased  the  sunny  and  comfortable  house, 
No.  12  West  Twelfth  Street,  adjoining  Dr.  Paxton's  church, 
where  he  resided  until  his  death.  His  determination  to  leave 
Albany  was  confided  to  none  of  his  friends  except  Mr.  Seward, 
who  warmly  approved  of  the  plan.  His  "  farewell "  therefore 
was  something  of  a  surprise. 

[THE  PRESIDENT  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  January  29,  1863. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  Your  valedictory  to  the  patrons  of  the  Albany  "  Even 
ing  Journal "  brings  me  a  good  deal  of  uneasiness.  What  does  it 
mean  ?  Truly  yours,  A.  LINCOLN. 

[VTVUS   W.    SMITH   TO  MR.   WEED.] 

SYRACUSE,  January  28,  1863. 

>     MY  DEAR  WEED,  —  I  am  almost  ashamed  to  say  that  I  could  not 
read  your  "  farewell  "  this  morning  without  stopping  to  clear  my  eyes. 
It  was  so  sudden,  so  unexpected,  that  I  cannot  realize  it  yet. 
28 


434  MEMOIR. 


[1863. 


I  had  proposed  to  have  a  full  and  free  talk  with  you  about  the  situ 
ation,  about  your  position  and  my  own.  .  .  .  But  do  not  abandon  the 
senatorial  issue.  I  am  going  down  Sunday  night.  You  can  rely  on 
this  county  for  two  votes. 

Yours  ever,  Vivus  W.  SMITH. 

[GOVERNOR  PATTERSON  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

GREIGSVILLE,  N.  Y.,  January  28,  1863. 

MY  DEAR  WEED,  —  It  is  with  deep  regret  that  I  learned  by  the 
morning  papers  that  you  have  retired  from  the  editorial  chair  of  the 
"  Evening  Journal."  As  I  have  taken  your  paper  from  its  first  pub 
lication  to  the  present  time,  it  would  have  been  but  fair  that  I  should 
have  been  consulted  before  this  decisive  step  was  taken. 

My  decision  would  have  been  that  you  must  remain  the  editor  of 
that  paper.  I  know,  too,  that  in  this  nearly  all  your  friends  in  West 
ern  New  York  would  agree  with  me.  .  .  . 

I  hope  and  trust,  however,  that  nothing  will  ever  occur  to  sever 
those  ties  of  personal  friendship  which  have  existed  between  us  for 
more  than  thirty  years,  and  you  will  allow  me  to  express  my  deep  sense 
of  gratitude  for  the  many  acts  of  kindness  which  I  have  received  at 
your  hands,  for  which  I  shall  never  cease  to  feel  grateful  while  life 
and  reason  last. 

Yours  faithfully,  GEORGE  W.  PATTERSON. 

An  incident  which  occurred  shortly  after  Mr.  Weed  left  Al 
bany  possesses  interest  in  connection  with  the  history  of  this 
period.  On  the  date  given  the  following  despatch  was  re 
ceived  :  — 

WASHINGTON,  February  18,  1863. 

To  THURLOW  WEED,  ESQ.,  Astor  House. 

Can  you  be  here  to-morrow  morning  ?     Answer.  NICOLAY. 

To  this  question  Mr.  Weed  sent  an  affirmative  reply,  and  be 
fore  eight  o'clock  the  next  morning  was  in  Washington,  where 
he  breakfasted,  as  usual,  with  the  Secretary  of  State.  "  The 
President  will  tell  you,"  remarked  Mr.  Seward,  "  why  you  were 
summoned."  An  hour  afterwards  Mr.  Weed  went  to  the  White 
House,  and  Mr.  Lincoln,  taking  him  by  the  hand  in  his  cordial 
way,  said  :  -  * 

"  Mr.  Weed,  we  are  in  a  tight  place.  Money  for  legitimate 
purposes  is  needed  immediately ;  but  there  is  no  appropriation 


1863.]  REBELLION  INCIDENTS.  435 

from  which  it  can  be  lawfully  taken.  I  did  n't  know  how  to 
raise  it,  and  so  I  sent  for  you." 

"  How  much  is  required?"  asked  Mr.  Weed. 

"  Fifteen  thousand  dollars,"  said  the  President.  "  Can  you 
get  it?" 

"  If  you  must  have  it  at  once,  give  me  two  lines  to  that  ef 
fect." 

Mr.  Lincoln  turned  to  his  desk  and  wrote  a  few  words  on  a 
slip  of  paper.  Handing  it  to  Mr.  Weed,  he  said,  "  Will  that 
do?" 

"  It  will,"  said  Mr.  Weed  ;  "  the  money  will  be  at  your  dis 
position  to-morrow  morning." 

On  the  next  train  Mr.  Weed  left  Washington,  and  before 
five  o'clock  that  afternoon  the  slip  of  paper  which  he  carried  in 
his  pocket  presented  this  appearance :  — 

WASHINGTON,  February  19,  1863. 

MR.  WEED,  —  The  matters  I  spoke  to  you  about  are  important.  I 
hope  you  will  not  neglect  them. 

Truly  yours,  A.  LINCOLN. 

Charles  Knapp      .     .     .   $1,000  Novelty  Iron  Works,  | 

Marshall  O.  Roberts  .     .     1,000  Horace  Allen,  Prest.  j  ^'OU 

Alexander  TV  Stewart     .     1,000  James  T.  Sanford  .     .  1,000 

Isaac  Bell 1,000  Spofford  &  Tileston    .  1,000 

Wm.  H.  AspinwaU     .     .     1,000  J.  F.  Winslow  .     .     .  1,000 

C.  Vanderbilt  ....     1,000  Secor  &  Co  .     .     .     .  1,000 

James  Mitchell      .     .     .     1,000  P.  S.  Forbes      .     .     .  1,000 

H.  B.  Cromwell    .     .     .     1,000  Russell  Sturges         | 

Henry  W.  Hubbell  \ 

That  evening  the  $15,000  were  sent  to  Washington. 

"  During  the  sanguinary  riots  of  1863,"  writes  Mr.  Weed, 
"  I  was  in  New  York,  witnessing  scenes  which  I  hope  may  never 
occur  again.  When  sitting  at  the  police  headquarters,  while 
Commissioner  Acton  and  Superintendent  Kennedy  were  issuing 
orders  and  receiving  reports,  a  United  States  officer  came  in, 
who  had  been  directed  to  disperse  the  rioters  who  had  murdered 
Colonel  O  Brien.  He  had  performed  that  duty  promptly  and 
came  for  further  orders.  As  he  was  about  to  leave  the  office, 
Mr.  Acton  introduced  him  to  me  as  Captain  Putnam.  Our 
recognition  was  mutual,  as  was  the  surprise  and  gratification. 


486  MEMOIR.  [1863. 

Captain  Putnam,  with  much  feeling,  but  very  modestly,  informed 
Messrs.  Acton  and  Kennedy  that  when  his  commission  came,  he 
could  not  imagine  who  had  interested  himself  in  his  favor  or 
what  influence  had  procured  it,  and  that  it  was  several  months 
before  he  learned  how  much  he  was  indebted  to  me.  He  con 
tinued  active  and  vigilant,  until  the  riots  were  over.  I  have  not 
seen  or  heard  of  him  since  ;  but  that  he  is  discharging  his  duty 
faithfully  I  have  no  doubt." 

[MR.    WEED    TO   HENRY   J.    RAYMOND.] 

ALBANY,  July  18,  1863. 

MY  DEAR  RAYMOND,  —  I  concur  with  you  in  believing  that  there 
are  not  spires  enough  in  your  city  to  avert  the  wrath  of  Heaven,  if 
immediate  relief  and  future  protection  be  not  extended  to  persecuted 
colored  citizens.  The  page  that  records  their  wrongs  during  the  three 
days  of  misrule  in  New  York  will  be  the  blackest  in  its  history.  That 
the  rioters  should  have  deliberately  marked  for  rapine  and  murder  a 
class  at  once  the  least  offending  and  the  most  defenseless  is  a  fact  in 
crime  at  which  civilization  and  humanity  revolt  and  shudder.  .  .  . 

For  this  persecution  of  the  negro  there  is  divided  responsibility. 
The  hostility  of  Irishmen  to  Africans  is  unworthy  of  men  who  them 
selves  seek  and  find  in  America  an  asylum  from  oppression.  Yet  this 
hostility  would  not  culminate  in  arson  and  murder  but  for  the  stimu 
lants  applied  by  fanatics.  Journalists  who  persistently  inflame  and 
exasperate  the  ignorant  and  the  lawless  against  the  negro  are  morally 
responsible  for  these  outrages.  When  all  the  circumstances  have 
been  reviewed,  the  popular  condemnation  of  those  who,  while  the 
United  States  was  struggling  for  its  existence,  thrust  the  unoffending 
negro  forward  as  a  target  for  infuriated  mobs,  will  become  general 
and  emphatic. 

In  South  Carolina  ultra  Abolitionists  have  been  hailed  as  the  "  best 
friends  "  of  secession.  Practically,  they  are  the  worst  enemies  of  the 
colored  man.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  malign  influence  of  these  howl 
ing  fanatics  in  Congress  and  with  the  President,  rebellion  would  not, 
in  the  beginning,  have  assumed  such  formidable  proportions  ;  nor,  in 
its  progress,  would  the  North  have  been  divided  or  the  government 
crippled.  .  .  . 

Presuming  that  steps  will  be  taken  for  the  relief  of  the  colored  peo 
ple  whose  dwellings  were  robbed  and  who  were  driven  from  their  em 
ployment,  I  inclose  my  check  for  five  hundred  dollars  as  a  contribu 
tion  to  that  object.  Truly  yours,  THURLOW  WEED. 


1863.]  MR.  LINCOLN  AND  MR.    WEED.  437 

"  During  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1863,"  Mr.  Weed  con- 

O 

tinues,  "  the  Rebellion  assumed  aspects  which  not  only  discour 
aged  many  loyal  men,  but  occasioned  very  general  solicitude. 
The  Union  army,  frequently  repulsed  and  almost  everywhere 
held  at  bay,  required  to  be  reenforced  largely.  Volunteers  no 
longer  rushed  to  the  field,  and  recruits  could  be  obtained  only 
by  the  payment  of  large  bounties  ;  and  yet  it  was  apparent  that 
the  government  could  not  be  sustained  except  by  a  large  in 
crease  of  its  army.  After  long  and  anxious  reflection,  I  worked 
out  a  plan,  by  the  adoption  of  which  I  believed  not  only  that 
the  war  could  be  more  vigorously  prosecuted,  but  that  the  Re 
bellion  would  be  speedily  ended.  After  explaining  the  plan  to 
two  or  three  experienced  and  enlightened  friends,  whose  ap 
proval  of  it  was  very  earnest,  I  proceeded  to  Washington  and 
submitted  it  to  the  President,  who,  after  discussing  its  promi 
nent  features,  requested  me  to  commit  them  to  paper  ;  which  I 
did,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day." 

The  plan  submitted  by  Mr.  Weed  was   subdivided  into  four 
sections,  as  follows  :  — 

1.  The  President  to  avail  himself  of  the  first  decided  military  suc 
cess  to  issue  a  proclamation  offering  pardon  and  amnesty  to  all  persons 
engaged  in  making  war  upon  the  government. 

2.  Declaration  of  an  armistice  for  ninety  days,  during  which  time 
all  persons  should  be  protected  in  traveling  to  and  from  the  Northern 
and  Southern  States. 

3.  If,  within  these  ninety  days,  citizens  of  the  Confederate  States, 
or  any  of  them,  embracing  the  terms  offered  in  the  proclamation  shall 
return  to  their  allegiance  and  duties,  they  shall,  as  a  state  or  states, 
or  as  citizens  of  such  state  or  states,  be  restored  in  all  respects  to  the 
rights,  privileges,  and  prerogatives  which  they  enjoyed  before  their 
secession  from  the  Union. 

4.  If,  after  the  expiration  of  ninety  days,  the  citizens  of  all  or  any 
of  the  states  engaged  in  making  war  upon  the  government  reject  these 
offers  of  pardon  and  amnesty,  persist  in  denying  the  authority  of  the 
federal  government,  and  continue  their  warfare  against  the   Union, 
the  President  shall  submit  a  proclamation  announcing  that  in  the  fu 
ture  prosecution  of  the  war  for  the  maintenance  of  the  government 
and  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  all  territory,  whether  farms,  vil 
lages,  or  cities,  shall  be  PARTITIONED  equitably  between  and  among 
the  officers  and  soldiers  by  whom  it  shall  be  conquered. 


438  MEMOIR.  [1863. 

[MB.    WEED   TO   THE    PRESIDENT.] 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  November  7,  1863. 

DEAR  MR.  LINCOLN,  —  The  advantages  of  the  plan  for  the  more 
vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war  which  I  have  submitted  to  you  verbally 
and  in  writing  are,  briefly,  these  :  — 

First.  That  in  exhausting  the  highest  and  last  attribute  of  human 
ity,  in  an  unavailing  effort  to  restore  peace,  it  makes  our  record  so 
clearly  right,  that  you  stand  justified  in  the  eyes  of  the  whole  world 
for  permitting  war  to  assume  its  severest  aspects. 

Second.  The  armistice  occurring  when  the  season  interrupts  active 
army  movements,  it  would  cause  little  practical  delay,  but  give  ample 
time,  with  uninterrupted  facilities  of  travel  through  the  Confederate 
States,  for  widespread  circulation  of  the  proclamation. 

Third.  In  offering  to  restore  the  Union  as  it  was,  you  will,  when 
that  offer  has  been  rejected,  secure  a  united  North  in  favor  of  war  to 
the  knife. 

Fourth.  In  partitioning  rebel  territory,  as  fast  as  it  may  be  con 
quered,  among  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  armies  by  which  such 
territory  is  conquered,  the  question  will  not  be  how  many  troops  can 
be  raised,  but  how  many  can  be  equipped,  organized,  and  advanta 
geously  employed  in  the  field.  The  demoralizations  and  desertions 
consequent  upon  large  bounties  will  immediately  cease.  Your  armies 
will  be  voluntarily  and  promptly  recruited,  and  their  ranks  filled  with 
enterprising,  earnest  yeomen,  who  have  an  intelligent  reason  for  enter 
ing  the  army,  and  who  know  that  the  realization  of  their  hopes  depends 
upon  their  zeal,  fidelity,  and  courage.  And  by  thus  providing  homes 
and  occupations  when  the  war  is  over  for  our  disbanded  soldiers,  you 
leave  scattered  over  rebel  territory  an  element  that  may  be  relied 
upon  for  the  reconstruction  of  civil  government  in  the  seceded  states. 

In  answer  to  those  who  may  object  to  the  sanguinary  feature  of  this 
plan,  I  think  it  quite  sufficient  to  say  that  in  maritime  wars  this  feature 
has  long  been  recognized  and  practiced  by  all  civilized  nations.  Argo 
sies  of  merchant  vessels,  laden  with  untold  millions  of  the  wealth  of 
non-combatants,  captured  in  time  of  war,  are  divided  as  prize  money 
among  the  officers  and  sailors  by  whom  they  are  captured.  This, 
therefore,  in  all  wars  upon  the  oceans  and  seas  of  the  world,  being 
a  part  of  the  law  of  nations,  cannot,  in  reason  or  common-sense,  be 
objected  to,  whereas,  in  this  case,  the  sufferers  are  in  rebellion  against 
their  government,  and  have  been  warned  of  the  consequences  of  reject 
ing  the  most  liberal  offers  of  peace,  protection,  and  prosperity. 

I  have,  acting  upon  your  suggestion,  submitted  this  plan  to  the  Sec 
retary  of  State  and  to  the  Secretary  of  War.  It  did  not,  if  I  may 


1863.J  MR.    WEED   TO   THE  PRESIDENT.  439 

judge  from  his  silence,  strike  Governor  Seward  favorably.  But  Mr. 
Stanton,  after  listening  attentively  to  the  plan,  asked  me  to  repeat  it 
to  him,  and  then  expressed  his  unqualified  approval  of  it.  In  talking 
it  over,  he  became  very  much  animated,  saying  that  it  would  greatly 
lessen  his  labor  and  anxiety,  save  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  to  the 
government,  and  put  an  early  end  to  the  Rebellion.  He  said  he  would 
see  you  on  the  subject  to-day.  I  also  explained  it  to  Senator  Wilson, 
of  Massachusetts,  at  the  Astor  House,  in  New  York,  who  was  favora 
bly  impressed,  and  said  that  unless  it  should  be  found  defective  or  im 
practicable  he  would  sustain  it.  Before  I  left  New  York,  as  I  remarked 
to  you  this  morning,  I  had  a  long  conversation  with  Dean  Richmond 
on  the  subject.  Mr.  Richmond  took  the  same  view  of  it  that  occurred 
to  Mr.  Stanton,  and  was  equally  anxious  that  it  should  be  adopted. 
Mr.  Richmond  authorized  me  to  say  to  you  that,  in  his  opinion,  this 
plan,  fully  and  fairly  carried  out,  would  make  the  North  a  unit  in  sup 
port  of  the  war,  that  it  would  immediately  give  us  as  many  good  sol 
diers  as  the  government  wanted,  and  that  the  Rebellion  would  be 
crushed  out  within  six  months  after  the  expiration  of  the  armistice. 
Truly  yours,  THURLOW  WEED. 

The  President  considered  these  suggestions  attentively,  and 
was  disposed  to  admit  their  wisdom  and  practicability.  Just  be 
fore  he  left  Washington  to  deliver  the  address  at  Gettysburg  he 
characterized  the  plan  as  "  water-tight,"  and  it  was  hoped  that 
it  would  be  incorporated  in  some  form  in  his  annual  message. 
General  Grant's  success  at  Chattanooga  or  General  Hooker's 
"  Above  the  Clouds,"  late  in  November,  might  have  been  re 
garded  as  sufficiently  decisive  victories  upon  which  to  base  an 
amnesty  proclamation,  as  contemplated.  But,  much  to  Mr. 
Weed's  regret,  the  message  contained  no  feature  such  as  he  had 
recommended,  though  clearing  the  way  for  the  "  confiscation 
act "  of  1864,  a  measure  which  failed  to  secure  even  the  partial 
advantages  anticipated. 

1863.  — During  the  year  Mr.  Weed  occupied  ground  identi 
cal  with  that  upon  which  he  had  stood  in  1862.  In  other  words, 
he  maintained  that  the  Republican  party  should  make  a  canvass 
singly  for  the  Union.  In  no  state  was  the  issue  plainer  than  in 
New  York,  where,  although  an  Abolition-Republican  ticket  had 
just  been  defeated,  a  Union-Republican  ticket  now  received 
30,000  majority.  It  was  well  that  in  the  North  there  was  a  man 
of  commanding  influence  who  had  sufficient  courage  and  consis 
tency  to  insist  upon  this  distinction,  at  all  hazards  of  temporary 


440  MEMOIR.  [1863. 

misconception.    Had  it  not  been  thus  enforced,  the  Union  might 
not  have  withstood  the  strain. 

Though  his  position  became  identical  with  Mr.  Weed's  in 
1864,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  disposed  at  this  time  to  be  rather  toler 
ant  of  radicalism.  So  good  natured  was  he,  indeed,  in  recog 
nition  of  men  whose  opposition  to  the  administration  was  but 
half-concealed,  that  Mr.  Weed  was  sometimes  a  little  annoyed 
by  his  complacency.  "  They  will  all  be  against  him  in  '64,"  he 
wrote  to  Judge  Davis ;  "  why  does  he  persist  in  giving  them 
weapons  with  which  they  may  be  able  not  only  to  defeat  his 
renornmation,  but  to  destroy  the  government  ?  " 

[THE  PRESIDENT  TO  MB.  WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  October  14, 1863. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  have  been  brought  to  fear  recently  that  somehow, 
by  commission  or  omission,  I  have  caused  you  some  degree  of  pain.  I 
have  never  entertained  an  unkind  feeling  or  a  disparaging  thought  to 
wards  you ;  and  if  I  have  said  or  done  anything  which  has  been  con 
strued  into  such  unkindness  or  disparagement,  it  has  been  misconstrued. 
I  am  sure  if  we  could  meet  we  would  not  part  with  any  unpleasant 
impression  on  either  side.  Yours  truly,  A.  LINCOLN. 

As  the  war  went  on  the  conviction  was  gradually  driven  home 
that  no  political  party  was  strong  enough  to  conquer  the  South. 
It  could  no  longer  be  denied  now  that  divisions  among  the 
people  of  the  Northern  States  were  more  to  be  dreaded  than  all 
the  armies  of  Johnston  and  Lee.  At  the  beginning  of  the  year 
1864  a  large  Democratic  element  began  to  clamor  for  peace  "  011 
the  best  attainable  terms,"  and,  at  Mr.  Greeley's  request,  the 
President  yielded  his  consent  to  a  ridiculous  "  peace  "  confer 
ence  in  Canada.  With  an  army  terribly  decimated  and  dis 
couraged  ;  with  gold  ranging  from  160  to  285  ;  with  less  appar 
ent  strength  and  less  hope  than  when  the  first  gun  was  fired, 
the  North  now  knew  what  it  is  to  suffer  what  Washington  in  his 
"  Farewell  Address  "  warned  his  countrymen  against,  "  in  the 
most  solemn  manner,"  —  "  the  baneful  effects  of  the  spirit  of 
party." 

Foreseeing  the  heavy  burden  of  debt  which  the  war  must  en 
tail,  Mr.  Weed  wrote  to  Senator  Morgan,  urging  the  repeal  of 
the  homestead  law,  so  that  the  proceeds  of  sales  of  public  lands 
might  be  made  to  strengthen  the  national  credit. 


1864.]  THE  PUBLIC  DOMAIN.  441 

[MR.    WEED   TO   SENATOR   MORGAN.  ~| 

ALBANY,  January  29,  1864. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  The  time  approaches,  if  indeed  it  has  not  ar 
rived,  when  the  duties  of  statesmen,  in  importance  and  difficulty,  will 
rise  even  above  those  of  generals.  If  the  Rebellion,  on  the  one  hand, 
has  been  the  most  wicked  and  destructive  the  world  ever  witnessed,  it 
has,  on  the  other,  been  met  by  the  loyal  people  with  a  spirit  and  de 
termination,  and  by  sacrifices  of  treasure  and  blood,  wholly  unparal 
leled  in  the  history  of  wars  and  of  nations.  Great  as  the  emergency, 
and  terrible  as  the  ordeal,  the  people  have  proved  themselves  equal  to 
both.  Three  years  of  eventful  experience  and  observation  have  taught 
us  one  priceless  and  precious  truth,  namely,  that  this  Rebellion  is  sure 
to  result  in  its  own  overthrow,  in  the  vindication  of  our  government, 
and  in  the  restoration  of  our  Union.  And  the  penalty  for  rebellion 
will  be  the  inevitable  subversion  of  the  power  which  caused  it,  —  the 
only  retribution  proportioned  to  the  magnitude  of  the  crime. 

Assuming  that  we  are,  no  matter  at  what  further  cost,  and  in  defi 
ance  of  all  obstacles,  to  preserve  our  government  and  Union,  it  be 
hooves  statesmen  to  divide  their  time  and  thoughts  between  the  pres 
ent  and  the  future.  When  the  war  terminates  we  shall  find  that  it 
has  cost  at  least  four  thousand  millions  of  -dollars,  three  fourths  of 
which  amount  will  remain  as  a  national  debt.  Is  it  not  time  to  gird 
up  our  fiscal  loins,  and  gather  strength  to  bear  this  heavy  burden  ? 
Should  we  not  cast  a  financial  anchor  that  will  enable  the  Treasury  to 
ride  safely  through  a  crisis  equal,  if  not  greater,  than  England  ever 
encountered  ? 

When  the  federal  government  was  established,  the  old  states  ceded 
their  respective  rights  to  the  territory  wrested  from  Great  Britain  to 
the  United  States.  By  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  from  France,  in 
1803,  and  the  cession  of  Florida  by  Spain,  in  1819,  we  became  pos 
sessed  of  a  domain  almost  boundless  and  fabulous  in  extent  and  value. 
This  domain  was  encumbered  by  the  Indian  right  of  possession.  But 
soon,  though  at  immense  cost,  it  worked  itself  free,  leaving  its  proceeds 
applicable  to  the  support  of  the  government,  and  the  payment,  first, 
of  the  revolutionary  war  debt,  and  next,  of  the  war  debt  of  1812. 

Though  ever  prodigal  with  the  public  lands,  the  government  found, 
in  the  revenue  they  yielded,  an  unfailing  resource.  In  various  forms 
of  bounties,  endowments,  and  benefactions,  Congress  has  parted  with 
hundreds  of  millions  of  acres,  and  yet  the  aggregate  revenues  derived 
from  the  public  domain  cannot  be  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  mil 
lions  of  dollars. 

An  early  Congress,  with  a  wisdom  and  foresight  which  I  hope  did 


442  MEMOIR.  [1864. 

not  die  with  it,  anticipating  the  value  of  the  public  domain,  established 
a  uniform  price  for  these  lands,  and  turned  the  proceeds  into  the 
Treasury.  That  Congress  discerned  in  the  vast  wilderness  of  that 
day  a  gradually  increasing  deposit,  ample  for  past  and  future  exi 
gencies.  The  most  sanguine,  however,  failed  to  compute  its  value. 
Though  impaired  —  nay,  even  frittered  away  —  by  subsequent  legisla 
tion,  all  changes,  and  each  fresh  demand  upon  that  reserve,  failed  to 
exhaust  the  fund.  The  Indian  wars,  and  the  War  of  1812,  created 
debts  only  to  afford  the  government  the  luxury  of  extinguishing  them 
with  the  proceeds  of  the  public  domain.  And  when,  under  the  admin 
istration  of  General  Jackson,  we  had  nothing  more  to  pay,  that  fund 
accumulated  so  rapidly  that  its  distribution  among  the  states  was  or 
dered,  lest  so  much  surplus  money  in  the  Treasury  might  exert  a  bane 
ful  influence  upon  the  action  of  Congress. 

After  years  of  discussion  and  debate,  the  popular  idea  of  "  voting 
yourself  a  farm"  obtained,  and  in  1861  the  "homestead  law"  was 
enacted.  This,  in  effect,  rendered  the  public  domain  valueless  to  the 
government.  The  argument  in  favor  of  the  homestead  measure, 
that  the  government  did  not  need  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands, 
was  then  conclusive.  Is  it  so  now  ?  Shall  we  not,  when  the  din  of 
war  ceases,  need  every  resource  to  maintain  the  national  credit  ?  .  .  . 

With  the  public  domain  immensely  augmented  by  valuable  acquisi 
tions,  sacredly  devoted  to  the  payment  of  the  national  debt,  national 
credit  will  be  placed  upon  an  impregnable  basis.  In  the  proceeds  of 
that  domain  we  should  have  a  fund  annually  increasing  in  amount,  and 
as  enduring  as  time.  The  war  ended,  we  know  with  what  an  elastic 
spirit  our  people  will  return  to  their  ordinary  pursuits,  and  with  what 
giant  strides  our  country  will  resume  its  march  of  improvement.  Rail 
ways  already  pointing  to  the  Pacific  will  presently  be  pushed  to  their 
destination,  rendering  the  whole  public  domain  available.  The  popu 
lation  and  wealth  of  Europe  will  purchase,  people,  and  cultivate  these 
territories,  whose  teeming  citizens  will  soon  organize  new  states  for 
admission  into  the  Union. 

In  view,  therefore,  of  an  approaching  momentous  financial  crisis  — 
a  crisis  which  if  not,  so  far  as  possible,  seasonably  provided  for,  may 
prove  as  severe  a  trial  as  the  war  which  may  produce  it,  will  not  Con 
gress  immediately  rescue  the  public  domain  by  a  repeal  of  the  home 
stead  law  ?  There  is  no  surer  way  of  fortifying  the  nation's  credit. 
There  is  no  easier,  simpler,  or  more  equitable  mode  of  providing  for 
the  payment  of  interest  on  the  public  debt.  The  proceeds  of  this 
domain,  under  a  proper  system,  will  ballast  the  Treasury.  With  that 
vast  deposit,  facilitating  the  other  financial  operations  of  the  govern 
ment  and  easing  the  burdens  of  the  people,  the  country  will  shoulder 


1864.]          THE   GLOOMY  PERIOD   OF   THE  WAR.  443 

its  debt ;  and  the  people,  with  confidence  in  the  wisdom  of  the  gov 
ernment,  will  go  cheerfully  to  their  work,  that  a  destiny  of  greatness 
and  glory  for  the  Republic,  temporarily  arrested  by  rebellion,  may  be 
triumphantly  accomplished.  .  .  . 

The  repeal  of  the  homestead  law  would  submit  no  one  who  voted 
for  it  to  a  charge  of  inconsistency.  All  the  circumstances  and  condi 
tions  of  the  country  and  people  have  changed.  The  claims  of  the  gov 
ernment,  even  if  those  claims  conflicted  with  the  interests  of  the  people, 
are  paramount.  But  there  is  no  such  conflict.  Those  for  whose  bene 
fit  this  law  was  enacted  are  now  giving  their  services  and  blood  to  the 
government.  And  what  is  a  prospective  "  homestead  "  worth  without 
a  government  to  protect,  and  a  Union  to  consecrate  it?  Is  it  not  the 
imperative  duty  of  Congress  to  reclaim  and  husband  every  acre  of  this 
broad,  fertile,  and  rich  domain  ?  Held  inviolably  as  a  trust  fund  for 
the  protection  of  the  national  credit,  our  national  debt,  however  large, 
instead  of  depressing  agriculture,  manufactures,  and  commerce  would 
furnish  guarantees  for  the  fidelity  of  our  rulers  and  representatives, 
and  impart  strength  and  stability  to  the  government. 

Very  truly  yours,  THURLOW  WEED. 

[MR.    WEED   TO   JOSEPH    PARKES.] 

NEW  YORK,  April  17,  1864. 

DEAR  FRIEND,  —  All  eyes  and  hopes  now  centre  upon  Grant.  If 
he  wins  in  Virginia,  it  will  brighten  the  horizon  and  make  him  Presi 
dent.  .  .  . 

We  are  beset  by  dangers,  —  foremost  of  which  is  the  presidential 
canvass.  There  is  a  reckless,  money-making  spirit  abroad,  which, 
profiting  by  our  disasters,  favors  a  long  war. 

Regiments  are  returning  home,  worn,  weary,  maimed,  and  depleted. 
Our  cities  and  villages  swarm  with  skulking,  demoralized  soldiers. 

But  it  seems  impossible  that  a  rebellion  so  wanton  can,  in  this  cen 
tury,  and  in  the  sight  of  God,  prosper.  I  believe  that  we  shall  yet 
be  carried  through.  .  .  . 

Faithfully  yours,  THURLOW  WEED. 

"  You,  my  dear  old  friend,"  wrote  Mr.  Parkes  to  Mr.  Weed, 
"ought  to  settle  your  affairs  before  the  crash  comes.  It  may 
be  that  your  government  will  be  reunited  for  a  time  ;  but  it 
cannot  last,  after  this  era  of  tremendous  passion.  Buy  your 
self  some  pleasant  spot  on  the  Hudson,  where,  a  few  years  hence, 
Mrs.  Parkes  and  I  may  visit  you  and  Harriet.  I  should  really 
like  to  go  to  the  United  States,  if  only  to  see  your  Lincoln- 
But  will  he  soon  be  in  Fort  Lafayette,  or  here  in  exile  ?  " 


444  MEMOIR.  [1864. 

1 864.  —  Early  in  the  summer  a  movement  was  started  to 
secure  for  Reuben  E.  Fenton,  then  serving  his  fifth  term  in 
Congress,  the  Republican  nomination  for  Governor  of  New 
York.  There  soon  appeared  to  be,  whether  there  really  was  or 
not,  a  popular  sentiment  in  this  candidate's  favor.  Realizing 
that  the  influence  of  Mr.  Weed's  friends  was  desirable,  not  to 
say  essential,  efforts  were  quickly  set  on  foot  to  secure  their 
cooperation.  So  successful  were  these  advances  that,  in  August, 
when  Mr.  Fenton  called  upon  Mr.  Weed  at  the  Astor  House,  in 
company  with  E.  D.  Webster,  one  of  the  "  Old  Guard,"  who 
trusted,  and  by  whom  Mr.  Weed  was  trusted,  implicitly,  although 
he  had  not  been  on  friendly  terms  with  Mr.  Fenton,  Mr.  Weed 
said  that  he  should  not  oppose  that  gentleman's  aspirations, 
believing  him  to  be  the  clear  choice  of  a  majority.  In  Sep 
tember  the  convention  met  at  Syracuse,  and  nominated  Mr. 
Fenton  on  the  first  ballot.1 

When  discussion  began  in  relation  to  presidential  candidates 
the  Republican  party  was  divided  as  to  the  propriety  of  re- 
nominating  Mr.  Lincoln.  Those  now  most  emphatic  in  opposi 
tion  were  they  who,  in  1860,  had  been  foremost  in  professions 
of  friendship  —  Mr.  Chase,  Mr.  Greeley,  Mr.  Opdyke,  Henry 
Winter  Davis,  William  Cullen  Bryant,  and  David  Dudley 
Field.  The  President  had  no  more  loyal  friends  than  Mr. 
Weed  and  Mr.  Seward.  At  the  White  House,  one  evening,  in 
company  with  Leonard  Swett  and  Mr.  Weed,  Mr.  Lincoln  gave 
the  first  intimation  in  connection  with  his  desire  for  a  second 
term.  "  Do  you  know  that  the  people  begin  to  talk  about  your 
renomination  ?  "  said  Mr.  Swett.  Turning  in  his  chair,  after  a 
moment's  pause,  the  President  replied :  "  Swett,  do  you  know 
that  same  bee  has  been  buzzing  in  my  bonnet  for  several 
days?" 

[JUDGE  DAVIS  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  March  21,  1864. 

DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  I  showed  your  letter  to  the  President.  It 
pains  him  when  you  are  not  satisfied  with  what  he  does.  He  stated 
to  me  that  he  lias  the  highest  esteem  for  you,  knows  that  you  are 
patriotic,  and  that  it  hurts  him  when  he  cannot  do  what  you  think 
advisable. 

1  He  was  elected  in  November,  receiving  368,557  votes  to  361,264  cast  for 
Horatio  Seymour. 


1864.]        RADICAL   OPPOSITION  TO  MR.   LINCOLN.         445 

I  think  he  ought  to  act,  and  act  promptly,  but  his  mind  is  consti 
tuted  differently  from  yours  and  mine.  We  will  have  to  wait  for  his 
decision  upon  the  important  matter.  It  must  come,  sooner  or  later. 
Mr.  Chase's  declination  is  a  mere  sham,  and  very  ungraceful  at  that. 

The  plan  is  to  get  up  a  great  opposition  to  Lincoln,  use  Fremont 
and  others,  and  represent,  when  the  convention  meets,  the  necessity  of 
united  effort,  that  anybody  can  unite  except  Lincoln,  etc.,  etc.,  and 
then  to  present  Chase.  .  .  . 

There  was  a  meeting  of  Chase's  friends  in  the  city  last  night. 
They  resolved  not  to  support  Lincoln,  etc.,  etc.  ;  the  greater  part 
present  were  Treasury  office-holders.  How  long  can  these  things 
last  ?  Truly  yours,  DAVID  DAVIS. 

[GOVERNOR  MORGAN  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  May  29,  1864. 

DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  Mr.  Chase  will  subside  as  a  presidential  can 
didate  after  the  nomination  is  made,  —  not  before. 

The  administration  is  criticised  so  much  by  members  of  Congress 
that  I  say  less  against  its  mistakes  than  I  feel  or  than  I  otherwise 
would.  There  has  been  fraud  enough  in  sending  supplies  in  and 
bringing  cotton  out  of  rebel  states  to  destroy  any  administration  at 
any  other  time  than  when  the  government  is  warring  for  its  life. 

You  will  understand  what  I  mean  when  I  say  that  military  officers 
of  the  government,  civil  officers  of  government,  and  certain  rebels, 
act  in  concert  for  profits  in  getting  supplies  into  and  beyond  the  rebel 
lines  and  bringing  cotton  out.  The  matter  is  too  disgusting  to  write 
about. 

I  shall  have  the  pleasure  of  meeting  you  at  Baltimore. 

Truly  yours,  E.  D.  MORGAN. 

[GOVERNOR  PATTERSON  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

ROCHESTER,  July  4,  1864. 

DEAR  WEED,  —  I  am  very  glad  that  there  is  at  least  one  man  who 
agrees  with  me  about  Secretary  Chase,  and  that  you  are  the  man. 
His  inordinate  anxiety  for  the  presidency  has  made  a  fool  of  him. 
You  will  recollect  that  I  went  to  Kansas,  at  your  request,  to  look  after 
the  Lecompton  constitution,  and,  when  I  got  there,  to  my  astonish 
ment  I  found  a  letter  written  by  Mr.  Chase,  urging  the  adoption  of 
that  instrument.  I  saw  and  read  the  letter.  It  was  in  the  hands  of 
an  editor  who  went  to  Kansas  from  Cincinnati,  and  has  returned  to 
Ohio.  I  heard  of  several  other  letters  of  like  import,  but  did  not  see 
them  myself. 

The  only  reason  assigned  in  Kansas  for  his  course  was,  that,  if  it 


446  MEMOIR.  [1864. 

came  in  as  a  state,  he  would  expect  a  delegation  from  there  to  help 
nominate  him  for  the  presidency.  Again,  i/he  present  year,  he  wanted 
the  delegates  from  Ohio  and  New  Hampshire,  thinking  that  Lincoln 
would  not  carry  a  majority  of  the  convention,  and  that,  if  he  should 
have  the  delegates  from  his  native  as  well  as  adopted  state,  he  would 
be  nominated.  But  he  could  not  get  either. 

He  is  like  a  jury  in  a  justice's  court,  —  always  finds  first  for  him 
self.  He  is  like  Greeley,  too,  because  he  was  in  favor  of  allowing  the 
South  "  to  go  out  and  stay  out,"  and  that  alone  ought  to  have  pre 
vented  his  appointment  to  a  place  in  the  Cabinet.  Let  him  go  ! 

Truly  yours,  GEORGE  W.  PATTERSON. 

In  convention  at  Cleveland,  on  the  31st  of  May,  the  Radicals 
sought  to  prevent  the  President's  renomination  by  putting  Frd- 
mont  and  Cochrane  in  the  field.  This  movement  was  charac 
terized  by  Mr.  Weed  as  a  "  slimy  intrigue."  The  Republican 
national  convention  was  held  at  Baltimore,  on  the  7th  of  June. 
Every  effort  was  made  to  secure  control  of  New  York  delegates 
in  the  interest  of  Secretary  Chase,  but  they  voted  for  Mr.  Lin 
coln,  and  he  was  renominated.  There  was  a  miniature  contest 
over  the  vice-presidential  nomination,  which  went  to  Andrew 
Johnson,  of  Tennessee.  With  the  knowledge  and  approval  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Seward,  Mr.  Weed  sought  to  influence 
the  Democratic  choice.  Through  Dean  Richmond,  Peter  Cag1- 
ger,  Sanford  E.  Church,  Henry  C.  Murphy,  William  F.  Allen, 
Cornelius  Wendell,  and  other  "War  Democrats,"  he  endeav 
ored  to  secure  the  nomination  at  the  national  Democratic  con 
vention  of  Mr.  Caton,  of  Illinois,  Mr.  Phelps,  of  Missouri,  or 
Mr.  Guthrie,  of  Kentucky ;  fearing  that  the  government,  in  case 
of  Lincoln's  defeat,  might  pass  into  the  hands  of  men  committed 
to  the  heresy  that  the  war  was  a  failure.  But  these  efforts 
failed,  for,  at  Chicago,  on  the  29th  of  August,  the  Democrats 
nominated  George  B.  McClellan,  of  New  Jersey,  and  George 
H.  Pendleton,  of  Ohio,  each  of  whom  was  identified  with  the 
Copperhead  "  peace  party." 

"  The  objections  to  the  election  of  General  McClellan,"  wrote 
Mr.  Weed,  while  the  canvass  was  in  progress,  "  are  found  less 
in  himself  than  in  his  political  surroundings.  These  are  largely 
disloyal,  and  it  requires  a  higher  degree  of  moral  courage  than 
he  possesses  to  shake  them  off.  The  influences  which  surround 
a  President  usually  shape  his  action.  Of  all  our  presidents 


1864.]  THE  SECOND  LINCOLN  CANVASS.  447 

General  Jackson  alone  had  the  will  to  determine  and  pursue  his 
own  course,  —  or,  in  other  words,  to  '  take  the  responsibility.' 
Knowing  this,  we  should  have  nothing  but  evil  to  expect  from 
Democratic  success  in  this  election.  .  .  .  The  convention  which 
nominated  McClellan  and  Pendleton  would,  had  the  power  re 
sided  in  it,  have  made  an  instant  peace,  ingloriously  recognizing 
the  Confederate  government,  and  shivering  this  Republic  into 
fragments.  Can  we,  then,  after  all  the  sacrifices  rebellion  has 
occasioned,  and  when,  as  we  hope,  these  sacrifices  are  soon  to 
be  compensated  by  the  overthrow  of  our  enemies,  submit  to 
such  wrong  and  humiliation  ?  If,  as  I  assume,  we  cannot  and 
will  not  so  dishonor  our  country,  so  degrade  ourselves,  and  so 
outrage  the  memories  of  hundreds  of  thousands  who  have  writ 
ten  their  devotion  to  the  Union  in  their  own  red  blood,  let  us 
vote  the  '  peace  party '  down ;  let  us  not  consign  all  there  is  left 
of  this  priceless  government  and  precious  Union  to  the  hands 
of  those  who  are  impatient  for  an  ignominious,  shameful  peace 
4  upon  the  best  attainable  terms,'  whether  they  conspire  at  Chi 
cago  under  Vallandigham  and  Wood,  or  in  Canada  under 
Sanders  and  Greeley.  .  .  . 

"  Every  sickly  cry  for  peace  aggravates  and  protracts  the 
war.  Until,  by  military  mastery,  the  Rebellion  is  subdued,  we 
can  have  no  peace  on  endurable  terms.  White  feathers  at  the 
North  are  more  dangerous  to  our  government  and  Union  than 
the  swords  and  bayonets  of  the  South.  Our  best  and  most 
effective  peace  commissioners  are  Sherman  and  Farragut, 
Grant,  Hancock,  and  Sheridan.  Meanwhile,  the  administra 
tion  itself  should  work  out  of  its  false  position,  and  by  some 
unequivocal  act  or  declaration,  solemnly  avow  that  the  war  is 
prosecuted  to  maintain  the  government  and  to  restore  the 
Union ;  and  that  when  misguided  states  and  peoples  return  to 
their  allegiance,  the  Angel  of  Peace  will  revisit  and  bless  our 
severely  chastised  country.  .  .  . 

"  The  Democratic  party  is  demoralized  by  a  '  Copperhead '  ele 
ment,  whose  disloyalty  ran  that  party  under  in  18G3,  and  whose 
successful  resistance  at  Chicago  to  enlightened  and  patriotic 
action  will  occasion  a  second  Democratic  collapse  this  year.  .  .  . 

"  The  responsibilities  of  the  administration  have  been,  during 
its  four  years'  trial,  so  great,  that  the  Democratic  party,  had  it 
been  patriotic  —  or  even  if  it  had  even  seemed  to  be  so  — 


448  MEMOIR.  [1864. 

would  have  taken  the  government.  Its  disloyal  state  organ 
izations  finally  culminated  at  Chicago,  where  the  right  path  was 
so  clear  and  straight  that  only  those  who  were  previously  bent 
on  pursuing  the  wrong  could  mistake  it.  In  seasons  of  com 
mon  danger,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  discriminating  between 
patriotism  and  disloyalty.  In  a  war  which  exhausts  their  sub 
stance  and  drinks  their  blood,  the  people  are  never  deceived. 
In  such  times  they  think  and  feel  deeply.  Instincts  and  im 
pulses  anticipate  argument  and  '  jump  at  conclusions.'  Now,  as 
in  1812,  a  questionable  patriotism  is  virtual  disloyalty.  Now, 
as  then,  the  political  barometer  rises  or  falls  with  the  changing 
fortunes  of  our  armies.  Victories  depress,  while  disasters  en 
courage  the  opponents  of  the  administration.  .  .  . 

"  The  political  '  signs  of  the  times '  are  full  of  hope  and  joy. 
Kecent  results  convert  confidence  into  assurance.  And  the 
sense  of  relief  comes  when  the  danger  was  most  imminent.  In 
Indiana,  where  treason  was  most  rife,  and  traitors  boldest, 
the  triumph  is  overwhelming.  So,  last  year,  in  Ohio,  where 
Copperheads  had  the  hardihood  to  present  Vallandigham  for 
Governor,  popular  indignation  crushed  them  out  of  political  ex 
istence.  Thus,  if  the  illustration  be  not  irreverent,  where  dis 
loyal  sin  abounds,  patriotic  grace  abounds  much  more  abun 
dantly." 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

1865-18G7. 

"Wmi  MALICE  TOWARD  NONE."  —  MR.  LINCOLN  TO  MR.  WEED.  —  THE 
ASSASSINATION.  —  ANDREW  JOHNSON.  —  MR.  RAYMOND'S  VISITS  TO  THE 
WHITE:  HOUSE.  —  ATTITUDE  OF  CONGRESS.  —  THE  PHILADELPHIA  CON 
VENTION.  —  LETTER  FROM  GERRIT  SMITH.  —  RETURN  TO  JOURNALISM. 
— A  POLITICAL  RESUME".  —  NOMINATION  OF  GENERAL  GRANT. 

WHEN  Mr.  Lincoln  began  his  second  presidential  term,  on 
the  4th  of  March,  1865,  the  collapse  of  the  Rebellion  was  close 
at  hand,  and  it  was  already  clear  that  the  great  task  of  the  new 
administration  must  be  the  reconstruction  of  the  Southern  States. 
With  those  delicate  questions  which  were  sure  to  arise  in  the 
wake  of  a  fearful  war,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  peculiarly  well  qualified 
to  deal.  Nothing  could  be  more  sublime  than  the  spirit  of  that 
inaugural  address,  in  which  "with  malice  toward  none,  with 
charity  to  all,"  he  took  up  the  great  work  of  "  healing  the  na 
tion's  wounds,"  and  "  achieving  a  just  and  lasting  peace."  He 
seems  to  have  felt  that  nothing  which  he  ever  wrote  would  sink 
so  deep  into  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen,  would  live  so  long, 
would  so  entitle  him  to  the  gratitude  and  admiration  of  the 
world,  as  this  same  address.  Shortly  after  it  was  spoken,  and 
less  than  a  month  before  his  death,  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Weed  a 
letter,  than  which  none  in  this  volume  is  more  worthy  to  be 
preserved. 

[PRESIDENT  LINCOLN  TO  MR.  WEED.] 
EXECUTIVE  MANSION,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  March  15,  1805. 

DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  Every  one  likes  a  compliment.  Thank  you 
for  yours  on  my  little  notification  speech  and  on  the  recent  inaugural 
address. 

I  expect  the  latter  to  wear  as  well  as,  perhaps  better  than,  anything 
I  have  produced ;  but  I  believe  it  is  not  immediately  popular.  Men 
are  not  flattered  by  being  shown  that  there  has  been  a  difference  of 
purpose  between  the  Almighty  and  them.  To  deny  it,  however,  in 
this  case,  is  to  deny  that  there  is  a  God  governing  the  world. 
29 


450  MEMOIR.  [1865. 

It  is  a  truth  which  I  thought  needed  to  be  told,  and,  as  whatever  of 
humiliation  there  is  in  it  falls  most  directly  on  myself,  I  thought 
others  might  afford  for  me  to  tell  it. 

Truly  yours,  A.  LIXCOLN. 

On  the  14th  of  April,  1865,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  assassinated,  and 
Andrew  Johnson  became  President.  General  Lee  had  already 
surrendered,  and  a  few  weeks  later  General  Johnston,  General 
Taylor,  and  General  Kirby  Smith  followed  Lee's  example.  On 
the  10th  of  May  "  Jeff  "  Davis  -  was  captured,  and  a  skirmish 
near  Boco  Chico,  Texas,  constituted  the  last  engagement  of  the 
war. 

President  Johnson's  first  message  was  equal  to  the  occasion. 
"  His  first  solicitude,"  writes  Mr.  Weed,  "  was  to  ascertain  and 
carry  out  the  policy  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  I  know  that  he  went  to 
the  White  House  with  that  determination."  The  truth  of  this 
assertion  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt:  But,  as  Mr.  Weed  often 
said,  "  President  Johnson  did  not  inherit  the  temper  or  tact  of 
his  predecessor."  The  influences  which  had  first  sought  to 
dictate  to  Mr.  Lincoln  and  then  to  defeat  his  renomination 
engaged  in  an  effort  to  teach:  Johnson  his  duty  toward  the 
South.  Had  Mr.  Lincoln  lived,  he  would  have  parried  such 
interference  ;  but  Johnson's  fiery  disposition  made  him,  when 
criticised,  belligerent  and  aggressive.  Thus,  at  last,  he  was  led 
into  an  Irreconcilable  quarrel,  not  only  with  its  radical  ele 
ment,  but  with  the  entire  Republican  party. 

And  yet,  in  justice  to  President  Johnson,  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  the  Republican  majority  in  Congress  took  up  the  recon 
struction  problem  in  a  mood  very  different  from  that  of  the 
lamented  Lincoln,  when  he  bespoke  for  the  disposition  of  this 
question  "  malice  toward  none  "  and  "  charity  to  all." 

From  1856  to  1865  every  Republican  statesman  and  news 
paper  in  the  country  maintained  that  states  could  not  get  out 
of  the  Union.  It  cost  a  war  to  establish  that  doctrine  ;  but, 
when  it  was  established,  Chief  Justice  Chase,  acting  with  Sena 
tors  Wade  and  Sumner,  insisted  that  states  were  out  of  the 
Union,  and  engaged  in  a  plan  to  keep  them  out  until  after  the 
presidential  election  of  1868. 

"  The  feeling  against  the  rebellious  states  is  more  bitter  than 
it  ought  to  be,"  wrote  Governor  Morgan  to  Mr.  Weed,  in  May, 
1865.  "  I  think  it  is  proper  to  institute  careful  inquiry  as  to 


1865.]  HENRY   J.   RAYMOND'S  LETTERS.  451 

their  condition  before  we  vote.  Too  many  lives  have  been 
sacrificed  and  too  much  treasure  expended  not  to  do  this ;  but 
that  does  not  sanction  the  determination  of  Congress  for  length 
ened  and  unnecessary  delay." 

"  The  Radicals  are  outwardly  smooth  and  anxious  for  peace 
and  union,"  Mr.  Raymond  wrote  to  Mr.  Weed,  "  but  only  (at 
bottom)  on  their  own  terms.  I  talked  with  the  President  last 
evening  for  nearly  two  hours.  His  convictions  are  very  clearly 
defined  as  to  a  policy,  and  as  to  the  party  through  which  that 
policy  must  be  carried  out.  He  says  politics  are  irk  a  strange 
transition  state.  He  says  the  Union  party  ought  to  take  the 
lead,  and  laughed  at  the  notion  that  he  could  be  captured  by 
the  Democrats.  He  thinks  it  important  that  Union  men  should 
not  allow  themselves  to  fall  under  radical  leadership.  He 
complains  that  Senator  Wilson's  manner  towards  him  is  dic 
tatorial  and  insolent ;  but  says  he  will  not  be  forced  into  a 
collision.  If  it  is  to  come,  the  other  side  must  begin  it.  He 
will  not  make  terms  or  conditions  about  suffrage ;  don't  think 
universal  colored  suffrage  would  work  well  in  the  District 
of  Columbia  or  anywhere  else.  He  says  the  Radicals  are  in 
augurating  a  conflict  which  will  result  in  no  real  benefit  to  the 
negroes.  On  general  questions  he  is  firm  and  perfectly  trust 
worthy." 

Republican  conventions  held  in  the  summer  and  fall  of  1865 
indorsed -the  national  administration.  Republican  state  officers 
were  chosen  in  New  York.  There  was  no  open  rupture  with 
the  President  until  March,  1866,  when  the  civil  rights  bill, 
designed  to  make  freedmen  citizens  of  the  United  States,  was 
vetoed.  "  Mr.  Seward,  Mr.  Morgan,  and  myself,"  wrote  Mr. 
Raymond  to  Mr.  Weed,  in  March,  "  met  the  President  this 
morning,  by  appointment.  The  President  said  he  had  suggested 
the  meeting,  as  it  was  time,  he  thought,  for  the  collectorship 
appointment  to  be  made.  Morgan  thought  it  had  better  be 
delayed  on  account  of  the  temper  of  the  Senate,  which,  he  said, 
was  very  bitter,  and  might  lead  to  the  rejection  or  suspension 
of  any  one  whom  the  President  might  send  in.  Mr.  Seward 
thought  it  would  be  well  to  wait  developments  in  Congress  on 
the  Tennessee  question.  It  was  finally  agreed  that  we  would 
meet  again  on  Tuesday.  The  President  assented,  but  said  the 
appointment  ought  not  to  be  much  longer  delayed.  .  .  . 


452  MEMOIR.  [1866. 

"  Things  do  not  improve.  I  think  you  had  better  come  on 
here,  for  the  purpose  of  having  a  talk  with  the  President  about 
the  general  policy  of  his  administration.  He  seems,  I  think,  a 
good  deal  depressed  by  the  passage  of  the  civil  rights  bill, 
though  I  could  not  detect  any  symptom  of  yielding.  Unless  he 
is  wise,  it  seems  to  me  he  is  ruined.  Seward  agrees  with  me 
that  he  would  listen  to  you  with  attention,  and  that  it  would  be 
well  for  you  to  come." 

"  We  had  a  caucus  last  night,"  Mr.  Raymond  continues,  on 
the  12th  of  July,  "  full,  venomous,  reckless,  the  worst  yet.  The 
ruling  sentiment  was  to  sit  all  summer,  so  as  to  prevent  the 
President  from  making  appointments.  Banks  named  an  ultra 
radical  committee  to  consider  and  report.  They  passed  a  reso 
lution  taking  away  from  the  President  control  of  government 
arms  and  ordnance,  and  distributing  among  the  loyal  states. 
Stevens  submitted  a  resolution  denouncing  the  Philadelphia 
movement,  and  reading  out  of  the  party  any  one  who  has  any 
thing  to  do  with  it.  The  Radicals  are  terribly  excited.  Seward 
says  he  is  anxious  for  some  movement  in  New  York  for  a  con 
vention.  If  you  are  not  engaged,  he  would  like  to  see  you  here. 
I  fear  that  giving  the  Democrats  half  the  delegates  lias  damaged 
the  movement.  It  allows  the  opposition  to  charge  that  the  con 
vention  is  designed  to  throw  everything  into  Democratic  hands. 
By  and  by,  perhaps,  its  real  object  will  be  better  understood, 
but  just  now  everything  is  below  par.  The  stories  of  the 
4  Tribune,'  '  World,'  and  i  Herald,'  about  my  remarks  are  utterly 
false." 

It  was  near  the  inauspicious  close  of  this  protracted  session 
of  Congress  that  a  call  was  issued  to  loyal  citizens  of  all  the 
states,  "  favoring  a  speedy  restoration  of  the  Union,"  to  as 
semble  in  convention  at  Philadelphia.  The  purpose  of  the 
movement  was  to  defeat  radical  schemes  for  making  party 
capital.  Naturally,  therefore,  the  majority  at  Washington  was 
"  terribly  excited,"  and  the  a  real  object  "  of  the  Philadelphia 
meeting  was  "  persistently  misstated."  Indeed,  Republicans 
often  refer  contemptously  to  that  convention  even  to  this  day, 
although  the  position  there  taken  became  Republican  u  law  and 
gospel"  when  it  was  thought  necessary  to  carry  some  of  the 
Southern  States  for  Hayes  and  Wheeler  in  1876. 

Many  able  and  patriotic  gentlemen  participated  in  the  Phila- 


1867.]  RECONSTRUCTION  PROBLEMS.  453 

delphia  movement,  among  whom  were  John  A.  Dix,  Henry  J. 
Raymond,  Hamilton  Fish,  Dean  Richmond,  Samuel  Sloan, 
Marshall  O.  Roberts,  Francis  B.  Cutting,  Alexander  W.  Ran 
dall,  Moses  Taylor,  Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  Daniel  Drew,  Leonard 
W.  Jerome,  A.  J.  Dittenhoefer  and  R.  M.  Blatchford.  Though 
not  a  delegate,  Mr.  Weed  was  active  in  the  organization,  and 
hopeful  that  it  might  effect  good  results.  But  it  required  more 
genius  than  he  possessed  to  amalgamate  the  heterogeneous  ele 
ments  which  assembled  at  Philadelphia  in  1866. 

"  Who  is  now  to  lead  the  country  back  to  peace,  tranquillity, 
and  union  ? "  wrote  Mr.  Seward  to  Mr.  Weed,  in  November. 
"  Shall  we  be  spared  to  see  it  done  ?  Europe  is  beginning  to 
presume  upon  our  distractions." 

"You  are  doing  great  good,"  wrote  Gerrit  Smith  to  Mr. 
Weed.  "  But  do  not  let  the  conservatism  of  your  cool,  calcu 
lating  head  have  exclusive  influence  over  the  radicalism  of  your 
heart.  Why  should  not  the  North  and  the  South  now  come  to 
gether  in  an  honest  union  ?  I  have  written  much  to  that  end.  .  .  . 

"  But,  as  I  am  an  c  Old  Abolitionist,'  I  must  still  be  regarded 
as  given  to  fanaticism,  and  therefore  can  never  have  much  in 
fluence.  You  have  influence,  great  influence.  I  beg  you  to  use 
it  for  peace,  for  peace  between  the  North  and  the  South.  .  .  . 
I  often  dissent  from  you,  but  credit  you  always  with  loving  your 
country  and  caring  for  the  poor." 

1 867.  —  It  was  now  just  threescore  years  since  Mr.  Weed 
sent  up  his  rimless  wool  hat  when  it  was  known  that  Tomp- 
kins  had  been  elected  Governor  of  New  York.  From  1817 
to  1846  he  had  been  constantly  interested  in  elections,  and 
each  year  through  the  three  days  which  the  polls,  under  the 
old  system,  remained  open,  had  usually  worked  there  personally 
in  the  open  air,  ballots  in  hand.  In  1824,  with  a  few  friends, 
he  aided  in  calling  the  first  state  convention  held  in  New  York, 
nominations  having  been  made  previous  to  that  time  in  legis 
lative  caucus.  Until  1864  he  was  associated  with  National  Re 
publican,  anti-Masonic,  Whig,  and  Republican  conventions  and 
committees.  For  more  than  thirty  years  the  creation  and  action 
of  such  conventions  and  committees  were  in  harmony  with  his 
views.  It  was  not  a  relief,  after  all,  to  be  exempt  from  political 
responsibility. 

And  thus  in  the  spring  of  1867,  yielding  to  the  suggestions 


456  MEMbTR.  [1867. 

by  calms.  But  ours  is  a  peace  without  significance  and  without  fruits, 
other  than  of  bitterness.  We  of  the  North  have  become  as  exacting 
and  aggressive  after,  as  southern  men  were  before  the  Rebellion.  .  .  . 

What  we  need,  and  what  we  lack,  in  the  management  of  public 
affairs,  is  Patriotism,  —  not  the  mere  profession  of  that  virtue,  but 
itself,  in  the  form  that  carried  tens  of  thousands  of  gallant,  devoted 
men,  regardless  of  self,  into  the  Union  army,  —  men  who,  like  Wads- 
worth,  and  Shaw,  and  Van  Rensselaer,  and  Rowland,  left  wealthy, 
luxurious,  happy  homes,  for  their  country.  That  spirit  in  the  councils 
of  the  nation  would,  ere  this,  have  readjusted  our  difficulties,  secur 
ing  to  our  country  and  people  permanent  peace  and  restored  pros 
perity.  .  .  . 

I  resume  with  great  diffidence  duties  from  which  I  had  intended  a 
permanent  withdrawal.  Though  reasonably  familiar  with  journalism 
when  in  the  harness,  things  have  several  years  the  start  of  me  now ; 
and  whether,  considering  the  disadvantage  in  years,  I  can  catch  up 
with  events,  and  assist  in  giving  skape  to  them,  remains  to  be  seen. 
While  in  the  field,  I  had  my  share  of  readers  ;  but  two  generations 
have  passed  away,  and  a  third  has  risen  to  manhood  since  I  began 
editorial  life.  I  know  that  in  all  respects  the  world  goes  faster,  and 
requires  warmer  blood  and  fresher  thoughts  than  were  needed  before 
rails  and  wires,  invested  with  attributes  once  supposed  to  belong  only 
to  omniscient  power,  toy  with  time  and  distance.  But  age,  if  moder 
ately  benefited  by  experience  and  observation,  may  impart  something 
of  interest  and  usefulness  to  newspaper  columns.  Inspired  with  that 
hope,  I  am  about  to  try  to  do  a  little  good  in  helping  the  people  and 
the  country  out  of  their  complications,  —  complications  aggravated  un 
necessarily  by  passion  and  ambition.  .  .  . 

The  first  duty  of  the  government  at  the  end  of  the  war  was  to  re 
unite  divided  states,  excited  communities,  and  disturbed  elements.  To 
the  accomplishment  of  these  objects  there  were  no  insuperable  difficul 
ties.  The  southern  people,  it  is  quite  true,  hate  us,  as  they  have  been 
taught,  and  have  been  accustomed  to  hate  us.  But,  in  view  of  the 
ruin  and  destitution  which  "  stalks  through  their  streets  and  shrieks  in 
their  corn-fields,"  and  of  their  powerless  condition,  it  is  for  us  to  be 
tolerant,  if  not  generous.  Slavery  forever  abolished,  the  government 
can  no  longer  be  controlled  or  embarrassed  by  that  "  peculiar  institu 
tion."  The  amended  Constitution  confers  upon  Congress  the  power 
and  duty  of  protecting  f  reedmen.  So  that,  admitting  all  that  is  alleged 
of  ill  will  and  discontent  in  the  South,  there  are  no  sufficient  reasons 
for  keeping  the  Union  divided.  .  .  . 

If  I  have  in  some  things  fallen  behind,  or  failed  to  hew  up  to  my 
party  line,  it  is  because  I  could  not  recognize  perfection  in  all  the  lead- 


1867.]  THE  NATIONAL   OUTLOOK  IN  1S67.  457 

ers  of  my  own  party,  or  deny  to  all  opponents  the  merit  of  good  inten 
tions.  Very  early  in  life,  when  we  were  in  a  war  with  England,  I  did 
most  fervently  believe  every  Federalist  an  enemy  to  his  country,  and 
every  Republican  a  political  saint.  But  this  impression  wore  off,  and 
in  1819,  when  Federalism  collapsed,  and  the  Republican  party,  divided 
against  itself,  ran  Tompkins  and  Clinton  for  Governor,  it  was  dispelled. 
Then  I  espoused  the  Clintonian  side,  and  for  five  years  stood  by  that 
really  great  man,  until  in  1825  we  separated,  —  he  going  for  Jackson 
and  I  for  Adams.  During  the  intervening  years,  while  I  have  been 
a  zealous  Whig  and  Republican,  I  confess  to  the  weakness  of  always 
entertaining  personal  regard  for  honest  men  of  the  Democratic  per 
suasion,  and  of  withholding  that  regard  from  the  dishonest  men  of  my 
own.  .  .  . 

1 867.  —  National  politics  were,  indeed,  as  President  Johnson 
said  to  Mr.  Raymond,  in  a  strange  "  transition  state."  By  a 
singular  abandonment  of  all  past  professions,  the  Republican 
majority,  in  holding  that  states  lately  in  rebellion'  must  be 
treated  as  conquered  territory,  embraced  the  theory,  which  was 
high  treason  in  I860,  that  the  Union  could  be  dissolved.  Radi 
cal  Republicans  insisted  upon  confiscation  and  division  of  land. 
Wendell  Phillips  wanted  to  partition  the  South  and  give  every 
negro  a  forty-acre  farm.  Mr.  Bout  well  urged  that  owners  of 
large  estates  in  the  South  should  be  compelled  to  divide  and 
subdivide  their  property.  The  country  became  so  weary  of  par 
tisan  strife  that  it  was  ready  to  welcome  almost  anything  which 
would  but  put  an  end  to  the  plots  and  counterplots  of  radical 
politicians. 

Early  in  the  summer  Mr.  Weed  began  to  look  forward,  not 
without  apprehension,  to  the  presidential  canvass.  In  seeking 
for  a  candidate  who  would  be  free  to  conduct  his  administra 
tion  with  an  eye  single  to  the  general  welfare,  and  whose  nomi 
nation  would  arouse  popular  enthusiasm,  attention  was  natu 
rally  directed  towards  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  who  bad  never  been  a 
partisan,  and  who  was  regarded  by  the  American  people  as  the 
greatest  General  of  modern  times.  At  conferences  in  New 
York,  at  which  the  advisability  of  this  nomination  was  can 
vassed,  it  met  with  immediate  favor,  and,  when  a  public  meeting 
in  General  Grant's  interest  had  been  arranged,  Mr.  Weed  went 
to  Long  Branch,  where  the  General  was  staying,  to  apprise  him 
that  a  movement  intended  to  secure  for  him  the  nomination  at 


456  MEMtlR.  [1867. 

by  calms.  But  ours  is  a  peace  without  significance  and  without  fruits, 
other  than  of  bitterness.  We  of  the  North  have  become  as  exacting 
and  aggressive  after,  as  southern  men  were  before  the  Rebellion.  .  .  . 

What  we  need,  and  what  we  lack,  in  the  management  of  public 
affairs,  is  Patriotism,  —  not  the  mere  profession  of  that  virtue,  but 
itself,  in  the  form  that  carried  tens  of  thousands  of  gallant,  devoted 
men,  regardless  of  self,  into  the  Union  army,  —  men  who,  like  Wads- 
worth,  and  Shaw,  and  Van  Rensselaer,  and  Rowland,  left  wealthy, 
luxurious,  happy  homes,  for  their  country.  That  spirit  in  the  councils 
of  the  nation  would,  ere  this,  have  readjusted  our  difficulties,  secur 
ing  to  our  country  and  people  permanent  peace  and  restored  pros 
perity.  .  .  . 

I  resume  with  great  diffidence  duties  from  which  I  had  intended  a 
permanent  withdrawal.  Though  reasonably  familiar  with  journalism 
when  in  the  harness,  things  have  several  years  the  start  of  me  now ; 
and  whether,  considering  the  disadvantage  in  years,  I  can  catch  up 
with  events,  and  assist  in  giving  skape  to  them,  remains  to  be  seen. 
While  in  the  field,  I  had  my  share  of  readers  ;  but  two  generations 
have  passed  away,  and  a  third  has  risen  to  manhood  since  I  began 
editorial  life.  I  know  that  in  all  respects  the  world  goes  faster,  and 
requires  warmer  blood  and  fresher  thoughts  than  were  needed  before 
rails  and  wires,  invested  with  attributes  once  supposed  to  belong  only 
to  omniscient  power,  toy  with  time  and  distance.  But  age,  if  moder 
ately  benefited  by  experience  and  observation,  may  impart  something 
of  interest  and  usefulness  to  newspaper  columns.  Inspired  with  that 
hope,  I  am  about  to  try  to  do  a  little  good  in  helping  the  people  and 
the  country  out  of  their  complications,  —  complications  aggravated  un 
necessarily  by  passion  and  ambition.  .  .  . 

The  first  duty  of  the  government  at  the  end  of  the  war  was  to  re 
unite  divided  states,  excited  communities,  and  disturbed  elements.  To 
the  accomplishment  of  these  objects  there  were  no  insuperable  difficul 
ties.  The  southern  people,  it  is  quite  true,  hate  us,  as  they  have  been 
taught,  and  have  been  accustomed  to  hate  us.  But,  in  view  of  the 
ruin  and  destitution  which  "  stalks  through  their  streets  and  shrieks  in 
their  corn-fields,"  and  of  their  powerless  condition,  it  is  for  us  to  be 
tolerant,  if  not  generous.  Slavery  forever  abolished,  the  government 
can  no  longer  be  controlled  or  embarrassed  by  that  u  peculiar  institu 
tion."  The  amended  Constitution  confers  upon  Congress  the  power 
and  duty  of  protecting  freedmen.  So  that,  admitting  all  that  is  alleged 
of  ill  will  and  discontent  in  the  South,  there  are  no  sufficient  reasons 
for  keeping  the  Union  divided.  .  .  . 

If  I  have  in  some  thinga  fallen  behind,  or  failed  to  hew  up  to  my 
party  line,  it  is  because  I  could  not  recognize  perfection  in  all  the  lead- 


1867.]  THE  NATIONAL   OUTLOOK  IN  1867.  457 

ers  of  my  own  party,  or  deny  to  all  opponents  the  merit  of  good  inten 
tions.  Very  early  in  life,  when  we  were  in  a  war  with  England,  1  did 
most  fervently  believe  every  Federalist  an  enemy  to  his  country,  and 
every  Republican  a  political  saint.  But  this  impression  wore  off,  and 
in  1819,  when  Federalism  collapsed,  and  the  Republican  party,  divided 
against  itself,  ran  Tompkins  and  Clinton  for  Governor,  it  was  dispelled. 
Then  I  espoused  the  Clintonian  side,  and  for  five  years  stood  by  that 
really  great  man,  until  in  1825  we  separated,  —  he  going  for  Jackson 
and  I  for  Adams.  During  the  intervening  years,  while  I  have  been 
a  zealous  Whig  and  Republican,  I  confess  to  the  weakness  of  always 
entertaining  personal  regard  for  honest  men  of  the  Democratic  per 
suasion,  and  of  withholding  that  regard  from  the  dishonest  men  of  my 
own.  .  .  . 

1 867.  —  National  politics  were,  indeed,  as  President  Johnson 
said  to  Mr.  Raymond,  in  a  strange  "  transition  state."  By  a 
singular  abandonment  of  all  past  professions,  the  Republican 
majority,  in  holding  that  states  lately  in  rebellion  must  be 
treated  as  conquered  territory,  embraced  the  theory,  which  was 
high  treason  in  1860,  that  the  Union  could  be  dissolved.  Radi 
cal  Republicans  insisted  upon  confiscation  and  division  of  land. 
Wendell  Phillips  wanted  to  partition  the  South  and  give  every 
negro  a  forty-acre  farm.  Mr.  Bout  well  urged  that  owners  of 
large  estates  in  the  South  should  be  compelled  to  divide  and 
subdivide  their  property.  The  country  became  so  weary  of  par 
tisan  strife  that  it  was  ready  to  welcome  almost  anything1  which 
would  but  put  an  end  to  the  plots  and  counterplots  of  radical 
politicians. 

Early  in  the  summer  Mr.  Weed  began  to  look  forward,  not 
without  apprehension,  to  the  presidential  canvass.  In  seeking 
for  a  candidate  who  would  be  free  to  conduct  his  administra 
tion  with  an  eye  single  to  the  general  welfare,  and  whose  nomi 
nation  would  arouse  popular  enthusiasm,  attention  was  natu 
rally  directed  towards  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  who  had  never  been  a 
partisan,  and  who  was  regarded  by  the  American  people  as  the 
greatest  General  of  modern  times.  At  conferences  in  New 
York,  at  which  the  advisability  of  this  nomination  was  can 
vassed,  it  met  with  immediate  favor,  and,  when  a  public  meeting 
in  General  Grant's  interest  had  been  arranged,  Mr.  Weed  went 

o 

to  Long  Branch,  where  the  General  was  staying,  to  apprise  him 
that  a  movement  intended  to  secure  for  him  the  nomination  at 


458  MEMOIR.  [1867. 

the  Republican  convention  would  be  initiated  immediately. 
After  referring  to  the  fact  that  generals  who  had  carried  the 
country  through  its  former  wars  had  been  successively  rewarded 
with  the  presidency,  Mr.  Weed  remarked  that  a  General  who 
had  saved  the  Union,  would  now,  like  Washington,  Jackson, 
Harrison,  and  Taylor,  be  similarly  honored.  After  an  hour's 
pleasant  conversation,  Mr.  Weed  took  his  departure,  remarking 
that  a  demonstration  had  been  arranged  to  take  place  in  New 
York  within  four  or  live  days,  the  proceedings  of  which  would 
be  formally  communicated  to  General  Grant  by  Thomas  Mur 
phy,  who  was  to  be  chairman. 

Three  or  four  days  afterwards  occurred  the  first  demonstra 
tion  in  favor  of  General  Grant's  nomination  for  the  presidency. 
Among  those  who  took  part  were  Thomas  L.  James,  Pierre  C. 
Van  Wyck,  Isaac  Dayton,  Sheridan  Shook,  Owen  W.  Brennan, 
John  A.  Kennedy,  James  Kelly,  Robert  Murray,  William  A. 
Darling,  William  Allen,  James  B.  and  Joseph  Taylor,  David 
Miller,  Hugh  Gardner,  John  V.  Gridley,  John  P.  Cummings, 
Thomas  C.  Acton,  Abram  Wakeman,  Samuel  P.  Russell,  Lewis 
Lounsbery,  Gideon  J.  Tucker,  Ransom  Van  Valkenburg,  John 
J.  Shaw,  John  J.  Silcocks,  Horatio  N.  Sherwood,  George  M. 
Van  Nort,  James  Bowen,  W.  R.  Stewart,  John  Keyser,  George 
H.  Sheldon,  E.  Delafield  Smith,  Andrew  Bleakley,  Harry  Ilue- 
lat,  James  E.  Coulter,  and  Nathan  Hall.  Had  these  gentlemen 
been  less  prompt,  General  Grant  would  have  been  nominated 
and  elected  by  the  Democrats. 

"  I  learned  that  Peter  C  agger,  Dean  Richmond,  and  others, 
successors  of  the  old  Albany  Regency,  were  quietly  preparing 
the  way  for  General  Grant's  nomination,"  writes  Mr.  Weed, 
"  and  remembering  that  in  1828  Tammany  Hall  took  the  wind 
out  of  the  sails  of  the  Clintonian  party  by  making  General 
Jackson,  an  active  Clintonian,  its  candidate,  I  determined  that 
the  adversary  should  not  steal  our  thunder  a  second  time." 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

1868-1882. 

THE  NATIONAL  CANVASS  OF  1868. —  MR.  WEED'S  HEALTH  FAILS.— 
HE  GIVES  UP  SMOKING.  —  MR.  SEWARD  TO  MR.  WEED.  —  A  VISIT  TO 
EUROPE.  —  GOING  TO  AIKEN.  —  POLITICAL  GOSSIP.  —  LETTERS  OF  GOV 
ERNOR  MORGAN  AND  MR.  BLATCHFORD.  —  RECONCILIATION  BETWEEN 
Two  OLD  FRIENDS.  —  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 

WHEN  it  was  apparent  that  the  Republican  presidential  nom 
ination  would  fall  to  General  Grant,  it  was  natural  to  expect 
that,  the  first  place  on  the  ticket  going  to  Illinois,  the  second 
might  be  secured  by  New  York.  Friends  of  the  Governor  in 
timated,  early  in  1868,  that  the  state  convention  ought  to  in 
struct  for  Grant  and  Fenton.  So  far  as  the  plan  related  to 
General  Grant,  Mr.  Weed  favored  it,  but  he  urged  that  for  Vice- 
President,  James  G.  Elaine,  Schuyler  Colfax,  Henry  Wilson, 
George  F.  Edmunds,  or  Galusha  A.  Grow  should  be  nominated. 
When  Mr.  Fenton' s  friends  called  a  convention  to  meet  at  Syr 
acuse,  on  the  5th  of  February,  1868,  the  movement  was  de 
nounced  by  Mr.  Weed  as  "  representing  nothing  except  the 
management  under  which  the  party  was  buried  last  fall  by 
50,000  majority."  On  the  20th  of  May  the  Republican  national 
convention  nominated  General  Grant  and  Mr.  Colfax.  On  the 
4th  of  July  the  Democrats  nominated  Governor  Seymour  and 
F.  P.  Blair.  In  the  fall,  New  York,  Oregon,  and  New  Jersey 
stood  alone  at  the  North  in  choosing  Democratic  electors. 

Into  the  early  work  of  the  campaign  Mr.  Weed  entered  vig 
orously  ;  but  the  strain  of  the  contest,  together  with  his  resumed 
journalistic  activity,  and  the  superadded  excitement  of  the  pres 
idential  impeachment  trial,  to  which  he  was  summoned  as  a  wit 
ness,  soon  compelled  him  to  seek  temporary  relaxation.  His 
physician  advised  a  trip  to  Saratoga,  whither  he  went,  with  his 
daughter  Harriet,  the  first  week  in  June.  He  was  sitting  on 
the  piazza  of  his  favorite  hotel  one  afternoon,  when  he  rose 
to  greet  Dr.  Freeman,  of  Saratoga,  an  old  friend,  whom  he  saw 
approaching.  * 


460  MEMOIR.  [1867. 

"  All,"  said  the  physician,  when  some  reference  had  been  made 
to  the  reason  of  Mr.  Weed's  visit,  "  I  see  the  time  has  come 
when  that  luxury  must  be  foregone."  As  he  spoke  he  pointed 
to  the  half-consumed  cigar  which  was  burning  in  Mr.  Weed's 
hand. 

"  Do  you  mean  it  ?  "  asked  Mr.  Weed. 

"  I  do." 

"  Then  that  is  the  end  !  " 

As  Mr.  Weed  spoke  he  threw  the  cigar  away,  and,  though  he 
had  been  an  incessant  smoker  for  more  than  fifty  years,  never 
touched  tobacco  again. 

It  was  thoroughly  characteristic  of  the  man,  —  the  way  in 
which  this  habit  was  overcome.  He  was  not  only  inflexible 
when  his  mind  was  made  up,  but  he  decided  questions  one  way 
or  another  in  less  time  than  most  men  would  require  for  state 
ment  and  explanation. 

For  nearly  a  year  before  this  incident  occurred  his  health  had 
been  very  poor. 

[MR.    SEWARD    TO    MR.    WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  July  22,  1867. 

DEAR  WEED,  —  During  my  long  season  of  impaired  vigor,  any  in 
quiry  or  even  expression  of  sympathy  from  near  friends  depressed  me 
more  than  a  relapse.  Supposing  it  may  be  so  with  you,  I  have  re 
sisted  the  impulse  to  inquire  what  reports  about  you  from  Saratoga 
and  New  York  mean.  1  should  go  to  New  York  to  see,  if  I  could 
without  losing  as  much  strength  as  I  can  hope  to  gain  by  going  to  Au 
burn  for  the  short  visit  allowed  to  me.  If  it  would  not  be  a  privation 
and  trouble  to  you,  I  could  most  earnestly  wish  that  you  and  Harriet 
would  come  out  to  Auburn,  and  get  there  the  rest  which  you  will  not 
take  anywhere  else.  .  .  .  I  have  your  letter  of  yesterday,  and  am 
glad  to  hear  that  Harriet  is  better.  I  begin  to  be  nervous,  and  take 
alarm  at  any  sickness  of  relative  or  friend. 

Faithfully  yours,  WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD. 

On  his  return  to  New  York,  with  health  unimproved,  Mr. 
Weed  was  advised  to  take  a  trip  abroad.  He  would  not  heed 
the  suggestion,  however,  until  he  had  been  prostrated  by  a  sun 
stroke,  on  the  26th  of  June.  He  then  took  passage  on  the 
Cimbria,  and  sailed  for  Liverpool  on  the  7th  of  July.  But  to 
a  man  of  his  temperament  Europe  was  now  not  so  much  a  relief 
as  an  aggravation.  Unable  to  bear  the  fatigue,  uncertainty, 


I860.]  A    MILDER   CLIMATE   PRESCRIBED.  461 

and  deprivations  incident  to  travel,  he  said,  "  I  shall  be  better 
off  in  my  own  house,"  and  with  that  conviction  went  back  to 
New  York.  Then,  on  the  plea  that  winter  was  at  hand,  though 
really  to  get  him  away  from  politics  and  office-seekers,  physi 
cians  prescribed  a  milder  climate.  Accordingly,  in  January,  18G9, 
he  went  to  Aiken,  South  Carolina,  where,  under  his  daughter's 
devoted  ministrations,  and  in  the  congenial  companionship  of 
Thomas  C.  Acton,  Hugh  Maxwell,  and  other  friends,  he  soon 
began  to  regain  vitality.  But  it  was  plain  that  he  had  attempted 
too  much  in  renewing  editorial  connections,  and  permanent  with 
drawal  from  active  journalism  followed  immediately  after  his 
return  to  New  York. 

[GOVERNOR  MORGAN  TO  MR.  WEED.] 
411  FIFTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK,  SUNDAY;  October  25,  1868. 

DEAR  MR.  WEED,  — I  resolved  this  morning  that  nothing  should 
prevent  me  from  writing  to  you  to-day.  Political  affairs,  as  you  can 
very  well  understand,  are  occupying  much  of  my  attention.  Before 
this  letter  reaches  London  you  will  have  heard  through  the  cable  the 
result  of  our  presidential  contest.  I  do  not  doubt  but  that  your  own 
mind  is  made  up  as  to  what  that  result  will  be.  There  is  scarcely  a 
question  of  Grant's  election.  There  is,  however,  doubt  in  most  minds 
as  to  this  State.  If  frauds  in  this  and  other  cities  are  not  too  great, 
we  shall  triumph  even  here.  Griswold  will  not  get  as  many  votes  as 
Grant  by  five  or  six  thousand ;  but  if  we  do  as  well  as  we  expect,  we 
shall  elect  Griswold.  I  certainly  hope  we  shall,  for  he  is  an  honora 
ble  fellow,  and  don't  know  how  to  do  a  mean  thing. 

There  will  be  a  sharp  contest  for  members  of  Assembly,  but  I  think 
the  Republicans  will  have  the  next  Assembly,  and  that  a  majority 
thereof  will  be  friendly  to  my  reelection.  In  this  city  it  is  doubtful 
if  we  elect  any,  and  they  will  be  doubtful  if  we  do.  In  Brooklyn  we 
may  elect  two  or  three.  They  are  all  my  friends.  .  .  . 

I  was  glad  to  hear  by  the  latest  accounts  that  your  health  was  im 
proving.  I  hope  it  will  continue  to  improve,  and  that  it  will  be  effect 
ually  restored  by  your  trip. 

Truly  your  friend,  E.  D.  MORGAN. 

[MR.    BLATCHFORD    TO    MR.    WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  February  23,  1869. 

MY  DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  I  was  truly  glad  to  get  Harriet's  satis 
factory  letter  of  the  15th,  and  to  learn  that  you  are  really  better  and 
building  up.  God  grant  that  the  next  letter  may  confirm  it  all  I 


462  MEMOIR. 


[1869. 


I  came  here  yesterday  at  Governor  SewarcTs  request.  He  is  very 
well ;  will  stay  to  the  inauguration ;  then  goes  to  Auburn  to  begin 
preparations  for  his  long  tour.  All  the  talk  here  is  still  about  the 
Cabinet.  Fessenden  may  be  offered  the  State  Department.  Pierre- 
pont  expects  to  be  Attorney-General.  Evarts  says  his  chances  are 
fair,  as  Stanton  especially  asks  the  appointment  from  Grant,  wanting 
nothing  himself.  Seward  says  Dix  is  coming  home  from  France  at 
once.  Everybody  assigns  Fish  to  that  place.  I  never  saw  Seward 
more  happy  than  he  is  now,  —  so  different  (without  his  stilts)  from 
what  he  has  been  the  last  ten  years. 

It  must  seem  somewhat  like  home  to  you,  having  Andrews  and  Max 
well  with  you;  but  take  care  of  your  head,  and  commit  no  indiscre 
tions,  and  you  will  surely  get  well.  What  joy  would  such  a  result 
give  your  troops  of  friends.  Morgan  loses  his  election  because,  you 
being  sick,  his  backbone  was  missing.  .  .  . 

Ever  affectionately  your  friend,  R.  M.  BLATCHFORD. 

An  interesting  incident  of  the  summer  of  1869  was  described 
in  that  year  by  the  newspapers. 

It  will  afford  the  friends  of  both  distinguished  gentlemen  infinite 
pleasure  [said  the  New  York  "  Times  "]  to  learn  that  the  long  personal 
estrangement  between  ex-President  Fillmore  and  Mr.  Thurlow  Weed 
was  brought  to  a  happy  close  a  few  days  ago  at  Saratoga,  by  a  meet 
ing  of  reconciliation  so  magnanimous,  creditable,  and  characteristic  on 
both  sides,  that  we  trust  we  violate  no  private  confidence  in  stating  the 
facts.  Mr.  Fillmore  made  the  first  advance  by  intimating  to  Miss 
Weed,  on  the  occasion  of  an  accidental  meeting  at  the  dinner-table  of 
the  hotel,  that  if  he  were  sure  it  would  be  agreeable  to  her  father  he 
would  call  upon  him  at  his  rooms.  On  hearing  this,  Mr.  Weed  imme 
diately  sought  the  rooms  of  Mr.  Fillmore,  where,  with  scarcely  a  mo 
mentary  reference  to  bygones,  personal  or  political,  hearty  good  neigh 
borhood  and  kindly  understanding  were  restored,  and  these  great 
co-workers  in  the  old  Whig  vineyard,  both  grown  gray  in  the  service, 
are  again  friends,  after  an  estrangement  of  nearly  twenty  years. 

Of  the  various  questions  which  came  under  review  while  Mr. 
Weed  was  editing  the  "  Commercial  Advertiser,"  none  has  oc 
cupied  so  large  a  share  of  public  attention  as  that  first  definitely 
brought  before  the  country  in  1867  by  Mr.  Jenckes,  of  Rhode 
Island,  the  "  father  of  civil  service  reform."  Mr.  Jenckes,  then 
a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  introduced  a  bill 
proposing  changes  in  our  method  of  making  government  ap- 


1869.]  THE  JENCKES  SYSTEM  CRITICISED.  463 

pointments.  The  President  was  deprived,  to  a  large  degree, 
of  the  power  of  selection,  which  was  conferred  upon  "  boards 
of  examiners."  In  short,  Mr.  Jcnckes  began  a  movement  to 
model  the  civil  service  of  the  United  States,  in  a  general  way, 
upon  that  of  England. 

Mr.  Weed  was  not  a  believer  in  the  system  advocated  by  Mr. 
Jenckes.  "  These  theories,"  he  wrote,  "  ignore  the  principle 
that  in  a  republican  form  of  government,  all  the  offices  of  the 
government  should  be  within  the  reach  of  all  its  citizens."  lie 
opposed  "  competitive  examinations  "  as  tending  to  create  a  privi 
leged  office-holding  class,  not  privileged  by  reason  of  merit,  but 
because  of  dexterity  in  answering  irrelevant  problems.  "  Such 
examinations,"  he  used  to  say,  "  close  the  avenues  of  advance 
ment  against  ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred  electors." 

"  Civil  service  reform,"  he  wrote,1  "  first  came  into  prominence 
as  a  political  issue  during  the  first  administration  of  General 
Grant.  One  of  its  chief  apostles  headed  a  commission  to  work 
out  this  modern  miracle.  There  was  a  good  deal  said,  but  noth 
ing  done.  President  Hayes  in  his  letter  of  acceptance  and  in 
his  message  avowed  himself  an  ardent  civil  service  reformer. 
In  a  pleasant  conversation  with  him,  I  ventured  to  assure  him 
that  he  would  not  only  find  the  civil  service  reform  theory  im 
practicable,  but  that  he  would  himself  violate  it  in  the  very  first 
appointment  he  would  make.  I  then  added  in  explanation  that 
if  this  new  idea  was  sound,  it  would  apply  with  emphasis  to  the 
diplomatic  service  ;  that  Mr.  Washburne  in  his  eight  years' 
residence  abroad  discharging  important  duties  with  eminent  suc 
cess  had  acquired  information  and  experience  which  could  not 
fail  in  the  future  to  render  his  continued  residence  abroad  im 
portant  to  his  country.  And  yet,  in  disregard  of  these  consid 
erations,  Washburne  would  be  recalled  for  the  purpose  of  giv 
ing  the  place  to  a  personal  and  political  friend  as  a  reward  for 
effective  services  rendered  in  the  then  recent  presidential  can 
vass.  Mr.  Washburne's  recall  and  Governor  Noyes's  appoint 
ment  confirmed  this  anticipation.  While,  however,  civil  ser 
vice  was  thus  stultified,  Governor  Noyes's  appointment  was  in 
all  respects  a  proper  and  creditable  one.  The  next  and  most 
brilliant  achievement  in  favor  of  civil  service  reform,  under  the 

1  Extracts  from  several  of  his  articles  on  this  subject,  written  at  detached 
intervals,  are  here  quoted. 


464  MEMOIR.  [1869. 

Hayes  administration,  was  conceived  and  executed  in  the  belief 
that  a  political  regeneration  could  be  effected  in  this  State. 
Mr.  Cornell,  the  Naval  Officer  of  this  port,  was  asked  to  resign 
the  chairmanship  of  the  Kepublican  state  committee,  the  hold 
ing  of  which  brought  him  into  conflict  with  the  much-needed  re 
form  of  the  civil  service.  General  Arthur,  the  Collector,  was 
not  supposed  to  be  in  sympathy  with  the  civil  service  reform 
policy  of  the  administration.  Mr.  Cornell  offered  to  withdraw 
from  the  state  committee  as  soon  as  the  meeting  of  the  state 
convention  afforded  him  an  opportunity  to  resign.  This,  how 
ever,  did  not  satisfy  the  requirements  of  civil  service  reform. 
When  the  Secretary  of  State  came  to  New  York  for  the  purpose ' 
of  selecting  successors  to  the  Collector  and  Naval  Officer,  in 
two  interviews  with  that  gentleman  I  endeavored  to  show  that 
the  reasons  for  such  removals  were  insufficient  and  would  be  so 
regarded,  concluding  my  last  conversation  with  the  prediction 
that  one  of  these  victims  of  civil  service  reform  would  be  elected 
Governor  of  the  State  and  the  other  United  States  Senator. 
Mr.  Cornell  was  elected  Governor,  and  General  Arthur  would 
have  been  chosen  United  States  Senator  if  he  had  not  been 
nominated  for  Vice-President.  Again,  the  resignation  of  Mr. 
Dutcher  as  General  Appraiser  left  that  office  vacant.  Here 
was  an  opportunity,  by  the  promotion  of  a  subordinate  appraiser 
of  capacity  and  experience,  of  carrying  out  civil  service  reform 
principles.  But  instead  of  doing  that,  President  Hayes  again 
confounded  his  precept  by  his  example  in  transplanting  Mr. 
Howard  from  Ohio  to  New  York.  The  latter  gentleman's  fitness 
for  the  duties  of  General  Appraiser  consisted  in  his  having  been 
a  newspaper  correspondent  and  the  author  of  a  Campaign  Life 
of  Rutherford  B.  Hayes,  the  Republican  candidate  for  Pres 
ident. 

"  The  demand  made  by  civil  service  reformers  for  life  tenures 
in  office  conflicts  with  vital  principles  of  our  form  of  govern 
ment.  Pending  the  adoption  of  the  United  States  Constitu 
tion,  considerations  and  arguments  relating  to  this  question,  in 
favor  of  limited  tenures  for  executive  and  congressional  offices, 
were  so  cogent  and  clear  that  nothing  was  left  for  the  advocates 
of  life,  or  even  long,  tenures  to  stand  on.  It  was  then  urged 
that  all  power  resides  in  the  people  ;  that  the  stability  of  the 
government  and  the  responsibility  of  representatives  depends 


1869.]  GOVERNOR   MARCTS  MAXIM.  465 

upon  frequent  elections.  So  much  has  been  written  and  said  in 
denunciation  of  the  '  spoils '  system,  that  few  men  are  bold 
enough  to  attempt  a  defense  of  what,  when  properly  understood, 
is  entirely  defensible.  With  Governor  Marcy's  explanation, 
fair-minded  men  will  admit  that  the  '  spoils '  about  which  par 
ties  contend  belong  justly  to  the  'victors.'  In  a  canvass  for 
state  officers  are  not  the  '  spoils '  awarded  to  the  '  victors '  ? 
When  an  election  is  decided  in  favor  of  Republican  candidates 
for  Governor,  Lieutenant-Governor,  Secretary  of  State,  Comp 
troller,  Treasurer,  State  Engineer,  etc.,  do  not  these  gentlemen 
step  into  the  offices  occupied  by  Democrats  ?  And  in  these 
cases  are  not  the  '  victors '  rewarded  with  the  '  spoils  ? '  If  this 
point  be  conceded,  as  it  must  be,  why  should  candidates  for 
subordinate  offices  in  the  same  departments  be  refused  their 
share  of  the  rewards  of  victory  ?  '  Rotation  in  office '  was 
formerly  a  doctrine  avowed  and  acquiesced  in  by  both  parties. 
In  earlier  days  the  first  political  lesson  impressed  upon  the 
youthful  mind  was  that  every  American  elector  is  eligible  and 
may  aspire  to  all  the  offices  of  honor  and  profit  under  the  gov 
ernment.  The  elector,  therefore,  who  aspires  to  a  subordinate 
office,  as  a  reward  for  political  service,  is  as  well  entitled  to 
his  place  as  those  who  seek  the  higher  positions.  No  man 
since  the  organization  of  the  government  ever  reached  the 
presidency  except  as  a  reward  for  his  military  or  political  ser 
vices.  And  all  this  is  just  at  it  should  be.  No  party  has  ever 
made  indiscriminate  removals  from  office.  Men  found  to  be 
exceptionally  well  qualified  for  the  discharge  of  clerical  or  other 
duties  are  seldom  removed.  A  careful  examination  in  the  vari 
ous  departments  of  the  national  and  of  our  state  government 
will  fully  vindicate  this  assertion.  Take,  for  example,  Mr. 
Hunter,  Chief  Clerk  in  the  State  Department  at  Washington, 
who  has  held  his  position  half  a  century.  Mr.  Forester,  who 
was  appointed  to  a  clerkship  in  our  Post  Office  by  Samuel  L. 
Gouverneur  in  1824,  instead  of  being  victimized  by  the  'spoils' 
system  has  been  from  time  to  time  promoted,  and  is  still  doing 
good  service,  having  been  in  the  Post  Office  fifty-six  years. 
Lambert  Tree,  who  recently  resigned  on  account  of  age  and  its 
infirmities,  had  been  in  the  postal  service  at  Washington  almost 
half  a  century.  The  late  Charles  P.  Clinch  was  Deputy  Col 
lector  for  forty  years,  and,  though  always  a  Democrat,  served 

30 


466  MEMOIR.  [1869. 

through  every  Whig  administration,  and  until,  at  the  earnest 
request  of  his  sister,  Mrs.  A.  T.  Stewart,  he  was  induced  to  re 
sign.  Archibald  Campbell,  the  Deputy  Secretary  of  State,  and 
Philip  Phelps,  the  Deputy  Comptroller,  both  held  offices,  always 
voting  the  Democratic  ticket,  through  every  Whig  and  Repub 
lican  administration,  dying  finally  in  their  harness.  There  are 
numbers  of  Whig  and  Democratic  clerks  in  the  New  York  Cus 
tom  House  and  Post  Office,  who  have  been  left  undisturbed 
through  half  a  dozen  administrations. 

"  Nor  is  the  claim  that  subordinate  offices  are  filled  better  by 
competitive  examinations  well  founded.  Two  thirds  of  all  the 
'competitive'  questions  asked  maybe  answered  without  bear 
ing  in  the  slightest  degree  upon  the  candidate's  fitness  for  the 
duties  he  is  called  to  discharge ;  and,  what  is  worse,  after  the 
conundrums  have  been  answered,  they  furnish  no  guarantee  for 
industry,  fidelity,  or  honesty.  Your  sharp-witted  fellow  often 
lacks  the  better  elements  of  character.  Under  none  of  the 
'competitive  examinations'  held  at  the  Custom  House  or  Post 
Office  during  the  last  two  or  three  years  would  Commodore 
Vanderbilt,  Dean  Richmond,  or  George  Law  have  been  found 
qualified  to  discharge  the  duties  of  a  custom  house  night-watch 
man  or  a  post  office  letter-carrier.  And  yet  those  three  gentle 
men  were  confessedly  among  our  most  intelligent,  enterprising, 
and  successful  business  men.  .  .  . 

"  If  this  theory  be  really  useful,  why  is  it  limited  to  subor 
dinate  federal  appointments  ?  If  letter-carriers  and  tide-wait 
ers  are  required  to  be  experts  in  grammar,  history,  geography, 
arithmetic,  etc.,  is  it  not  still  more  important  that  the  same  test 
should  be  applied  to  the  heads  of  federal  bureaus  ?  And  above 
all,  if  there  be  any  sense  or  reason  in  these  competitive  examina 
tions,  should  they  not  be  applied  to  candidates  for  diplomatic 
appointments  ?  And  yet  Presidents  Grant,  Hayes,  and  Arthur 
made  and  make  all  their  diplomatic  appointments  in  utter  dis 
regard  of  their  civil  service  reform  professions.  .  .  .  The  ques 
tions  which  applicants  for  custom  house  and  post  office  appoint 
ments  are  required  to  answer  ought  to  be  sufficient  to  excite 
general  contempt  for  '  competitive  examinations.'  Here  are  a 
few  specimens  :  — 

Express  in  figures  the  following  amounts  : 
Thirty  millions,  three  hundred  and  thirty-one. 


1869.]  COMPETITIVE  EXAMINATIONS.  467 

Forty-one  billions,  two  millions  and  five. 

Express  in  words  the  following-  figures  :  3000600 ;  200002000002. 

What  is  the  total  quantity  of  molasses  in  4  casks  containing  respec 
tively,  55  1-7,  31  3-20,  27  2-15,  and  49  9-17  gallons  ? 

If  I  own  f  of  12-15  of  a  ship,  and  sell  15-20  of  my  share,  how  much 
of  the  whole  vessel  will  I  have  left  ? 

A  grocer  having  a  capital  of  $10,000  invested  1-5  of  it  in  tea  at 
9-16  of  a  dollar  per  pound,  5-20  of  the  remainder  in  coffee  at  1-3  of 
a  dollar  per  pound,  and  8-25  of  the  rest  in  sugar  at  5  3-16  cents  per 
pound,  what  quantity  of  each  did  he  buy,  and  how  much  money  had 
he  left  ? 

In  a  mass  of  alloy,  weighing  291.42680  pounds,  was  found  40.0921 
pounds  of  silver,  160.09690  pounds  of  copper,  22.002  pounds  of  iron, 
and  .426900  pounds  of  zinc.  The  remainder  was  lead.  What  was 
the  weight  of  the  lead  ? 

A  merchant  bought  30  pieces  of  cloth,  each  containing  41.5  yards, 
for  $3.875  per  yard,  and  25  pieces  of  36.8  yards  each  for  $4.125  per 
yard.  He  sold  the  entire  lot  for  $3.96  per  yard.  How  much  did  he 
gain  or  lose  ? 

An  importer  received  a  box  of  chemicals  weighing  122.49  French 
grammes,  each  gramme  containing  15.432  English  grains,  on  which  he 
paid  a  duty  of  .05  of  a  dollar  per  grain.  What  was  the  amount  of 
duty  ? 

A  merchant  bought  6-8  of  4-6  of  a  cargo  and  sold  2-9  of  his  share. 
What  part  of  the  whole  cargo  did  he  sell,  expressed  in  decimals  ? 

A  and  B  formed  a  copartnership.  A's  original  capital  was  to  B's 
as  5  is  to  7.  A  withdrew  §  of  his  capital  and  B  -|  of  his.  Their 
profits  were  $5,650.  How  should  it  be  divided  on  the  basis  of  the  re 
duced  capital  ? 

A  goldsmith  melts  together  12  ounces  of  gold  22  carats  fine,  60 
ounces  20  carats  fine,  and  24  ounces  14  carats  fine.  He  sold  it  at  the 
rate  of  $15  per  ounce  of  pure  gold  (24  carats  fine).  What  was  its 
fineness,  and  what  was  the  amount  received  ? 

A  vessel  loaded  with  coffee  lost  20  per  cent,  of  her  cargo  and  landed 
only  2,000  bags.  How  many  had  she  at  first  ? 

An  inspector  discharged  a  cargo  of  salt  in  tubs  containing  5  bushels 
each.  The  cargo  weighed  112  t.,  2  cwt,  1  qur.,  10  Ibs.  (ton  2.000 
Ibs.).  The  bushel  weighs  80  pounds.  Plow  many  times  were  the  tubs 
filled  ? 

A  man  bought  3  hogsheads  of  molasses  for  $94.60,  and  found  that 
one  third  the  contents  had  leaked  out.  At  what  price  per  gallon  must 
he  sell  the  remainder  to  secure  a  profit  of  $9.35  on  the  original  pur 
chase  ? 


468  MEMOIR.  [1869. 

"  This  will  suffice,  —  conundrums  like  these  are  multiplied 
to  a  hundred,  to  which  candidates  for  day  and  night  custom 
house  inspectorships,  like  schoolboys,  are  required  to  furnish 
answers.  Not  one  out  of  every  ten  of  these  questions  has  the 
remotest  practical  application  to  the  duties  of  a  subordinate 
custom  house  officer.  Nor  could  more  than  one  out  of  ten  of 
these  questions  be  answered  by  hundreds  of  our  most  enterpris 
ing,  useful,  and  respected  citizens. 

"  If  Presidents  Jackson,  Taylor,  and  Lincoln  had  been  sub 
jected  to  such  a  competitive  examination  they  would  have  been 
found  at  the  bottom  of  the  class,  while  Shipherd,  now  occupy 
ing  the  attention  of  the  congressional  committee  on  foreign  re 
lations,  and  Henry  Lee,  who  was  arrested  as  he  was  entering 
church  on  Sunday,  against  whom  a  large  number  of  complaints 
for  a  variety  of  adroit,  skillfully-arranged,  and  successfully-per 
petrated  frauds  and  swindles  have  been  accumulated  at  Police 
Headquarters,  would  have  stood  at  the  head.  .  .  . 

"  It  is  claimed  that  by  the  civil  service  reform  process,  ap 
pointments  are  made  upon  4  business  principles.'  Did  N.  T. 
&  G.  Griswold,  Robert  Lennox,  Charles  H.  Russell,  Grinnell 
&  Minturn,  Jonathan  Sturgis,  Samuel  Willet,  Moses  Taylor, 
Aymar  &  Co.,  A.  A.  Low,  Borman  &  Johnston,  Spofford  & 
Tileston,  A.  T.  Stewart,  and  other  old,  enterprising,  and  suc 
cessful  New  York  merchants,  subject  applicants  for  clerkships 
to  'competitive  examinations'?  Or  do  E.  D.  Morgan  &  Co., 
R.  H.  Macy,  Arnold  &  Constable,  Park  &  Tilford,  Altman, 
Lord  &  Taylor,  Stern,  Lake  &  McCreery,  and  other  eminent 
merchants,  employ  as  clerks  applicants  whose  fitness  has  been 
determined  by  their  answers  to  a  hundred  idle  and  preposterous 
questions  ?  Are  bank  clerks,  whose  duties  and  responsibilities 
are  in  the  highest  degree  important,  accepted  because  they  have 
shown  themselves  experts  in  answering  schoolboy  questions  ? 

"  I  have  not  yet  seen,  in  all  that  has  been  written  on  this 
subject,  any  reference  to  the  real  difficulties  which  occasion  se 
rious  embarrassment  in  the  appointment  of  subordinate  public 
servants.  That  difficulty,  simple  and  apparent  as  it  is,  has 
been  entirely  overlooked.  It  has  its  origin  in  our  universally 
demoralized  domestic  education.  Fifty  years  ago,  as  a  rule  al 
most  without  exception,  our  youth  learned  from  their  parents 
or  guardians  that  their  future  welfare  and  happiness  depended 


1869.]  THE   GOSPEL    OF  LABOR.  469 

largely  upon  themselves ;  that  if  they  grew  up  industrious  and 
honest,  they  would  become  useful,  respected,  and  independent. 
Parents  prepared  their  sons  for  occupations  to  which  their 
tastes,  habits,  and  inclinations  pointed.  The  various  industries 
of  the  country  furnished  occupations  for  all ;  the  largest  number 
became  either  mechanics  or  farmers.  In  our  commercial  cities 
thousands  became  sailors ;  some  were  educated  for  clerks ;  while 
others,  giving  promise  of  usefulness  if  not  eminence,  were  sent 
to  college,  to  become  lawyers,  physicians,  or  clergymen. 

"  Now,  apprenticeships  are  things  of  the  past.  Who  now 
knows  or  hears  anything  about  indented  apprentices  ?  Whose 
sons  now  learn  trades ;  work  first  as  journeymen,  become 
wealthy  as  master  mechanics,  and  then  rise  to  representative 
and  executive  honors  and  responsibilities  ?  Sixty-eight  years 
ago  the  then  village  of  Utica  was  distinguished  for  the  number, 
intelligence,  industry,  social  and  moral  worth  of  its  industrial 
classes.  The  tailor,  the  shoemaker,  the  cabinet-maker,  the  hat 
ter,  the  builder,  etc.,  were  recognized  as  equals  of  the  mer 
chants  and  professional  men.  Nobody  was  ashamed  to  work, 
and  consequently  everybody  prospered.  To  such  influences 
Utica  was  indebted  for  an  impulse,  the  effects  of  which  proved 
equally  auspicious  and  enduring.  Very  recently  there  died  a 
venerable  and  eminent  citizen  of  Utica,  distinguished  not  more 
for  his  industry,  enterprise,  and  integrity,  by  means  of  which 
he  acquired  wealth,  than  for  the  discriminating  judgment  and 
the  benevolence  of  heart  with  which  that  wealth  was  devoted  to 
educational,  charitable,  and  religious  objects.  Theodore  S. 
Faxton,  the  subject  of  this  tribute,  commenced  life  in  Utica 
seventy  years  ago  as  a  stage  driver.  Though  the  president  of 
a  bank,  a  director  in  many  important  business  companies,  a  pio 
neer  in  express,  railway,  and  gas  enterprises,  and  Mayor  of  the 
city  of  Utica,  he  would,  if  subjected  to  a  '  competitive  examina 
tion,'  have  failed  to  obtain  an  appointment  as  letter-carrier. 

"  Civil  service  reform  will  prove  wholly  ineffectual  until 
salutary  reforms  shall  have  been  effected  in  the  domestic  educa 
tion  of  rising  generations.  Until  young  men  grow  up  with  the 
knowledge  that  their  success  in  life  depends  upon  their  be 
coming  identified  with  some  of  the  various  industries  of  the 
country,  government  departments  will  be  besieged  by  impor 
tunate  office-seekers.  In  a  country  developing  as  rapidly  as 


470  MEMOIR.  [1869. 

ours,  there  is  employment  for  all  who  are  willing  to  work.  In 
the  beginning,  however,  if  need  be,  we  must  work  hard  for  small 
pay.  Those  who  are  diligent  and  trustworthy,  beginning  at  the 
lowest,  rise  to  the  topmost  round  of  the  ladder.  Examples  are 
alike  numerous  and  distinguished.  Benjamin  Franklin  was  a 
journeyman  printer,  working  at  his  trade  first  in  Boston,  then 
in  Philadelphia,  and  finally  in  London.  Roger  Sherman,  signer 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  was  a  shoemaker.  Henry 
Wilson,  United  States  Senator  and  Vice-President,  served  his 
time  as  a  shoemaker's  apprentice,  and  worked  several  years  as 
a  journeyman  shoemaker.  Abraham  Lincoln  worked  on  a  farm 
and  was  a  deck-hand  on  a  Mississippi  flat-boat.  Joseph  Henry, 
the  distinguished  scientist  and  head  of  the  Smithsonian  Institu 
tion,  was  a  silversmith's  apprentice  at  Albany.  Andrew  John 
son,  a  member  of  both  Houses  of  Congress,  Vice-President  and 
President  of  the  United  States,  was  a  tailor.  Millard  Fillmore, 
member  of  the  legislature,  Comptroller  of  the  State,  member 
of  Congress,  Vice-President  and  President  of  the  United  States 
was  an  apprentice  in  a  Cayuga  County  fulling  mill.  Obediah 
German,  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Assembly  and  United  States 
Senator,  was  a  Chenango  County  farmer.  George  W.  Patterson, 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Assembly,  member  of  Congress,  and 
Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  State,  was  a  farmer  and  fanning- 
mill  maker.  John  Taylor,  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  State, 
president  of  the  State  Bank,  and  for  many  years  a  wealthy 
and  influential  citizen,  commenced  life  as  a  day-laboring  street- 
paver  in  Albany.  Azariah  C.  Flagg,  an  influential  member  of 
our  legislature,  State  Comptroller  and  Comptroller  of  the  city 
of  New  York,  was  a  printer.  Among  the  best  mayors  of  our 
city  were  Stephen  Allen,  a  sail-maker  ;  Gideon  Lee,  a  tanner  ; 
James  Harper,  a  printer  ;  William  F.  Havemeyer,  a  sugar  re 
finer.  Jacob  Westervelt  was  a  ship  carpenter.  George  Pea- 
body,  who  gave  half  a  million  of  dollars  to  the  poor  of  London, 
and  a  million  for  educational  purposes  in  his  own  country,  was 
a  New-England  workingman.  An  equally  illustrious  example 
will  be  found  in  the  business  history  and  enlightened  philan 
thropy  of  the  venerable  Peter  Cooper,  whose  remarkable  intel 
ligence  through  a  long  life  was  rewarded  with  a  fortune  which 
is  now  fitting  thousands  of  both  sexes  for  occupations  that 
will  render  their  lives  prosperous,  useful  and  happy.  Leland 


1869.]  TRUE  REFORM  AGENCIES.  471 

Stanford,  the  son  of  a  Watervliet  farmer,  and  some  twenty-five 
years  ago  one  of  my  Whig  4  boys,'  instead  of  seeking  office  at 
Albany  took  Mr.  Greeley's  advice  and  went  '  West,'  where  he 
embarked  in  useful  enterprises,  acquired  great  wealth,  and  was 
elected  Governor  of  California.  He  is  now  president  of  the 
Central  Pacific  Railroad,  and  one  of  the  best  known  and  most 
highly  esteemed  and  hospitable  citizens  of  that  State.  .  .  .  Thus 
munificently,  in  the  earlier  and  better  days  of  our  history,  were 
industry,  perseverance,  capacity,  and  integrity  rewarded.  Kin 
dred  rewards  await  those  who  imitate  these  examples.  And 
when  our  young  men,  stimulated  as  their  predecessors  were,  re 
solve  to  rely  under  Providence  upon  their  own  strong  arms, 
clear  heads,  and  honest  hearts  for  the  support  of  themselves  and 
their  families,  we  shall  all  experience  a  grateful  sense  of  relief 
from  the  importunities  of  office-seekers,  money-borrowers,  and 
street  beggars.  , 

"  Among  agencies  best  calculated  to  relieve  the  civil  service 
would  be  to  add  mechanical  training  as  a  feature  in  our  com 
mon  schools.  Among  those  now  seeking  in  vain  for  employment 
are  many  who  urge  their  knowledge  of  several  languages.  If 
instead  of  such  qualifications  our  boys  were  taught  mechan 
ical  trades,  they  would  have  no  difficulty  in  finding  employ 
ment.  .  .  . 

"  Theoretical  civil  service  reform  is  about  to  be  put  to  a  se 
vere  practical  test  in  our  neighboring  city.  The  Republicans 
of  Brooklyn,  after  an  earnest,  zealous,  and  well  organized  can 
vass,  elected  Mr.  Seth  Low,  their  candidate  for  Mayor.  Mr. 
Low  is  strongly  committed  in  a  recent  public  lecture  to  all  the 
theories  of  civil  service  reform.  The  Mayor-elect  has  a  lib 
eral  share  of  patronage.  The  question  which  he  will  be  called 
upon  to  decide  is,  whether  ardent,  influential,  capable,  and 
trustworthy  Republicans,  to  whose  efforts  he  is  indebted  for  his 
high  office,  will  receive  their  reward,  or  whether  they  are  to  be 
turned  over  in  common  with  a  horde  of  mercenaries  to  the  ca 
pricious  and  arbitrary  results  of  a  '  competitive  examination.' 
This  will  bring  things  to  a  square  issue.  If  competent  and  de 
serving  Republicans  receive  what  they  are  so  well  entitled  to, 
their  share  of  the  '  spoils,'  the  Republican  party  of  Brooklyn, 
strong  and  united,  will  be  prepared  to  enter  with  renewed  zeal 
and  confidence  into  another  canvass.  On  the  other  hand,  if 


472  MEMOIR.  [1869. 

Mayor  Low,  in  the  dispensation  of  his  patronage,  confers  ap 
pointments  upon  such  '  shysters  '  as  are  most  expert  in  answer 
ing  irrelevant,  impracticable,  and  absurd  questions,  his  triumph 
will  be  a  brief  and  barren  one,  while  the  Republicans  of  Brook 
lyn  in  the  next  campaign  will  be  as  cold,  indifferent,  and  heart 
less  as  the  leaders  by  whom  they  have  been  defrauded. 

"  Evils  complained  of  do  not  arise  so  much  from  the  present 
method  of  appointment,  as  from  the  constantly  increasing  num 
ber  of  applicants.  The  remedies  proposed  are  impracticable  and 
impossible  —  impossible  because  members  of  Congress  will  not 
vote  for  laws  which  would  inevitably  prevent  their  reelection. 
That  the  evil  exists  no  one  will  deny.  The  real  and  only 
remedy  will  be  found  in  largely  reducing  the  numbers  of  candi 
dates  for  subordinate  offices.  When  rising  generations  learn 
to  obey  that  '  higher  law '  which  teaches  us  that  bread  is  to  be 
earned  by  the  sweat  of  our  brow,  and  that  in  the  office-seeking 
lottery  there  are  nine  blanks  to  one  prize,  competitive  examina 
tions  will  not  be  in  request.  .  .  . 

"  Current  discussions  on  this  subject  are  much  more  successful 
in  describing  evils  than  in  suggesting  practical  remedies.  The 
strongest  point  made  is  in  contrasting  the  views  of  Representa 
tive  Garfield  on  this  subject  with  those  of  President  Garfield. 
The  Representative  demanded,  with  his  accustomed  earnestness, 
that  appointments  to  office  should  be  made  by  competitive  ex 
aminations,  and  that  tenures  should  be  '  during  good  behavior ; ' 
but  President  Garfield,  when  called  on  to  make  appointments,  not 
only  failed  to  reiterate  such  views,  but  acted  as  every  President 
with  a  just  sense  of  his  responsibility  to  his  party  and  friends 
must  and  will  act.  When  the  time  arrives  that  presidents  of 
the  United  States,  governors  -of  states,  mayors  of  cities,  and 
others,  confer  appointments  by  competitive  examinations  or 
otherwise,  without  inquiring  whether  the  recipients  are  political 
friends  or  foes,  the  people  will  lose  their  interest  in  elections, 
and  our  government  will  drift  into  a  monarchy.  We  ought 
to  profit  by  a  lesson  within  the  memory  of  all  which  the  fate 
of  a  sister  Republic  teaches.  Louis  Napoleon  was  elected 
President  for  a  limited  term ;  but  the  people  of  France  were 
beguiled  into  the  fatal  errors  of  first  making  him  President  for 
life,  and  then  he  made  himself  Emperor.  Our  State  was  never 
better  governed  than  during  the  forty  or  more  years  when  the 


1869.]  MR.    WEED  AS  A   REFORMER.  473 

Whig  and  Democratic  parties  were  so  equally  divided  that  the 
utmost  watchfulness  of  one  was  required  to  prevent  the  success 
of  the  other  in  every  annual  election.  The  party  in  power  was 
required  to  render  a  rigid  account  of  its  stewardship.  If  mis 
takes  in  administration  were  made,  or  if  laws  were  passed  hos 
tile  to  the  general  welfare,  the  opposition  availed  themselves  of 
their  vantage  ground  ;  the  result  being  a  change  of  rulers. 
During  the  forty  years  referred  to,  the  political  power  of  the 
State  changed  from  time  to  time  by  the  election  of  Yates, 
Van  Buren,  Throop,  Bouck,  Wright,  Marcy,  and  Seymour,  as 
Democratic  Governors;  and  of  Clinton,  Seward,  Fish,  Hunt, 
King,  Clark,  and  Morgan,  as  Whig  Governors.  As  often  as 
the  power  changed,  active  and  influential  friends,  by  whose 
efforts  the  state  officers  were  elected,  received  their  share  of 
the  '  spoils.'  Eemovals,  however,  were  neither  sweeping  nor  in 
discriminate,  and  instead  of  howls  for  civil  service  reform,  there 
was  a  general  acquiescence  in  the  fairness  and  propriety  of 
methods  now  denounced  so  vehemently.  .  .  . 

"Practically,  I  am  a  better  civil  service  reformer  than  Mr. 
George  William  Curtis,  or  any  of  his  followers,  as  my  record 
proves.  I  am  forced  to  make  this  statement  to  vindicate  my 
position.  Many  governors  and  several  presidents  voluntarily 
assigned  to  me  the  selection  of  large  numbers  of  public  officers 
of  every  degree.  I  always  chose  men  for  their  fitness,  and  have 
usually  been  able  to  find  them  within  the  ranks  of  those  who 
had  helped  my  party  to  power.  But  often  Democrats  have  been 
retained  because  they  seemed  to  be  expert  and  useful,  and  I 
have  kept  a  good  many  Democrats  in  office  during  the  last  forty 
years  because  of  their  exceptional  efficiency.  I  organized  and 
established,  through  governors  who  yielded  to  my  urgent  re 
quest,  the  first  non-partisan  commissions  ever  created  for  this 
city,  —  the  Police  Commission,  the  Commission  on  an  Exterior 
Water  Line  on  the  East  River,  the  Castle  Garden  Commission, 
and  several  others,  —  insisting  that  each  should  be  made  up  of 
an  equal  number  of  the  members  of  both  parties.  .  .  . 

"  If,  as  is  often  said,  men  are  to  be  judged  by  the  company 
they  keep,  it  may  be  added  that  a  politician  may  be  judged  by 
the  men  whom  he  elevates  to  high  official  station.  In  this 
connection  it  may  be  proper  to  remark  that  upon  the  '  slate,' 
of  which  so  much  was  said  during  the  many  years  that  I  en- 


474  MEMOIR.  [1869. 

joyed  the  confidence  of  the  Whig  and  Republican  parties,  the 
following  names  were  at  different  periods  inscribed :  Governors 
William  H.  Seward,  Hamilton  Fish,  Washington  Hunt,  John 
A.  King,  and  Edwin  D.  Morgan ;  Lieutenant-Governors  Brad- 
ish,  Fish,  Patterson,  Raymond,  and  Selden  ;  Secretaries  of  State 
John  C.  Spencer,  Christopher  Morgan,  E.  W.  Leavenworth,  and 
Horatio  Ballard ;  Comptrollers  Bates  Cook,  John  A.  Collier, 
Millard  Fillmore,  Washington  Hunt,  Philo  C.  Fuller,  James  M. 
Cook,  and  Robert  Denniston ;  Attorney-Generals  Willis  Hall, 
Ambrose  L,  Jordan,  Ogden  Hoffman,  and  Charles  G.  Myers  ; 
Treasurers  Jacob  Haight,  Alvah  Hunt,  James  M.  Cook,  Benja 
min  Welsh,  Jr.,  E.  G.  Spaulding,  and  George  W.  Sclmyler ; 
Canal  Commissioners  Samuel  B.  Ruggles,  Asa  Whitney,  S. 
Newton  Dexter,  George  H.  Boughton,  Thomas  Clowes,  Charles 
Cook,  Nelson  J.  Beach,  Henry  Fitzhugh,  and  Hiram  Gardner ; 
Speakers  Erastus  Root,  Luther  Bradish,  George  W.  Patterson, 
Peter  B.  Porter,  Jr.,  Robert  H.  Pruyn,  Henry  J.  Raymond,  and 
Dewitt  C.  Littlejohn.  My  political  opponents  chose  to  give  me 
more  credit  than  I  deserved  for  the  election  of  N.  P.  Tallmadge, 
W.  H.  Seward,  Hamilton  Fish,  Preston  King,  and  Edwin  D. 
Morgan  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  These  are  among 
the  prominent  public  men  with  whom  I  have  been  closely  identi 
fied." 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

1868-1872. 

APPROACH  OF  OLD  AGE.  —  LETTER  ON  THE  DEATH  OF  GENERAL  LEE. 

SOCIAL   LIFE  IN  OLD  NEW  YORK.  —  THE  KENT  AND  HONE  CLUBS. 

REPUBLICAN  STATE  CONVENTION  OF  1872.  —  NOMINATION  OF  GEN 
ERAL  Dix.  —  MR.  WEED  NOT  IN  FAVOR  OF  RENOMINATING  GENERAL 
GRANT.  —  MIDSUMMER  PROSPECTS.  —  REASONS  FOR  DECLINING  TO 
VOTE  FOR  MR.  GREELEY. 

FROM  the  effects  of  the  partial  sunstroke  by  which  he  was 
prostrated  in  June,  1808,  Mr.  Weed  never  entirely  recovered. 
His  mental  faculties  were  by  no  means  impaired,  nor  did  he 
look  upon  himself  as  an  invalid  ;  but  his  hair  was  blanched ;  his 
sight  began  to  fail ;  he  could  no  longer  read  or  write  ;  his  step 
became  slow  and  unsteady.  On  compulsion,  he  gradually  relin 
quished  the  active  life  he  had  always  led,  though  he  did  not, 
nor  would  it  have  been  wise  for  him  to  try  to  withdraw  entirely 
from  politics  and  society.  Until  the  very  last  he  was  sur 
rounded  by  friends,  with  whom  he  discussed  public  affairs  ;  he 
never  took  more  lively  interest  in  any  election  than  in  those 
which  occurred  after  he  had  passed  his  seventy-fifth  year. 

After  the  visit  to  Aiken  in  1869,  he  wrote  with  his  own  hand 
only  when  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  affix  his  signature  to 
documents  of  importance.  His  last  letter  not  written  by  dicta 
tion  was  addressed  to  the  writer  of  these  memoirs. 

[MR.     WTEED    TO    A    GRANDSON.] 

AIKEN,  S.  C.,  March  21,  18G9. 

MY  DEAR  GRANDSON,  —  I  was  gratified  to  receive  your  letter,  and 
regret  that  I  can  do  little  more  than  express  the  hope  that  you  may 
become  a  good  printer  and  a  good  man. 

When  James  established  himself  in  business  I  wrote  him  a  letter  of 
advice,  which  he  carefully  preserved.  I  hope  you  will  read  it  atten 
tively  and  accept  the  advice  as  intended  to  regulate  your  own  habits 
of  business  and  your  relations  with  the  affairs  of  life.1 

Remember  me  to  your  father,  mother,  and  sisters. 

Affectionately,  THURLOW  WEED. 

1  The  letter  referred  to  is  printed  in  Mr.  Weed's  Autobiography,  p.  552. 


476  MEMOIR.  [1870. 

The  death  of  General  Kobert  E.  Lee  occurred  on  the  12th  of 
October,  1870.  Shortly  afterwards  a  meeting  was  held  in  honor 
of  his  memory,  at  which  Mr.  Weed  was  asked  to  act  as  vice- 
president.  He  replied :  — 

[MR.  WEED  ON  THE  DEATH  OF  GENERAL  LEE.] 

NEW  YORK,  October  23,  1870. 

GENTLEMEN,  —  I  have  received  your  letter  inviting  me  to  partici 
pate  as  a  vice-president  of  a  meeting  for  the  purpose  of  giving  expres 
sion  to  sentiments  awakened'by  the  death  of  General  Robert  E.  Lee. 

I  regret  that  you  should  so  far  have  misunderstood  my  feelings  as 
to  include  me  among  those  anxious  to  do  honor  to  the  memory  of  an 
officer  who  distinguished  himself  in  a  war  against  the  government  by 
which  he  was  educated  and  to  which  he  owed  allegiance.  If  the 
object  of  your  meeting  had  been  to  honor  the  memory  of  that  General 
Lee  who,  until  the  year  1861,  was  distinguished  alike  for  his  high 
personal  and  military  character  and  for  devotion  to  his  country,  I 
should  esteem  it  a  privilege  to  unite  with  you.  But  the  strongest  feel 
ings  awakened  in  me  by  the  death  of  General  Lee  are  those  of  pro 
found  sorrow  that  an  early  and  brilliant  military  record  should  have 
been  blotted  out  by  a  subsequent  inglorious  career.  I  cannot,  there 
fore,  participate  with  those  who  desire  to  honor  the  memory  of  the 
commander-in-chief  of  a  rebel  army,  —  an  army  that  struck  at  the  life 
of  the  best  government  in  the  world. 

General  Lee  had  acquired  a  national  reputation.  A  large  portion 
of  his  life  had  been  passed  in  and  about  Washington.  He  perfectly 
understood  the  causes  which  led  to  the  rebellion  and  the  means  by 
which  the  southern  people  were  beguiled  into  it.  He  knew  that  the 
southern  political  leaders  deliberately  and  understandingly  ran  Mr. 
Breckenridge  for  President,  in  1860,  so  that,  in  the  assured  election 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  they  would  find  a  pretext  for  rebellion.  If  the  State 
of  Virginia,  for  which  General  Lee  felt  called  upon  to  abandon  the 
Union,  had  been  oppressed,  or  if  her  citizens  had  been  wronged  by 
the  federal  government,  he  might  have  found  in  such  oppression  or 
wrong  an  excuse,  if  not  a  justification,  for  his  course.  But  no  such 
provocation  existed.  His  high  character,  coupled  with  his  pronounced 
ability  as  an  officer  of  the  United  States  army,  inspired  the  Confed 
erate  government  and  people  with  strength  and  confidence.  So  much 
the  greater,  therefore,  was  his  offense. 

Admiral  Farragut,  over  whose  remains  the  earth  has  but  recently 
closed,  served  his  country  faithfully  for  more  than  sixty  years,  bearing 
its  flag  in  honor  and  triumph  through  all  the  seas  and  oceans  of  the 
navigable  world.  In  purity  of  character,  in  gallantry,  in  patriotism, 


1870.]  ON  THE  DEATH   OF   GENERAL  LEE.  477 

in  the  value  of  his  services,  and  in  the  glory  of  his  achievements,  he 
had  no  superior.  But  his  death  awakened  no  feelings  of  sorrow  with 
those  who  were  engaged  in  the  Rebellion  ;  no  meetings  were  held 
in  Richmond  or  Charleston,  New  Orleans  or  Mobile,  to  do  honor  to 
his  memory,  nor,  under  the  circumstances,  were  such  tributes  ex 
pected.  Human  nature  has  not  yet  attained  to  that  degree  of  per 
fected  magnanimity.  Why,  then,  are  we  of  New  York,  believing  as 
we  do  that  treason  is  a  crime,  called  upon  to  do  honor  to  the  memory 
of  a  military  chieftain  who  did  his  utmost  to  overthrow  our  govern 
ment  and  destroy  our  Union, — and  this,  too,  before  the  sables  worn 
by  mothers,  widows,  and  sisters,  in  sorrowful  memory  of  slaughtered 
sons,  husbands,  and  brothers,  have  faded  into  second  mourning^? 

I  am  as  anxious  as  any  other  citizen  that  the  wounds  occasioned  by 
the  Rebellion  should  be  healed,  and  that  all  its  bitter  memories  should 
be  forgotten.  I  am  anxious,  too,  that  prosperity  and  happiness  should 
return  to  reward  the  hearts  of  the  citizens  of  the  Southern  States,  and 
I  deplore  the  temporary  misrule  to  which  some  of  them  have  been  and 
are  subjected.  But  as,  in  the  physical  world,  violent  agitations  occasion 
an  uneven  and  rugged  surface,  so,  in  political  demoralizations,  un 
worthy  men  are  elevated  to  place  and  power.  However  desirous  to 
see  the  government  of  southern  states  restored  to  southern  hands,  I 
cannot  consent,  in  furthering  that  object,  to  confound  wrong  with 
right,  or  to  pay  to  treason  tributes  which  are  due  only  to  loyalty. 

Very  truly  yours,  THURLOW  WEED. 

In  the  summer  of  1870  Mr.  Weed  made  a  trip  through  Can 
ada  and  some  of  the  Western  States.  The  winter  was  passed 
quietly  in  New  York,  and  in  1871  he  visited  Europe  for  the  fifth 
and  last  time. 

Among  articles  which,  he  contributed  to  the  press  during  the 
latter  year,  the  following,  describing  a  great  Webster  dinner  in 
New  York,  in  1831,  and  giving  a  brief  history  of  the  Kent  and 
Hone  clubs,  may  be  preserved. 

The  late  Philip  Hone,  an  old  merchant  prince  and  a  former  mayor 
of  our  city,  is  remembered  by  all  who  enjoyed  his  acquaintance,  not 
only  as  eminent  among  those  who  laid  the  foundations  of  our  commer 
cial  prosperity,  but  as  a  gentleman  of  refinement  and  culture,  who, 
during  his  long  life,  was  the  centre  of  attraction  in  social  and  literary 
circles.  The  very  mention  of  his  name  to  those  who  were  familiar 
with  New  York  society  from  1820  to  1850,  brings  up  a  world  of 
pleasant  memories.  An  article  recently  published,  giving  a  brief  ac 
count  of  a  public  dinner  to  Mr.  Webster  in  1831,  has  elicited  the  fol 
lowing  letter :  — 


478  MEMOIR.  [1870. 

NEW  YORK,  March  3. 

MY  DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  Like  many  others,  I  was  much  interested  in  the 
publication,  over  your  initials,  a  few  days  since,  of  the  names  of  the  sub 
scribers  to  the  great  Webster  dinner  of  March  24,  1831,  and  surprised  to 
find  that  my  father's  [Philip  Hone's]  name  was  not  among  them  ;  so  I  re 
ferred  to  his  manuscript  journal,  of  which  I  have  thirty-two  volumes,  and 
under  the  impression  that  his  account  of  this  dinner  would  be  of  interest  to 
you,  my  daughter  made  the  inclosed  copy. 

Yours,  very  truly,  ROBT.  L.  HONE. 

Thursday,  March  24,  1831. 

A  splendid  dinner  was  given  this  day  by  a  number  of  our  citizens  to  the 
Hon.  Daniel  Webster,  for  his  able  defense  of  the  Constitution.  The  com 
pany  consisted  of  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  most  respectable  per 
sons  in  the  city.  Chancellor  Kent  presided,  with  Treasurers  Jay,  Greene- 
ray,  and  John  Hone  as  Vice-Presidents.  The  following  were  the  regular 
toasts.  .  .  . 

G.  Our  Guest,  —  Daniel  Webster,  —  to  his  Talents  we  owe  a  most  Tri 
umphant  Vindication  of  the  Great  Principles  of  the  Constitution.  .  .  . 

After  the  applause  which  followed  the  sixth  had  subsided,  Mr.  Webster 
arose,  and  made  an  address  of  an  hour  and  a  half,  which  no  one  who  heard 
it  will  ever  forget.  It  was  patriotic,  fervent,  eloquent,  imbued  with  no 
party  violence,  purely  American  ;  it  was  "  our  country,  our  whole  country, 
and  nothing  but  our  country."  There  were  many  fine  things  in  it.  I  re 
marked  most  particularly  the  following  beautiful  train  of  metaphor.  The 
orator  in  portraying  the  character  of  Hamilton,  eulogized  his  exertions  to 
raise  the  credit  of  the  country  in  its  day  of  peril,  and  the  system  of  finance 
which  he  established,  and  said  :  "  He  struck  the  flinty  rock,  and  copious 
streams  of  revenue  flowed  from  it.  He  touched  the  lifeless  corpse  of  public 
credit,  and  it  sprang  upon  its  feet,  a  living  body,  —  the  fabled  birth  of  Mi 
nerva  was  not  more  sudden  than  that  of  the  system  of  finance  which  his 
head  prDcluced."  .  .  . 

Our  commercial  metropolis  about  the  period  of  that  dinner  to  Mr. 
Webster,  and  for  several  years  afterward,  was  unostentatiously,  but  emi 
nently  social  and  intellectual.  The  various  professions,  whether  com 
mercial,  judicial,  medical,  or  divine,  were  represented  by  men  of  rare 
enterprise,  profound  knowledge,  and  recognized  skill,  along  with  gifted 
eloquence  and  practical  piety.  In  the  various  departments  of  mate 
rial  and  intellectual  progress,  there  were  men  who  stood  up  confes 
sedly  head  and  shoulders  above  their  fellows.  Indeed,  "  there  were 
giants  in  the  earth  in  those  days."  And  these  elements  found  their 
highest  forms  of  expression  in  the  Kent  and  Hone  Clubs. 

The  Kent  Club  was  formed  at  the  residence  of  Peter  A.  Jay,  in  De 
cember,  1836,  and  the  number  of  members  was  limited  to  forty-five. 
It  was  an  association  of  lawyers,  designed  for  intellectual  improvement 
and  social  enjoyment.  The  following  is  a  list  of  the  original  members 
of  the  club  :  — 


1870.]  SOCIAL  LIFE  IN  OLD  NEW   YORK.  479 

David  B.  Ogden,  Peter  A.  Jay, 

Samuel  Stephens,  Seth  P.  Staples, 

Frederick  Depeyster,  Hugh  Maxwell, 

William  Kent,  Beverly  Robinson, 

John  Duer,  Robert  Sedgwick, 

Thomas  L.  Ogden,  Dudley  Selden, 

Richard  Ray  Ward,  Francis  Griffin, 

James  W.  Gerard,  Ogden  Hoffman, 

Daniel  Lord,  William  H.  Harrison, 

Richard  M.  Blatchford,  J.  Prescott  Hall, 

Thomas  L.  Wells,  Isaac  A.  Johnson, 

Murray  Hoffman,  Elijah  Paine, 

William  Samuel  Johnson,  George  Griffin, 

John  Slosson,  Matthew  C.  Patterson, 

Edward  Curtis,  George  C.  Goddard, 

Abel  T.  Anderson,  Hiram  Ketchum, 

James  I.  Roosevelt,  Jr.,  William  M.  Price, 

Francis  B.  Cutting,  Charles  O'Conor, 

James  Campbell,  Charles  A.  Clinton, 

William  Betts,  Joseph  Blunt, 

Robert  Emmet,  Thatcher  T.  Payne. 

Chancellor  Kent  was  made  an  honorary  member,  and  the  Judges  of 
the  United  States  Circuit  and  District  Courts,  the  Judges  of  the  Su 
preme  Court,  the  Vice-Chancellors,  the  Recorder,  the  Circuit  Judge, 
with  the  Judges  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  were  made  ex  qfflcio 
members. 

The  club  met  punctually  every  Saturday  evening,  at  half-past  seven 
o'clock,  at  the  residences  of  its  members  respectively,  in  accordance 
with  a  programme  designating  the  places  of  meeting  for  the  first  year. 
At  supper  but  two  dishes  other  than  oysters  were  allowed.  Fruit, 
coffee,  and  tea,  but  no  ice  creams  or  confectionery  were  served.  Each 
member  was  permitted  to  introduce  one  stranger.  It  was  my  good 
fortune  to  be  frequently  received  as  a  "  stranger  "  at  these  ever-to-be- 
remembered  meetings.  On  such  occasions  the  best  thinkers  of  this 
and  of  neighboring  cities  were  brought  together.  Conversation,  though 
interesting  and  animated,  was  never  loud  or  excited.  I  can  remember 
as  if  it  were  but  of  yesternight,  how  words  of  wisdom  used  to  drop 
from  the  lips  of  Kent,  Duer,  Ogden,  Jay,  Maxwell,  and  O'Conor,  and 
how  immensely  the  quiet  but  true  wit  and  humor  of  Robert  Emmet, 
Ogden  Hoffman,  J.  Prescott  Hall,  William  Kent,  and  others,  used  to 
be  enjoyed.  I  remember  to  have  attended  the  meetings  of  the  Kent 
Club  at  the  residences  of  William  Kent,  Samuel  Stevens,  Richard  M. 
Blatchford,  William  S.  Johnson,  Francis  B.  Cutting,  Dudley  Selden$ 
J.  Prescott  Hall,  David  B,  Ogden,  and  Elijah  Paine. 


480  MEMOIR.  [1870. 

The  Hone  Club  was  formed  October  22,  1838,  at  a  dinner  given  by 
John  Ward,  at  his  house  in  Bond  Street,  to  ten  gentlemen.  It  was 
there  arranged  to  dine  at  each  other's  houses  every  Monday,  at  five 
o'clock.  The  host  was  allowed  to  invite  four  gentlemen  outside  of  the 
club. 

The  club  consisted  at  first  of  Philip  Hone,  in  honor  of  whom  it  was 
named,  and  who  was  its  President,  Moses  H.  Grinnell,  John  Ward, 
George  Curtis,  Prescott  Hall,  R.  M.  Blatchford,  Simeon  Draper,  Ros- 
well  L.  Colt,  William  G.  Ward,  James  Bowen,  Charles  H.  Russell, 
Samuel  Jauclon,  and  Edward  Curtis.  The  following  four  gentlemen 
were  subsequently  elected  members  of  the  club :  John  Duer,  Thomas 
Tileston,  Paul  Spofford,  and  James  Watson  Webb.  These  gentlemen, 
all  prominent  Whigs,  had  been  actively  engaged  for  many  years  in  an 
exciting  struggle,  which  resulted  finally,  in  1838,  in  the  complete  over 
throw  of  the  Albany  Regency.  At  the  first  meeting  of  the  club  after 
its  organization,  Daniel  Webster  and  William  H.  Seward  were  chosen 
honorary  members.  The  club  was  dissolved  soon  after  the  death  of 
Mr.  Hone,  in  1851. 

In  1842  the  club  purchased  a  portrait  of  Daniel  Webster,  painted 
for  them  by  Healy,  which  adorned  Mr.  Hone's  dining-room  until  his 
death,  when  it  was  raffled  for  by  the  club,  while  dining  at  Mr.  Tile- 
ston's.  Each  member  threw  the  dice  three  times,  and  there  were  three 
ties.  Mr.  Spofford  and  Mr.  Jaudon  each  threw  31 ;  Mr.  George  Cur 
tis  and  J.  Prescott  Hall,  34  each ;  R.  L.  Colt  and  J.  W.  Webb,  35 
each ;  R.  M.  Blatchford,  36.  While  waiting  for  an  absentee  (Edward 
Curtis),  Mr.  Blatchford  was  regarded  as  sure  of  the  prize.  Finally, 
when  Mr.  Curtis  did  not  appear,  Hugh  Maxwell  was  requested  to 
throw  the  dice  .for  him,  which  he  did,  with  the  following  remarkable 
results :  14,  15,  15  —  44.  After  the  death  of  Mr.  Curtis,  the  picture 
was  again  raffled  for,  when  it  was  won  by  Mr.  Blatchford,  whose  din 
ing-room  it  still  graces. 

The  members  of  the  Hone  Club  were  noted  for  their  hospitalities. 
They  not  only  entertained  bountifully,  but  added  a  peculiar  zest  to 
their  inimitable  dinners  by  the  charm  of  their  conversation.  You  in 
haled  at  their  tables  an  atmosphere  so  charged  with  intelligence  as  to 
inspire  all  present.  Your  host  was  not  only  the  centre  of  repartee, 
but  the  cause  of  it  in  others. 

Mr.  Hone  was  distinguished  for  his  intelligence  and  enterprise  as  a 
merchant,  for  his  public  spirit  and  liberality  as  a  citizen,  and  for  his 
exact  observance  of  all  the  principles  which  characterize  men  of  in 
tegrity  and  honor.  In  person  and  manner  he  strongly  resembled  the 
late  Sir  Robert  Peel,  so  long  the  accomplished  premier  in  the  British 
Cabinet.  His  hospitalities  were  munificent  and  refined.  His  dinners, 


1870.]  SOCIAL  LIFE  IN  OLD  NEW   YORK.  481 

like  himself,  are  remembered  as  possessing  all  the  accessories  and  con 
forming  to  all  the  proprieties  of  the  palmiest  condition  of  social  life. 
These  dinners  were  always  animated  and  joyous.  Indeed,  it  could 
not  be  otherwise  at  an  entertainment  over  which  Mr.  Hone  presided, 

for 

"  A  merrier  man, 

Within  the  limit  of  becoming1  mirth, 
I  never  spent  an  hour's  talk  withal; 
His  eyes  beget  occasion  for  his  wit ; 
For  every  object  that  the  one  doth  catch 
The  other  turns  to  a  mirth-moving  jest." 

Mr.  Tileston  served  a  regular  apprenticeship  to  the  printing  busi 
ness,  but  formed  a  copartnership  with  Mr.  Spofford  more  than  fifty 
years  ago,  commencing  business  with  a  capital  consisting  solely  of  in 
dustry,  integrity,  and  enterprise,  and  rising  step  by  step  until  the  first 
rank  among  the  shipping  houses  of  the  world  was  attained.  It  is 
pleasant  to  remember  that  I  enjoyed  the  friendship  and  hospitalities 
of  these  departed  merchant  princes  nearly  forty  years. 

While  attending  diligently  and  acceptably  to  his  financial  duties, 
George  Curtis,  the  first  cashier  of  the  Bank  of  Commerce,  was  as  dili 
gently  storing  and  enriching  his  mind  with  the  treasures  of  knowledge 
and  literature.  He  was  a  quiet  but  delightful  companion  at  all  social 
gatherings.  His  mantle  rests  gracefully  upon  his  still  more  gifted  and 
universally  known  son,  George  William  Curtis. 

Edward  Curtis  was  distinguished  for  the  depth  and  strength  of  his 
understanding.  I  was  intimately  associated  with  him  politically,  per 
sonally,  and  socially,  from  1835  until  he  died  ;  and  can  say  truthfully 
that  I  have  never  known  a  man  possessing  a  greater,  if  an  equal,  degree 
of  political  common  sense,  tact,  and  efficiency.  These  qualities,  to 
which  zeal  and  fidelity  were  added,  commended  Mr.  Curtis,  at  an 
early  day,  to  the  regard  and  confidence  of  Mr.  Webster.  All  the 
poetic  ideas  of  friendship  were  realized  in  the  endearing  relations  which 
grew  up  between  these  two  men.  There  were  no  bounds  to  the  affec 
tion  Mr.  Webster  entertained  for  Mr.  Curtis,  no  limits  to  the  confidence 
he  reposed  in  his  judgment.  In  everything  that  affected  or  concerned 
Mr.  Webster's  political  aspirations,  the  judgment  of  Edward  Curtis 
was  conclusive.  When  Mr.  Webster  should  speak,  and  what  he  should 
say  upon  great  public  questions,  depended  largely  upon  the  opinion  of 
his  friend.  How  often  have  I  listened  admiringly  to  conversations 
between  them,  when  views  deferentially  suggested  by  Mr.  Curtis  were 
confidingly  accepted  and  acted  upon  by  Mr.  Webster.  On  one  occa 
sion,  when  not  only  Mr.  Webster  but  Mr.  Curtis  had  been  beguiled  too 
far  into  the  support  of  the  compromises  of  1850,  I  learned  through 
31 


482  MEMOIR.  [1870. 

Philo  S.  Shelton,  of  Boston,  that  Mr.  Webster  was  about  to  make  a 
political  speech  in  Massachusetts,  the  character  of  which,  as  fore 
shadowed  by  my  friend,  caused  much  uneasiness.  In  a  conversation 
with  Mr.  Curtis,  my  information  as  to  the  character  of  Mr.  Webster's 
contemplated  speech  was  confirmed.  When  I  also  learned  from  Mr. 
Curtis  that  topics  to  be  discussed  and  ground  to  be  taken  had  been 
carefully  considered,  I  startled  him  by  declaring  with  much  emphasis 
that  such  a  speech  would  bring  reproach  and  ruin  upon  the  political 
character  and  fortunes  of  Mr.  Webster  ;  that  in  fact  he  might  date  his 
departed  power  and  usefulness  from  the  day  and  hour  of  its  delivery. 
After  half  an  hour's  conversation  and  reflection,  Mr.  Curtis  became  so 
far  satisfied  with  the  views  presented  as  to  take  the  first  conveyance 
to  Boston,  with  the  intention  either  of  squelching  the  meeting  or  of 
suppressing  the  objectionable  features  of  the  speech.  But  the  Sound 
steamer  was  detained  several  hours,  so  that  Mr.  Curtis  reached  Boston 
only  to  encounter  Mr.  Webster  on  his  way  to  the  hall,  where  a  large 
audience  had  already  assembled.  All,  therefore,  was  lost.  Mr.  Cur 
tis  listened  with  apprehension  and  sorrow  to  sentiments  which,  twenty- 
four  hours  previously,  from  a  different  standpoint,  he  had  approved. 
It  was  in  that  ill-omened  speech  that  Mr.  Webster  inquired,  "  Where 
shall  I  go  ?  "  Unhappily  for  him,  his  friends,  and  the  country,  the 
answer  to  his  question,  after  the  delivery  of  that  speech,  was  a  matter 
of  little  or  no  importance.  Politically,  the  great  constitutional  lawyer 
and  statesman  who  had  rendered  eminent  services  to  the  government 
and  the  people,  ceased  to  be  a  power  in  the  land. 

J.  Prescott  Hall  was  a  deservedly  eminent  member  of  the  New 
York  bar.  How  he  attained  and  sustained  his  high  character  and  po 
sition  as  a  lawyer,  were  questions  which  always  perplexed  me.  He 
gave  so  much  of  his  time  and  expended  so  much  thought  upon  almost 
every  other  conceivable  occupation,  that  I  could  not  understand  how 
or  when  he  found  time  to  read  and  to  keep  himself  up  in  his  profession. 
He  knew  all  about  fishes  and  fishing  ;  he  was  an  enthusiastic  sports 
man  ;  in  court  he  was  dry,  clear-headed,  and  luminously  posted,  while 
at  the  dinner-table  he  possessed  such  a  fund  of  various  information, 
and  conversed  with  such  wondrous  familiarity  upon  questions  of 
science,  literature,  theology,  mechanism,  the  drama,  etc.,  as  to  induce  a 
belief  that  he  was  even  better  fitted  for  usefulness  in  either  of  those 
departments  than  as  a  lawyer.  .  .  .  His  mantle,  professionally  and 
socially,  rests  gracefully  upon  the  shoulders  of  his  student  and  junior 
partner,  William  M.  Evarts. 

A  few  doors  from  the  residence  of  Mr.  Hall  in  Bond  Street  was 
that  of  John  Ward,  another  deceased  member  of  the  Hone  Club,  the 
memory  of  whose  virtues,  by  all  who  knew  him  well,  is  fondly  cher- 


1870.]  SOCIAL   LIFE   IN   OLD  NEW   YORK.  483 

ished.  The  mention  of  his  name  brings  back  to  the  mind's  eye  his 
manly  form  and  kindly  greetings.  Without  disparagement  to  others, 
for  there  are  many  to  whom  the  appellation  belongs,  John  Ward  was 
the  "  honest  broker."  His  dinners,  like  himself,  were  unostentatious, 
but  bountiful,  served  simply,  but  in  order.  His  aftiple  joint  of  beef, 
like  his  well-fed  turkey,  was  roasted  to  a  turn,  while  his  rotund  Prin 
cess  Bay  oysters  were  unimpeaohably  fried.  His  sherry  and  cham 
pagne  and  madeira  (for  he  seldom  introduced  "  thin  potations  ")  were 
of  the  best.  The  hearty  manner,  the  quiet  but  cheerful  conversation, 
the  radiant  countenance  and  beaming  eyes  of  our  host,  had  a  cheery 
effect  upon  his  guests.  I  am  quite  sure  that  no  man  ever  rose  from 
his  table  without  feeling  that  the  occasion  had  been  alike  pleasant  and 
profitable. 

Simeon  Draper,  a  prominent  member  of  the  Hone  Club,  then  re 
sided  at  No.  10  Warren  Street.  Though  politically,  personally,  and 
socially  identified  with  Mr.  Ward,  yet  in  manner  no  two  men  could  be 
less  alike.  Mr.  Draper  was  impulsive  and  demonstrative.  With  the 
advantages  of  a  fine  person,  good  conversational  powers,  and  ready 
wit,  his  genial  presence  and  cheerful  voice  imparted  life  and  spirit  to 
the  numerous  social  circles  in  which  he  was  ever  a  welcome  guest. 
But  it  was  not  at  club  dinners,  nor  at  the  dinners  of  his  numerous 
friends,  that  Mr.  Draper  appeared  at  his  best.  It  was  at  the  head  of 
his  own  table,  surrounded  by  his  estimable  family  and  a  few  chosen 
friends,  that  '•  Richard  was  himself."  On  these  occasions  his  cheer 
fulness  and  humor  seasoned  the  dishes  and  flavored  the  wines.  Next 
to  the  luxury  of  eating  a  canvas-back  duck,  was  that  of  seeing  one 
gracefully  carved  by  Mr.  Draper. 

Roswell  L.  Colt  resided  in  Park  Place.  He  was  a  widely  knowrn, 
highly  enterprising,  and  universally  respected  merchant  and  manufac 
turer.  In  1808  or  1809  two  New  England  boys  [George  Peabody  and 
R.  L.  Colt],  the  former  from  Massachusetts  and  the  latter  from  Con 
necticut,  with  a  fair  common-school  education,  struck  out,  as  was  then 
the  habit  of  New  England  boys,  into  the  world,  to  make  their  fortunes. 
One  became  the  clerk  of  Elisha  Riggs,  of  Georgetown,  D.  C.,  and  the 
other  of  Mr.  Oliver,  of  Baltimore.  Toward  the  close  of  the  War  of 
1812,  Mr.  Oliver  sent  young  Colt  to  Europe  to  purchase  depreciated 
American  securities  and  to  lay  in  a  large  stock  of  goods  for  shipment 
by  the  first  vessels  that  should  leave  England  upon  the  restoration  of 
peace.  These  trusts  were  so  successfully  executed  that  Mr.  Oliver  not 
only  took  young  Colt  into  partnership,  but  gave  him  his  daughter  in 
marriage ;  and  finally,  when  Mr.  Oliver  died,  Mr.  Colt  conceived  him 
self  to  be  eminently  fortune's  favorite,  for  he  inherited  the  well-chosen 
varieties  of  old  madeiras,  protected  by  dust  and  cobwebs  in  the  wine- 
vault  of  his  father-in-law. 


484  MEMOIR.  [1870. 

No  man  enjoyed  social  life  with  a  keener  relish  than  Roswell  L. 
Colt.  His  dinners  in  Park  Place,  and  visits  at  his  splendid  man 
sion  in  Paterson,  N.  J.,  by  members  of  the  Hone  Club  and  numerous 
other  friends,  are  among  the  last  things  to  be  forgotten,  —  dinners  and 
visits  which  were  frequent  during  the  whole  of  Mr.  Colt's  life-time.  I 
remember,  on  one  occasion,  to  have  been  present  together  with  Mr. 
Hone,  Mr.  GrinneU,  Mr.  Blatchford,  General  Bowen,  General  Webb, 
Edward  Curtis,  Charles  King,  Governor  Seward,  and  others,  at  a  din 
ner  given  by  Mr.  Colt  to  ex-President  John  Quincy  Adams.  Madeira 
wines  had  not  then  gone  out  of  fashion.  Indeed,  except  a  glass  of 
hock  with  oysters  on  the  half-shell,  a  glass  of  sherry  after  soup,  and 
champagne  with  meats,  madeira  was  the  staple  during  and  after  des 
sert.  Gentlemen  who  on  these  occasions  passed  the  largest  number  of 
approved  brands,  such  as  "  Essex,  Jr.,"  "  Donna  Gama,"  "  Bingham," 
"  Rapid,"  "  Reserve,"  "  Farquhar,"  "  Benefactor,"  "  Butler,"  "  March 
and  Benson  of  1809,"  "  Black  Cork,"  etc.,  etc.,  excited  the  admiration, 
if  not  the  envy,  of  their  neighbors.  At  this  dinner,  Mr.  Colt,  after  the 
cloth  had  been  removed,  produced  fourteen  different  kinds  of  delicious 
old  madeiras,  and  the  circumstance  which  occasioned  general  surprise 
was  that  the  peculiarly  delicate  taste  of  Mr.  Adams  enabled  him  to 
name  eleven  of  these  wines,  as  unannounced  they  passed  around  the 
table!  .  .  . 

During  the  interval  of  twenty  years  since  the  subsidence  of  the  Kent 
and  Hone  Clubs,  I  have  seen  much  of  social  life  in  its  best  aspects, 
both  at  home  and  abroad.  I  have  enjoyed  the  hospitalities  of  the  best 
and  most  distinguished  families  in  London,  Paris,  Brussels,  Rome,  and 
elsewhere,  without  finding  either  higher  intelligence  or  more  refine 
ment  than  characterized  those  associations.  Indeed,  I  have  no  mem 
ory  of  equal  intellectual  enjoyment,  except  at  dinners  at  Cruttenden's, 
in  Albany,  when  most  of  the  members  of  the  Kent  Club,  together  with 
Elisha  Williams,  Thomas  J.  Oakley,  Judge  Van  Ness,  Francis  Gran 
ger,  John  Greig,  Myron  and  Orville  L.  Holley,  Alderman  Brasher, 
Charles  L.  Livingston,  Peter  R.  Livingston,  Robert  Tillotson,  John 
Suydam,  and  others  were  present,  Mr.  Cruttenden  himself,  the  prince 
of  hosts,  presiding. 

Perhaps  I  ought  also  to  except  the  dinners  of  Mr.  Joseph  Gales  at 
Washington,  who,  in  his  palmy  days,  drew  around  his  hospitable  table 
the  intellectual  giants  and  jewels  of  the  Republic.  At  those  dinners, 
from  1824  and  the  several  ensuing  years,  although  Webster  and  Clay, 
and  Marshall  and  Southard,  and  Everett  and  Mangum,  and  Granger 
and  Seaton,  were  present,  all  felt  that  the  dinner  and  the  wines,  rich 
and  delicate  as  they  were,  lacked  something  of  their  inspiration,  if  by 
chance  the  seat  of  Matthew  St.  Clair  Clarke  was  vacant. 


1872.]  NOMINATION  OF  JOHN  A.   DIX.  485 

Mr.  Weed  was  enjoying  the  hospitality  of  his  friend,  Mr. 
Seward,  in  August,  1872,  when  notified  that  he  had  been  elected 
a  delegate  to  the  Republican  state  convention  about  to  assemble 
at  Utica.  Forgetting  the  infirmities  of  age  and  the  commands 
of  physicians,  he  telegraphed  to  New  York,  thanking  his  district 
for  the  honor  conferred,  and  saying  that  he  would  serve  in  the 
capacity  suggested. 

1872. — The  Republican  state  convention  was  held  at  Utica 
on  the  21st  of  August.  William  H.  Robertson,  of  Westchester 
County,  was  the  leading  candidate  for  Governor.  An  able  man, 
experienced,  conservative,  and  popular,  it  was  generally  conceded 
that  he  was  certain  to  be  nominated.  "  Unless  something"  un- 

O 

thought  of  turns  /up,"  telegraphed  George  Dawson  on  the  morn 
ing  of  the  convention,  "  Robertson  will  be  the  candidate."  So 
everybody  thought.  So  strong,  indeed,  were  the  influences  com 
bined  in  his  favor,  that  discussion  related  chiefly  to  the  second 
place  on  the  ticket,  and  to  electors-at-large ;  for  this,  it  will  be 
remembered,  was  the  presidential  year  in  which  Governor  Fen- 
ton,  who  supported  Mr.  Greeley,  predicted  that  New  York  would 
defeat  the  Republican  ticket  by  50,000  majority. 

Mr.  Weed  reached  Utica  the  day  before  the  convention  met. 
It  was  natural  that  his  opinion  should  be  sought  by  a  large  num 
ber  of  delegates  from  all  parts  of  the  State.  "  Highly  as  I  es 
teem  Judge  Robertson,"  he  said,  "  I  do  not  think  he  ought  to 
be  nominated."  When  asked  whom  he  did  favor  he  said,  "  Any 
man  who  will  unite  the  party.  Why  not  John  A.  Dix  ?  " 

But  Judge  Robertson's  friends  were  able  to  figure  up  an  easy 
majority,  and  were  not  disconcerted  by  the  opposition  of  Mr. 
Weed.  The  Judge  himself,  in  the  best  of  spirits,  left  Utica  at 
four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  Before  he  reached  Little  Falls 
General  Dix  was  nominated. 

"  From  the  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion,"  writes  Mr.  Weed,  "  I 
knew  no  party,  nor  did  I  care  for  any,  except  the  party  of  the 
Union.  Soon  after  reaching  Utica  I  saw  that  Judge  Robertson, 
though  other  candidates  were  named,  would  probably  be  nomi 
nated.  He  had  always  been  my  personal  and  political  friend, 
and,  under  any  other  circumstances,  I  should  have  warmly  urged 
his  nomination.  General  Dix,  when  there  was  danger  that  the 
city  of  Washington  would  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  rebels, 
severed  his  relations  with  the  Democratic  administration,  and  in 


486  MEMOIR.  [1872. 

concert  with  Secretary  Holt,  Mr.  Stanton,  and  Mr.  Seward,  gave 
information  and  rendered  services  which  saved  the  nation's 
capital.  A  few  weeks  afterwards,  when  in  command  of  Fort 
Mcllenry,  by  a  prompt  movement  against  a  treasonable  design 
of  members  of  the  legislature,  he  prevented  Maryland  from 
joining  the  Secessionists.  I  believed  that  his  nomination  and 
election  would  unite,  invigorate,  and  strengthen  the  Union  cause, 
and  for  this  reason  I  did  what  I  have  done  on  other  occasions, 
sacrificed  a  friend  to  promote  the  general  welfare." 

There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  [writes  the  Rev.  Morgan  Dix,1]  that 
among  the  persons  chiefly  interested  in  bringing  about  this  result 
[General  Dix's  nomination]  was  Mr.  Weed,  and  the  nomination  was 
due,  in  part,  to  his  influence  in  the  Republican  party.  And  I  deem 
this  a  striking  episode  in  my  father's  history,  —  that  two  men  who 
entered  politics  about  the  same  time  as  antagonists,  and  remained  in 
opposition  to  each  other  during  the  greater  part  of  their  lives,  should 
yet  have  become  fast  friends  at  the  last,  standing  shoulder  to  shoulder 
on  a  national  platform.  Such  changes  are  not  uncommon  where  men 
of  pure  conscience  and  strong  convictions  prefer  principles  to  names, 
and  find  each  other  out  through  their  common  sympathy  for  whatever 
is  held  by  both  to  be  the  right  and  the  true. 

Nor  was  that  the  only  good  thing  which  he  inspired  [writes  George 
Dawson,  referring  to  Mr.  Weed's  connection  with  the  Dix  nomina 
tion].  Some  of  us  were  anxious  to  put  Mr.  Weed  at  the  head  of 
the  list  of  electors- at-large,  but,  knowing  that,  if  consulted  on  the 
subject,  he  would  promptly  decline,  we  decided  to  do  it  "  on  the 
sly."  Shortly  before  the  convention  reached  that  order  of  business, 
however,  a  delegate  dropped  into  Mr.  Weed's  room  and  let  out  the 
secret.  Mr.  Weed  immediately  sent  for  several  influential  delegates, 
who,  he  well  knew,  must  be  at  the  bottom  of  the  plan,  to  whom  he 
said,  "  This  is  very  kind  of  you,  and  I  appreciate  the  honor  so  highly, 
that,  if  I  do  not  suggest  a  better  name,  I  will  consent  to  leave  the  con 
vention  to  do  as  it  pleases."  His  friends  admitted  that  this  was  fair, 
but  expressed  doubts  whether  any  name  could  be  so  acceptable.  Mr. 
Weed  replied  that  he  felt  sure  that  they  would  cordially  approve  of 
that  which  he  was  about  to  suggest,  adding  that,  in  his  judgment,  the 
best  name  to  be  associated  with  Gerrit  Smith  as  elector-at-large,  was 
that  of  Frederick  Douglass.  This  suggestion  was  received  with  great 
satisfaction,  and  was  responded  to  by  acclamation  in  the  convention. 
The  nominations  of  Dix  for  Governor  and  of  Douglass  for  presiden- 

1  In  his  Memoirs  of  John  A.  Dix,  vol.  ii.  p.  175. 


1872.]  NATIONAL   POLITICS   IN  1872.  487 

tial  elector,  possessed  national  significance.  Dix  had  struck  the  first 
high,  clear-ringing  note  for  the  Union  in  his  order  to  shoot  the  first 
man  who  attempted  to  haul  down  the  American  flag.  Douglass  pos 
sessed  not  only  the  courage  to  emancipate  himself  from  slavery,  but 
the  intelligence  to  raise  himself  to  intellectual  equality  with  the  most 
gifted  of  our  race.  He  had  fairly  earned  the  distinction  which  his  nomi 
nation  conferred,  and  such  a  recognition  of  an  enlightened  freedman 
appealed  forcibly  to  colored  voters  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States. 

Except  in  the  year  1852,  when  he  was  in  Europe,  Mr.  Weed 
up  to  this  time  had  always  been  actively  interested  in  the  na 
tional  conventions  of  his  party.  In  1872,  when  General  Grant 
was  renominated,  the  regime  of  former  days  was  not  without 
representation  at  the  Republican  convention,  but  Mr.  Weed 
was  not  present.  Several  of  his  old  friends  —  A.  Carter 
Wilder,  Pierre  C.  Van  Wyck,  and  others  —  were  among  the 
delegates  from  New  York,  but  those  delegates  now  began  to 
represent  new  political  predilections  and  personalities. 

Although  he  had  favored  General  Grant's  nomination  in 
1868,  Mr.  Weed  was  emphatically  opposed  to  renominating  that 
distinguished  gentleman.  At  one  time,  in  1872,  he  hoped  that 
he  might  aid  a  third  member  of  the  Adams  family  in  reaching 
the  presidency.  It  was  believed  that  the  opposition  to  Gen 
eral  Grant,  discreetly  guided,  would  prove  irresistible,  and  the 
name  of  Charles  Francis  Adams  came  prominently  forward  as 
that  of  a  candidate  in  whose  support  the  anti-Grant  vote  might 
be  easily  united.  Several  weeks  before  it  was  time  to  take  defi 
nite  steps,  Mr.  Adams  went  to  New  York  to  embark  for  Europe. 
In  familiar  conversation  with  him  the  night  before  lie  sailed, 
Mr.  Weed  intimated  that  he  would  in  all  probability  hear  of 
his  nomination  for  the  presidency  soon  after  bis  arrival  in 
England.  "  If  such  a  nomination  is  contemplated,"  Mr.  Adams 
replied,  "my  letter,  to  be  published  to-morrow  morning,  will 
render  it  impossible."  The  event  proved  the  accuracy  of  Mr. 
Adams's  remark.  It  became  necessary  at  once  to  abandon  all 
thoughts  of  his  nomination. 

Afterwards,  when  Mr.  Greeley  secured  the  leadership  of  the 
forces  opposed  to  General  Grant,  there  was  for  several  weeks 
every  reason  to  believe  that  he  would  have  a  great  majority  ; 
just  as  it  was  thought,  in  July  and  August,  1880,  that  General 
Hancock  would  defeat  his  Republican  competitor. 


488  MEMOIR.  [1872. 

When  Mr.  Greeley  was  a  candidate  for  Governor  or  Lieuten 
ant-Governor,  in  1854,  and  for  United  States  Senator,  in  1861, 
Mr.  Weed  withheld  his  support,  for  reasons  which  have  been 
explained  in  the  course  of  this  narrative.  It  remains  to  explain 
why  support  was  withheld  when  Mr.  Greeley  was  a  candidate 
for  State  Comptroller,  in  18G9 ;  a  candidate  for  Member  of 
Congress  in  1870 ;  and  the  Democratic  candidate  for  President 
in  1872. 

[MR.    WEED    TO    THOMAS    C.    ACTOX.] 

NEW  YORK,  October  10,  1870. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  A  year  ago,  when  you  made  an  earnest  appeal  for 
my  vote  in  favor  of  Mr.  Greeley,  then  a  candidate  for  State  Compr 
troller,  you  urged,  very  properly,  assuming  that  I  had  personal  grounds 
for  refusing  him  support,  that  these  should  yield  to  public  considera 
tions.  I  readily  acquiesced  in  that  view  of  the  question,  and  resolved 
to  govern  my  action  in  accordance  with  it.  I  examined  calmly  the 
relative  qualifications  of  the  two  candidates.  Mr.  Greeley  had  been 
educated  a  printer,  and  had  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  his  profes 
sion.  He  had,  therefore,  no  knowledge  or  experience  in  respect  to  the 
duties  of  the  office  of  Comptroller.  Nor  were  his  talents,  his  habits, 
or  his  tastes  adapted  to  financial  duties.  The  idea  that  the  editor  of  a 
leading  daily  journal  could  so  divide  his  time  between  New  York  and 
Albany  as  to  discharge  the  duties  of  Comptroller  in  addition  to  those 
of  editor  seemed  to  me  preposterous. 

The  office  of  Comptroller  is  most  laborious  and  responsible.  I 
have  known  its  incumbents  for  considerably  more  than  half  a  century. 
Among  them  were  Archibald  Mclntyre,  John  Savage,  William  L. 
Marcy,  Silas  Wright,  Jr.,  Azariah  C.  Flagg,  John  A.  Collier,  Millard 
Filhnore,  Washington  Hunt,  Philo  C.  Fuller,  James  M.  Cook,  Thomas 
Hillhouse,  and  others  distinguished  for  ability  and  industry,  not  one 
of  whom  ever  attempted  to  attend  to  any  other  business,  and  all  of 
whom  found  constant  and  full  occupation,  physical  and  mental,  in  the 
discharge  of  their  public  duties.  Without  regard  to  other  reasons  for 
withholding  my  vote  for  Mr.  Greeley,  I  considered  those  which  I  have 
stated  sufficient. 

In  his  opponent,  William  F.  Allen,  I  found  a  capable  and  enlight 
ened  man,  with  some  experience,  much  industry,  and  peculiar  fitness 
for  the  duties  of  that  office.  I  had  known  him  first  as  an  able  and 
useful  member  of  our  legislature,  and  next  as  an  eminently  upright 
Judge.  My  only  difficulty,  therefore,  in  deciding  to  vote  for  Mr.  Al 
len  was  that  he  was  a  Democrat  and  a  nominee  of  the  Democratic 
party. 


1872.]  LETTER    TO    THOMAS   C.   ACTON.  489 

But  this  objection  was  obviated  in  my  mind  by  the  fact  —  a  fact 
well  known  to  both  political  parties  —  that  from  the  beginning  of  the 
Rebellion  in  1861,  to  the  end  of  the  war  in  1865,  Judge  Allen  was  an 
avowed,  earnest,  active,  war  Democrat,  and  this  rendered  it  easy  to 
support  him,  as  I  did,  for  Comptroller.  .  .  . 

Mr.  Greeley  now  turns  up  as  a  candidate  for  Congress  from  the  dis 
trict  in  which  I  reside.  You  urge  me  again  to  vote  for  him,  and  I 
have  taken  the  subject  into  calm  and  serious  consideration.  Lifting 
my  thoughts  above  all  things  merely  personal,  I  have  endeavored  to 
ascertain  whether  Mr.  Greeley,  upon  public  grounds,  is  entitled  to  my 
vote.  Having  reached  the  conclusion  that  I  cannot  vote  for  Mr.  Gree 
ley,  I  will  give  you  my  reasons  which,  in  my  judgment,  constitute  a 
perfect  justification. 

For  several  months  before  the  Rebellion,  while  that  question  was 
rife  in  the  Southern  States,  Mr.  Greeley  was  an  avowed,  earnest,  and 
persistent  Secessionist.  As  the  editor  of  a  leading  and  widely-circu 
lating  Republican  journal,  he  exerted  an  influence  at  once  powerful 
and  malign.  Indeed,  but  for  that  influence  it  would  have  been  diffi 
cult,  if  not  impossible,  to  have  withdrawn  North  Carolina,  Tennessee, 
and  Georgia  from  the  Union.  To  show  you  that  I  do  not  state  this 
point  too  strongly,  let  me  refresh  your  memory  with  editorial  extracts 
from  his  newspaper  :  — 

[From  the  "  Tribune  "  of  November  9,  1SGO.] 

If  the  cotton  states  shall  become  satisfied  that  they  can  do  better  out  of 
the  Union  than  in  it,  we  insist  on  letting  them  go  in  peace.  The  right  to 
secede  may  be  a  revolutionary  one,  but  it  exists  nevertheless.  When  any 
considerable  section  of  our  Union  shall  deliberately  resolve  to  go  out,  we  shall 
resist  all  coercive  measures  designed  to  keep  it  in.  We  hope  never  to  live 
in  a  Republic  where  one  section  is  pinned  to  the  other  by  bayonets. 
[From  the  "  Tribune  "  of  November  2C,  I860.] 

If  the  cotton  states  unitedly  and  earnestly  wish  to  withdraw  peacefully 
from  the  Union,  we  think  they  should  and  would  be  allowed  to  go.  Any  at 
tempt  to  compel  them  by  force  to  remain  would  be  contrary  to  the  principles 
enunciated  in  the  immortal  Delaration  of  Independence,  contrary  to  the  fun 
damental  ideas  on  which  human  liberty  is  based. 

[From  the  "  Tribune  "  of  December  17,  1SGO.] 

If  [the  Declaration  of  Independence]  justified  the  secession  from  the 
British  Empire  of  three  millions  of  colonists  in  1776,  we  do  not  see  why  it 
would  not  justify  the  secession  of  five  millions  of  Southrons  from  the  Union 
in  1861. 

[From  the  "  Tribune  "  of  February  23,  1SG1.] 

Whenever  it  shall  be  clear  that  the  great  body  of  the  southern  people  have 
become  conclusively  alienated  from  the  Union,  and  anxious  to  escape  from 
it,  we  will  do  our  best  to  forward  their  views. 


490  MEMOIR.  [1872. 

Such  was  the  language  of  Mr.  Greeley,  and  such  the  teachings  of 
the  "  Tribune  "  during  the  autumn  and  winter  of  1860-1861,  while 
secession  and  rebellion  were  at  work  in  severing  the  Union,  and  while 
states  like  stars  were  dropping  out  of  their  orbits.  A  Governor  of 
South  Carolina  in  urging  that  state  to  inaugurate  treason  informed  his 
hearers  that  the  New  York  "  Tribune  "  had  openly  declared  that  the 
Southern  States  had  as  clear  a  right  to  rebel  against  the  federal 
government  as  the  thirteen  states  in  1776  had  to  rebel  against  the 
government  of  George  the  Third,  adding  that,  "  in  this  emergency  our 
worst  enemies  have  become  our  best  friends." 

The  State  of  Georgia  held  out  long  and  manfully  against  the  traitors 
in  its  legislature  who  advocated  the  ordinance  of  secession,  but  finally 
and  reluctantly  broke  from  its  moorings  when  Robert  Toombs,  in  one 
of  his  vehement  speeches,  produced  and  read  from  the  New  York 
"  Tribune,"  the  articles  from  which  I  have  taken  brief  extracts.  You 
will  see,  therefore,  that  Mr.  Greeley  invited  and  encouraged  the  South 
ern  States  to  go  out  of  the  Union  ;  that  he  promised  them  aid  and 
comfort ;  and  that  he  denied  the  right  of  the  federal  government  to 
interfere.  Why,  then,  is  he  not,  up  to  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  as 
obnoxious  a  Secessionist  as  Jefferson  Davis,  James  M.  Mason,  or  John 
Slidell  ?  Indeed,  if  there  be  any  difference,  Davis,  Mason,  and  Slidell 
occupy  vantage  ground,  for  Mr.  Greeley  has  not  the  excuse  of  being  a 
Southern  man. 

When  the  war  began,  Mr.  Greeley  arrogantly  assumed  the  right 
to  dictate  a  policy  for  the  administration  and  to  command  the  army. 
Long  before  the  President,  Secretary  of  War,  or  the  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  army  deemed  it  prudent  to  make  a  forward  movement, 
Mr.  Greeley  issued  and  reiterated  in  the  "  Tribune  "  his  well-remem 
bered  and  ominous  order  of  "  On  to  Richmond."  And  such  was  its 
power  over  the  minds  of  an  impulsive  people  and  an  impatient  Con 
gress  that,  wholly  unprepared  as  we  were,  our  army  was  prematurely 
forced  into  a  disastrous  battle.  For  that  cruel  slaughter  of  our  undis 
ciplined  troops,  and  for  that  humiliation  to  our  government  and  peo 
ple,  Mr.  Greeley,  in  a  remorseful  moment,  confessed  himself  "  greatly 
to  blame." 

Subsequently,  during  the  darkest  days  of  the  Rebellion,  and  espe 
cially  when,  our  armies  were  defeated,  or  at  bay,  the  "  Tribune  "  either 
howled  for  peace,  or  teemed  with  denunciations  against  the  President 
or  commanders  of  the  Union  army.  In  the  gloomy  autumn  of  1862, 
Mr.  Greeley  headed  a  raid  upon  the  President  in  favor  of  an  Abolition 
Cabinet.  Wendell  Phillips,  who  was  brought  to  New  York  to  further 
that  movement,  made  the  leading  speech.  After  expressing  his  belief 
that  "  Lincoln  himself  is  as  honest  as  a  man  born  in  Kentucky  can  be," 


1872.]  A    WAR   RECORD  REVIEWED.  491 

he  said :  "  But  I  have  no  confidence  in  the  counsels  about  him.  I 
have  no  confidence  in  the  views  of  your  son  of  New  York,  who  stands 
at  his  right  hand  to  guide  the  vessel  of  state  in  this  tremendous 
storm."  In  the  same  speech  Mr.  Phillips  said,  that  in  "  December 

1860,  James  Buchanan  wrote   a  message  to  Congress  which  he   sub 
mitted  to  William  H.  Seward,  and  from  that  time  to  the  4th  of  March, 

1861,  no  fortnight  passed  that  he   did  not  consult  your  New  York 
Senator  in  regard  to  the  policy  of  the  government.  ...  If  the  history 
of  the  closing  months  [of  Buchanan's  administration]  is  written  over 
with  treason,  I  say  that  the  Secretary  of  State  has  his  share  of  the 
responsibility." 

Mr.  Greeley,  who  knew  that  this  charge  of  treason  against  Mr. 
Seward  was  utterly  untrue,  made  himself  tacitly  responsible  for  the 
calumny  by  following  his  leader  with  a  brief  speech,  so  icy  as  to  dis 
hearten  all  the  timid,  and  awaken  the  indignation  of  all  earnest  friends 
of  the  Union.  In  the  speech  referred  to  he  said  :  "  Fellow  citizens  : 
when  this  struggle  commenced,  I  think  I  was  not  as  gay  and  as  san 
guine  as  some  of  you  were.  I  did  not  believe  if  we  had  a  civil  war 
at  all,  it  could  be  a  little  war.  I  did  believe,  and  I  believe  now,  it 
might  have  been  made  a  little  war  by  striking  so  soon,  and  striking 
so  strongly,  that  it  would  not  have  been  a  civil  war  at  all.  We  are 
now  in  the  midst  of  this  war.  I  do  not  see  the  immediate  result  of 
the  war.  I  am  not  sanguine  that,  under  the  leaders  \ve  have,  the  man 
agement  we  have,  an  immediate  triumph  is  at  all  certain.  We  may 
have  that  ;  we  are  more  likely  not  to  have  that." 

Returning  to  the  "  Tribune  "  office  from  Cooper  Institute,  where 
Messrs.  Phillips  and  Greeley  were  delivered  of  speeches,  Mr.  Greeley 
complacently  issued  the  following  comprehensive  edict :  — 

1.  Reorganize  the  Cabinet,  and  compose   it  of  seven  of  the  ablest  and 
most  loyal  men  in  the  whole  country,  —  men  who  thoroughly  believe  in  the 
war,  and  who  do  not  believe  that  loyal  Americans  ought  to  be  treated  as 
chattels. 

2.  Dismiss  from  the    service    every  officer  who  persists   in  caviling  at, 
and  exciting  hostilities  to  the  policy  of  the  government. 

3.  Stop  the  coast  survey,  and  shut  up  the  West  Point  Academy. 

4.  Call  out  the  uniformed  militia  of  the  loyal  states  for  three  months,  and 
employ  them  to  garrison  Washington,  Cincinnati,  St.  Louis,  and  Louisville. 

Such  are  our  notions  of  the  war.  We  cannot  doubt  that  our  soldiers 
will  speedily  put  down  the  Rebellion,  if  our  generals  will  but  let  them. 

During  the  progress  of  the  war  none  were  more  jubilant  over  our 
successes  than  Mr.  Greeley  ;  but  when  reverses  came  his  voice  was 
heard  in  shrill  and  discordant  demands  for  peace.  At  a  time  when 


492  MEMOIR.  [1872. 

a  series  of  discouraging  defeats  had  occasioned  intense  solicitude, 
when  southern  traitors  and  northern  Copperheads  were  rejoicing  in 
the  prospect  of  the  destruction  of  our  government,  Mr.  Greeley,  in  a 
double-leaded  editorial,  said  :  — 

If  after  sixty  days  more  hard  fighting  the  enemy  is  not  beaten,  it  will 
become  the  duty  of  the  Government  to  make  peace  upon  the  best  attainable 
terms. 

Thus  encouraged  and  stimulated  by  this  cowardly  demand  for  peace 
by  the  leading  Republican  journal,  the  enemy  prosecuted  the  war  with 
renewed  confidence  and  vigor. 

Soon  afterwards,  at  the  suggestion  of  W.  C.  Jewett,  Mr.  Greeley 
obtained  the  President's  consent  that  he  might  make  a  peace  pilgrim 
age  to  Canada,  where  George  N.  Sanders  and  other  traitors  were 
hatching  conspiracies  and  raids.  With  these  congenial  spirits  he  was 
so  much  pleased  that  he  reproached  Mr.  Lincoln  for  not  confiding  to 
him  the  power  of  making  "peace  upon  the  best  attainable  terms." 
And  the  conspirators  were  so  charmed  with  Mr.  Greeley  that  one  of 
them  [Clement  Clay]  drew  up  a  call  for  a  public  meeting  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  commending  Mr.  Greeley  for  his  patriotic  and  laudable 
efforts  to  negotiate  a  peace.  That  call  was  sent  to  New  York  by  G. 
W.  McLean,  but  fell  into  the  hands  of  Richard  Schell,  a  loyal  Demo 
crat,  who  "  took  the  responsibility"  of  suppressing  it. 

Jewett's  letter  to  Mr.  Greeley  ran  as  follows :  — 

NIAGARA  FALLS,  July  5,  3864. 

MY  DEAR  MR.  GREELEY,  —  In  reply  to  your  note  I  have  to  advise,  hav 
ing  just  left  Hon.  George  N.  Sanders,  of  Kentucky,  on  the  Canada  side,  I 
am  authorized  to  state  to  you,  for  our  use  only  —  not  the  public  —  that  the 
ambassadors  of  Davis  &  Co.  are  now  in  Canada  with  full  and  complete 
powers  for  a  peace.  And  Mr.  Sanders  requests  that  you  come  on  immedi 
ately  to  me  at  the  Cataract  House,  to  have  a  private  interview,  or  if  you  will 
send  the  President's  protection  for  him  and  two  friends,  they  will  come  on 
and  meet  you.  He  says  the  whole  matter  can  be  consummated  by  me,  you, 
them,  and  President  Lincoln.  Yours,  W.  C.  JEWETT. 

With  no  other  or  better  reason  or  authority  than  this  letter  Mr. 
Greeley  immediately  assumed  the  language  and  authority  of  a  diplo 
matist,  and  wrote  a  long,  suggestive  letter  to  the  President,  of  which 
the  following  is  an  extract :  — 

NEW  YORK,  July  7,  1864. 

I  venture  to  inclose  to  you  a  letter  and  telegraphic  dispatch  which  I  re 
ceived  yesterday  from  our  irrepressible  friend,  Colorado  Jewett,  at  Niagara 


1872.]  ILL-TIMED  PRESSURE  FOR  PEACE.  493 

Falls.  I  think  they  deserve  attention,  as  evidencing  the  anxiety  of  the  Con 
federates  everywhere  for  peace,  and  therefore  I  venture  to  remind  you  that 
our  bleeding,  bankrupt,  almost  dying  country,  which  longs  for  peace,  shud 
ders  at  the  prospect  of  fresh  conscriptions,  of  further  wholesale  devastations, 
and  of  new  rivers  of  human  blood  ;  and  a  wide-spread  conviction  that  the 
government  and  its  prominent  supporters  are  not  anxious  for  peace,  and 
do  not  improve  proffered  opportunities  to  achieve  it,  is  doing  great  harm 
now,  etc.,  etc. 

Do  not,  I  entreat  you,  fail  to  make  the  southern  people  comprehend  that 
you  and  all  of  us  are  anxious  for  peace,  and  prepared  to  grant  liberal 
terms. 

Mr.  President,  I  fear  that  you  do  not  realize  how  intently  the  people  desire 
any  peace,  consistent  with  the  national  integrity  and  honor,  and  how  joyfully 
they  would  hail  its  achievement  and  bless  its  authors. 

Accompanying  this  letter  was  Mr.  Greeley's  plan  of  adjustment,  in 
which  he  proposed  to  pay  four  hundred  million  dollars,  which  sum  was 
to  be  apportioned  pro  rata  among  the  Slave  States,  and  placed  at  the 
absolute  disposal  of  their  respective  legislatures.  In  a  subsequent  let 
ter,  Mr.  Greeley  informed  the  President  that  Clement  Clay,  of  Ala 
bama,  and  Jacob  Thompson,  of  Mississippi,  were  the  peace  commis 
sioners  referred  to.  Before  the  bubble  burst,  the  following  letter  was 
received  from  Sanders  :  — 

CLIFTON  HOUSE,  NIAGARA  FALLS,  C.  W.,  July  12,  1864. 

DEAR  SIR, —  I  am  authorized  to  say  that  the  Hon.  Clement  C.  Clay,  of 
Alabama  ;  Professor  James  P.  Holcombe,  of  Virginia  ;  and  George  N.  San 
ders,  of  Dixie,  are  ready  and  willing  to  go  at  once  to  Washington,  upon  com 
plete  and  unqualified  protection  being  given  either  by  the  President  or  Secre 
tary  of  War.  Let  the  permission  include  the  three  names  and  one  other. 
Very  respectfully,  GEORGE  N.  SANDERS. 

HON.  HORACE  GREELEY. 

To  Mr.  Greeley's  importunities  Mr.  Lincoln  finally  yielded,  and  in 
a  letter  to  Mr.  Greeley  said  :  — 

If  you  can  find  any  person,  anywhere,  professing  to  have  any  proposition 
of  Jefferson  Davis  in  writing  for  peace,  embracing  the  restoration  of  the 
Union  and  the  abandonment  of  slavery,  say  to  him,  he  may  come  to  me  with 
you,  and  that  he  shall  have  safe  conduct  to  the  point  where  you  shall  have 
met  him  ;  the  same  if  there  be  two  or  more  persons. 

That,  however,  did  not  satisfy  Mr.  Greeley,  who  required  something 
more  definite,  and  Mr.  Lincoln,  after  another  letter,  in  which  he  said, 
"  I  not  only  intend  a  sincere  effort  for  peace,  but  I  intend  that  you 
shall  be  a  personal  witness  that  it  is  made,"  sent  his  secretary  to  New 
York,  with  an  authority  to  guarantee  the  safety  of  Mr.  Greeley's  Con 
federate  friends  in  their  proposed  journey  to  Washington.  In  accord- 


494  MEMOIR.  [1872. 

ance  with  that  authority,  Mr.  Greeley  departed  for   Canada  with  the 
following  order  in  his  pocket :  — 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  directs  that  the  four  persons  whose 
names  follow,  i.  e.,  the  Hon.  Clement  C.  Clay,  the  Hon.  Jacob  Thompson, 
Prof.  James  B.  Holcombe,  and  George  N.  Sanders,  shall  have  safe  conduct 
to  the  city  of  Washington,  in  company  with  the  Hon.  Horace  Greeley,  and 
shall  be  exempt  from  arrest  and  annoyance  of  any  kind  from  any  officer  of 
the  United  States  during  their  journey  to  the  said  city  of  Washington. 

BY  ORDER   OF   THE   PRESIDENT. 

JOHN  HAY,  Major  and  A.  A.  G. 

On  his  arrival  in  Canada,  Mr.  Greeley  despatched  Colorado  Jewett 
with  a  letter  to  the  Confederates,  informing  them  that  he  had  an  order 
from  the  President  guaranteeing  their  protection,  and  inviting  them 
to  accompany  him  to  Washington,  whereupon  the  mountain  proved  to 
he  a  mole  hill. 

To  Mr.  Greeley's  letter  inclosing  the  President's  protection  Messrs. 
Clay  and  Holcombe  replied,  expressing  their  "regret  that  the  safe 
conduct  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  has  been  tendered  us 
under  some  misapprehension  of  facts.  We  are  not  accredited  to  him 
from  Richmond  as  bearers  of  propositions  looking  to  the  establish 
ment  of  peace  ;  but  we  feel  authorized  to  declare  that,  if  the  circum 
stances  disclosed  in  this  correspondence  were  communicated  to  Rich 
mond,  we  would  be  at  once  invested  with  the  authority  to  which  your 
letter  refers.  We  respectfully  solicit,  through  your  intervention,  a  safe 
conduct  to  Washington,  and  thence,  by  any  route  which  may  be  desig 
nated,  through  your  lines  to  Richmond.  We  would  be  gratified  if  Mr. 
George  Sanders  was  embraced  in  this  privilege." 

Any  other  man  but  Mr.  Greeley,  on  finding  himself  thus  duped  and 
trifled  with,  would  have  thrown  up  the  diplomatic  sponge.  But  Mr. 
Greeley  sent  a  telegram  to  the  President,  admitting  that  he  did  not 
find  the  gentlemen  referred  to  so  empowered  as  he  was  previously  as 
sured,  and  forwarding  their  request  for  the  President's  safe  conduct  to 
Richmond. 

To  this  telegram  the  President  responded  as  follows  :  — 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION,  WASHINGTON,  July  18,  1864. 

TO   WHOM   IT   MAY    CONCERN  :  — 

Any  proposition  which  embraces  the  restoration  of  peace,  the  integrity  of 
the  whole  Union,  and  the  abandonment  of  slavery,  and  which  comes  by  and 
with  an  authority  that  can  control  the  armies  now  at  war  against  the  United 
States,  will  be  received  and  considered  by  the  Executive  Government  of  the 


1872.]  ILL-TIMED  PRESSURE  FOR  PEACE.  495 

United  States,  and  will  be  met  by  liberal  terms  on  substantial  and  collateral 
points,  and  the  bearer  or  bearers  thereof  shall  have  safe  conduct  both  ways. 
(Signed)  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

To  this  offer  of  the  President  the  Confederate  agents  replied  in  a 
long  letter  to  Mr.  Greeley,  from  which  the  following  is  an  extract :  — 

If  there  is  any  citizen  of  the  Confederate  States  who  has  clung  to  a  hope 
that  peace  was  possible  with  this  administration  of  the  federal  government, 
it  will  strip  from  their  eyes  the  last  film  of  such  a  delusion  ;  or  if  there  be 
any  whose  hearts  have  grown  faint  under  the  suffering  and  agony  of  this 
bloody  struggle,  it  will  inspire  them  with  fresh  energy  to  endure  and  bear 
whatever  may  be  requisite  to  preserve  to  themselves  and  children  all  that 
gives  dignity  and  value  to  life,  or  hope  or  consolation  to  death.  And  if  there 
be  an}*  patriots  or  Christians  in  your  land  who  shrink  appalled  from  the  il 
limitable  vista  of  private  misery  and  public  calamity  which  stretches  before 
them,  we  pray  that  in  their  bosoms  a  resolution  will  be  quickened  to  recall 
the  abused  authority  and  vindicate  the  outraged  civilization  of  their  coun 
try. 

And  here,  for  the  time  being,  ended  Mr.  Greeley's  miserable  nego 
tiations  for  peace.  He  left  Canada,  however,  with  friendly  feelings 
for  conspirators  whose  last  letter  to  him  expressed  the  hope  that  our 
people  would  "  recall  "  the  "  authority  "  which  President  Lincoln  had 
"  abused,"  and  we  have  George  Sanders'  authority  for  saying  that  Mr. 
Greeley  expressed  his  regret  that  President  Lincoln's  conduct  had  not 
been  that  of  a  gentleman.  Sanders  is  not  a  witness  on  whose  veracity 
I  should  rely ;  but  it  is  well  known  that  Mr.  Greeley  was  highly  exas 
perated  with  the  President. 

Before  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  renorninated  in  1864  by  the  national 
Republican  convention,  Mr.  Greeley  led  a  movement  in  favor  of  a 
radical  convention  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  for  the  purpose  of  nominating 
a  rival  Republican  candidate.  He  wrote  letters  to  Republicans  in 
New  England,  urging  them  to  join  in  this  movement,  —  a  movement 
which  could  have  no  other  effect  than  to  surrender  the  government  of 
the  Union  into  the  hands  of  its  enemies.  .  .  .  When  the  war  was  finally 
over  ;  when  a  peace  had  been  achieved,  —  not  by  the  cowardly  croak- 
ings  of  the  "  Tribune  "  nor  the  officious  or  ill-omened  negotiations  of 
Messrs.  Greeley  and  Blair,  but  by  the  gallantry  of  Grant,  Sherman, 
Thomas,  Sheridan,  and  Farragut,  and  the  courage  and  fidelity  of  the 
soldiers  and  sailors  under  their  command,  —  Mr.  Greeley,  faithful  to 
his  promise  to  those  whom  he  had  inveigled  into  secession,  rushed  to 
Richmond  for  the  purpose  of  releasing  Jefferson  Davis  from  imprison 
ment.  Simultaneously  he  proclaimed  universal  amnesty  for  rebels, 
including  those  who  had  conspired  to  burn  New  York,  to  introduce 


496  MEMOIR.  [1872. 

contagion  into  our  cities,  and  to  assassinate  the  President !  He  then 
wrote  to  Mr.  Breckenridge  and  other  traitors,  inviting  them  to  return 
to  a  country  which  they  had  deluged  in  blood,  and  to  enjoy  the  pro 
tection  of  a  government  which  they  had  endeavored  to  destroy. 

This  is  a  truthful  record  of  Mr.  Greeley's  sentiments,  sympathies, 
and  actions  on  the  questions  of  secession,  rebellion,  and  war.  .  .  .  For 
how  many  millions  of  treasure  and  how  many  thousands  of  lives  he  is 
responsible,  I  will  not  undertake  to  say.  But  I  will  say  that,  while 
these  undeniable  facts  are  fresh  in  my  memory,  he  will  not  receive  my 
vote. 

And  now,  after  a  few  words  in  relation  to  his  fitness  for  legislative 
duties,  I  will  bring  this  long  letter  to  a  close.  The  act  of  our  legisla 
ture  authorizing  the  call  of  a  convention  to  amend  our  Constitution 
contained  a  provision  which  secured  the  election  of  thirty  delegates  by 
a  practically  unanimous  vote.1  Its  object  was  to  secure  the  services 
of  fifteen  of  the  ablest  and  most  experienced  men  in  either  of  the  two 
great  political  parties  of  our  State.  Mr.  Greeley  engineered  the  Re 
publican  state  convention,  and,  although  urged  to  place  on  the  ticket 
such  men  as  Hamilton  Fish,  Francis  Granger,  George  AY.  Patterson, 
Alexander  S.  Johnson,  John  K.  Porter,  Charles  P.  Kirkland,  Edward 
Dodd,  John  A.  Kennedy,  or  Richard  P.  Marvin  (several  of  whom  had 
been  enlightened  members  of  the  third  constitutional  convention),  he 
refused  to  do  so,  preferring  as  colleagues,  for  the  most  part,  a  very 
different  class  of  men.  In  conversation  he  had  often  expressed  a  de 
sire  to  be  a  delegate  to  such  a  convention,  believing,  as  he  said,  that  his 
services  Avould  be  useful  to  the  people.  In  the  late  convention  there 
was  a  decided  majority  of  Republicans.  Mr.  Greeley,  therefore,  found 
himself  with  congenial  associations  and  surroundings  ;  but  the  first  few 
days  disclosed  the  fact  that  he  was  out  of  his  element.  .  .  .  Long  be 
fore  the  convention  brought  its  labors  to  a  close,  he  gathered  up  his 
effects,  and,  pronouncing  an  unclerical  benediction  upon  his  colleagues, 
left  the  Capitol.  The  result  was,  that,  instead  of  framing  a  wise  and 
beneficent  constitution,  so  much  needed  by  the  changed  condition  and 
circumstances  of  our  people,  several  months  were  lost  in  profitless  de 
bates,  resulting  finally  in  the  production  of  an  instrument  that  was 
rejected  by  the  electors.  That  failure  added  nearly  half  a  million  of 
dollars  to  our  state  debt. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  you  will  not,  I  feel  assured,  complain  of  my 
second  refusal  to  support  Mr.  Greeley.  My  congressional  vote  will  be 
given  to  James  W.  Booth,  who,  though  not  a  candidate,  is  a  Republi 
can  of  unquestioned  patriotism. 

Very  truly  yours,  THURLOW  WEED. 

1  The  reference  is  to  the  constitutional  convention  of  1867-18G8. 


1872.]  RESULTS   OF   THE  ELECTION.  497 

At  the  election  in  the  fall  of  1872,  General  Dix  received 
445,801  as  the  Republican  candidate  for  Governor,  against 
392,350  cast  for  Francis  Kernan. 

Mr.  Greeley  lost  strength  constantly  from  the  day  of  his  nom 
ination  until  the  polls  closed.  He  was  defeated  by  General 
Grant,  and  died  before  the  meeting  of  the  Electoral  College. 

32 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

1873-1875. 

RESUMPTION  OF  SPECIE  PAYMENTS.  —  GAMBLING  IN  GOLD  AND  GRAIN. 

—  THE    "  EIGHT   HOUR  LAW."  —  DEGENERATION  AT  WASHINGTON. — 
AN  ALARMING  SIGN  OF  THE  TIMES.  —  GOVERNOR  Dix  TO  MR.  WEED. 

—  THE  INEFFICIENCY  OF  CONGRESS.  —  ELECTIONS  OF  1874.  —  CAUSES 
OF  THE  REPUBLICAN  REVERSE.  —  MR.  WEED  TO  GOVERNOR  Dix. — A 
POLITICAL  RESUME'. 

IT  is  the  privilege,  or  at  any  rate  the  practice,  of  old  men  to 
lament  and  condemn  modern  political  incapacity  and  misman 
agement.  Nor  is  the  fact  that  they  do  cause  for  complaint 
or  wonder.  Saying  nothing  of  certain  vast  blunders  since  the 
year  1860,  was  there  no  provocation  for  indignant  censure  in 
the  series  of  events  which  culminated  in  the  disastrous  financial 
convulsions  of  1873? 

"Without  impeaching  the  motives  or  intentions  of  leading 
representatives  in  Congress  at  the  close  of  the  Rebellion,"  wrote 
Mr.  Weed  in  the  year  last  named,  "  I  confidently  assume  that 
they  signally  failed  to  render  the  service  which  the  emergency 
demanded.  It  is  enough  to  refer  to  the  failure  to  consolidate 

O 

the  national  debt,  and  to  reduce  the  rate  of  interest  from  six  to 
five  per  cent.  This,  had  the  question  been  wisely  matured, 
might  have  been  accomplished,  thus  relieving  the  people  from 
one  sixth  part  of  their  annual  burden.  .  .  . 

"  The  government  and  people  are  losing  a  golden  opportu 
nity.  Both  should  insist  peremptorily  upon  resumption  of  specie 
payments.  The  obstacles  which  stand  in  the  way  of  this  con 
summation  would  be  brushed  aside  by  a  vigorous  movement. 
Sustained  by  the  people  and  the  press,  the  government  would 
encounter  less  difficulty  than  is  apprehended.  .  .  .  Resumption 
is  hindered  by  the  artificial  rather  than  by  the  intrinsic  value  of 
gold.  If,  as  in  apostolic  days,  the  tables  of  the  money-changers 
could  be  upset,  our  eyes  and  hearts  would  soon  be  brightened 
and  gladdened  by  the  reappearance  of  specie. 


1873.]  GAMBLING  IN  GOLD  AND   GRAIN.  499 

"  If,  as  was  generally  conceded,  the  temporary  closing  of  the 
Stock  Exchange  was  a  relief,  would  not  the  abolition  or  demoli 
tion  of  the  Gold  Exchange  be  a  positive  blessing  ?  Indeed,  it  is 
almost  certain  that  if  the  purchase  and  sale  of  gold  '  on  time  ' 
could  be  prohibited  for  ninety  days,  resumption,  without  other 
aid,  would  be  an  accomplished  fact.  The  causes  which  retard 
our  returning  to  specie  payments  are  just  as  patent  as  those 
which  occasion  existing  financial  derangements,  —  derangements 
wholly  unnecessary,  so  far  as  the  general  business  of  the  country 
is  concerned.  Our  agricultural  and  commercial  circumstances 
and  conditions  were  never  more  prosperous.  The  evils  from 
which  we  are  now  suffering  are  the  legitimate  fruits  of  gam 
bling,  —  gambling  in  its  worst  forms  and  aspects,  because  while 
faro  bank  gambling  injures  only  those  who  put  down  their 
money,  Wall  and  Broad  street  gamblers  rob  and  ruin  thousands 
who  suppose  their  earnings  advantageously  invested  or  safely 
deposited.  In  other  words,  half  a  dozen  individuals,  whom  I 
could  name  as  leading  gamblers  in  Wall  and  Broad  streets,  do 
vastly  more  public  harm,  and  are  more  rapacious  and  profligate 
men,  than  the  same  number  of  reputed  gamblers  doing  busi 
ness  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel. 

"  In  some  emergencies  vigilance  committees  have  been  found 
to  be  not  only  a  necessity  but  a  salutary  remedy  for  universal 
and  overwhelming  crimes  and  vices.  The  highest  and  most 
beneficent  expressions  of  justice  have  occasionally  been  revealed 
in  an  unwritten  code  familiarly  known  as  lynch  law.  If  the 
chief  gamblers  who  occasioned  the  gold  panic  of  18G9,  and  the 
North  West  '  corner '  of  1872,  together  with  the  usurers  who 

'  O 

brought  about  a  state  of  things  which  enabled  them  to  loan 
money  at  one  per  cent,  a  day,  had  been  suspended  by  the  neck 
in  the  streets  which  they  desecrate,  the  city  would  now  be 
exempt  from  present  and  prospective  sufferings. 

"  The  future  of  our  country  is  by  no  means  unclouded.  There 
are  specks  on  its  horizon  bigger  than  a  man's  hand.  Genera 
tions  of  idlers  grow  up  to  consume  what  their  fathers  produced. 
Agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts  are  neglected.  The  practical 
industries  of  the  country  languish.  Without  emigration  we 
should  be  unable  to  cultivate  the  soil  or  supply  our  manufactur 
ing  establishments  and  workshops.  Parents  no  longer  charge 
themselves  with  the  duty  of  preparing  their  sons  by  precept  and 


500  MEMOIR.  [1873. 

example  for  lives  of  industry  and  usefulness.  Hence  we  have 
an  army  of  young  men  seeking  a  precarious  subsistence  in  offices 
or  clerkships,  ending  sooner  or  later  in  destitution  and  suffering. 
.  .  The  amount  of  gold  annually  expended  abroad  is  computed 
at  over  one  hundred  millions,  every  dollar  of  which  is  practi 
cally  sunk,  for  even  the  passage-money  goes  into  the  pockets  of 
Europeans,  for  the  support  of  foreign,  to  the  exclusion  of  Amer 
ican  commerce.  .  .  .  The  moral  of  all  this  is  that  our  country  has 
grown  too  rich.  Nations,  like  individuals,  are  most  happy  and 
virtuous  while  by  industry  and  frugality  they  are  making  their 
fortunes.  It  requires  great  wisdom  and  thoughtfulness,  there 
fore,  on  the  part  of  the  government,  the  press,  and  those  who 
mould  opinion,  to  guide  and  guard  the  people  against  the  fatal 
consequences  of  idleness  and  luxury. 

"  There  is  a  significance  in  the  proceedings  at  Cooper  Institute 
which  should  not  be  lost  upon  considerate  and  reflecting  minds. 
There  is  no  element  among  us  so  pregnant  with  mischief  and 
evil  as  the  doctrines  taught  by  '  internationals  '  or  '  communists.' 
That  spirit  crops  out  in  the  proceedings  of  those  who  call  them 
selves  4  workingmen,'  a  class  which  labors  most  diligently  and 
assiduously  to  obtain  the  largest  amount  of  money  for  the  small 
est  pretense  of  work.  Unhappily,  the  legislature  was  induced 
to  pass  an  eight-hour  law,  which  not  only  lends  the  sanction  of 
authority  to  idlers,  but  affords  them  abundant  leisure  to  extend 
their  pernicious  organizations.  Among  the  most  injurious  ef 
fects  of  trades-unions  is  the  restriction  imposed  upon  master- 
mechanics  in  regard  to  apprentices.  Thousands  of  boys  who 
formerly  learned  trades  by  means  of  which  they  became  useful 
citizens  are  now  denied  that  privilege  by  the  despotism  of 
unions,  a  power  unknown  to  our  government  and  hostile  to  its 
principles.  In  a  few  years,  if  this  alarming  evil  is  not  reformed, 
we  shall  have  no  American  artisans  or  mechanics.  I  earnestly 
hope  that  there  will  be  wisdom  and  firmness  enough  in  the  next 
legislature  to  repeal  the  eight-hour  law,  and  to  declare  illegal 
all  combinations  to  limit,  restrict,  restrain,  or  embarrass  master 
mechanics  from  receiving  as  many  apprentices  as  may  be  re 
quired  for  the  successful  carrying  forward  of  the  various  indus 
tries  of  the  country. 

"I  cannot  reason  or  persuade  myself  out  of  the  conviction 
that  changes  in  reference  to  public  affairs  have  not  been  in  the 


1873.]    STATESMEN  OF  PURE  CHARACTER  NEEDED.    501 

right  direction.  The  class  of  public  men  by  which  oar  govern 
ment  and  institutions  were  inaugurated,  and  those  who  for  the 
thirty  or  forty  years  immediately  succeeding  occupied  the  exec 
utive,  legislative,  and  judicial  departments  of  the  government, 
gave  their  thoughts  and  their  time  to  the  enactment  and  execu 
tion  of  laws  calculated  to  promote  the  general  welfare.  Those 
men  have  passed  away.  And  where  are  their  successors  ? 
Where  are  we  to  look  now  for  the  wisdom  which  inspired  Con 
gress  in  the  earlier  and  better  days  of  the  Republic?  To  say 
nothing  of  the  more  distinguished  men  whose  names  are  famil 
iar  to  every  household,  where  shall  we  look  for  successors  to 
John  Sargent,  of  Pennsylvania,  Elisha  Whittlesey  and  Samuel 
F.  Yinton,  of  Ohio,  Truman  Smith,  of  Connecticut,  John  Davis, 
of  Massachusetts,  Gulian  C.  Yerplanck  and  Victory  Birdseye, 
of  New  York?  .  .  .  Statesmanship  in  Congress  is  now  so  low 
that  it  will  take  many  years  to  build  it  up  to  a  higher  tone. 
Probably  the  most  influential  man  in  Congress  to-day  is  Ben 
jamin  F.  Butler,  —  as  he  is  the  worst.  Massachusetts  never 
served  the  country  so  badly  as  when  she  sent  General  Butler  to 
Congress.  It  is  an  alarming  sign  of  the  times  that  a  man  of  his 
astuteness  thinks  that  the  course  he  chooses  to  adopt  is  one  which 
will  give  him  a  large  following." 

[(iOVERXOR    DIX    TO    MR.    WEED.] 

ALBANY,  January  9,  1874. 

DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  I  cannot  tell  you  how  gratified  and  flattered 
I  am  by  your  commendation  of  my  message.  I  can  sincerely  say  that 
there  is  no  quarter  from  which  such  a  testimonial  would  be  more  grate 
fully  received.  .  .  . 

I  think  it  would  be  the  gravest  of  political  errors  to  treat  the  Liber 
als  with  coldness,  or  to  repel  them  if  they  desire  to  unite  with  their  old 
associates ;  but  I  have  had  no  communication  with  any  of  them,  politi 
cally,  since  1872. 

March  30,  1874. 

I  have  taken  a  step,  in  the  favorable  result  of  which  I  have  not  much 
confidence,  to  save  the  country  and  the  Republican  party  from  a  disas 
trous  reverse.  I  inclose  you  a  copy  of  a  letter  which  goes  by  mail  to 
day  to  the  President  ...  to  induce  him  to  resist  any  further  inflation 
of  the  currency.  Yours  ever,  JOHX  A.  DIX. 


502  MEMOIR.  [1874. 

[MR.    WEED   TO   THE    SPEAKER    OF   THE    NEW   YORK   ASSEMBLY.] 

NEW  YORK,  February  6,  1874. 

SIRj  —  The  resolutions  offered  by  the  Hon.  Mr.  Batcheller,  and 
adopted  by  the  Assembly,  tendering  to  me  the  privileges  of  the  floor 
of  the  House,  an  engrossed  copy  of  which  resolutions  you,  in  company 
with  the  clerk,  had  the  kindness  personally  to  present,  impress  me  with 
a  deep  but  pleasant  sense  of  the  honor  they  confer.  I  am  still  more 
profoundly  impressed  with  a  sense  of  Divine  favor  in  being  among 
the  very  few  members  elected  to  the  legislature  in  1824  spared  to 
become  the  recipient  of  such  flattering  recognition  by  the  legislature 
of.1874. 

Of  the  members  of  that  Assembly,  so  far  as  I  am  informed,  there 
are  beside  myself  but  three  survivors.  The  Hon.  James  D.  Mott,  a 
highly  respected  citizen  of  Seneca  County,  although  upon  the  shady 
side  of  eighty,  is  in  the  enjoyment  of  mental  and  physical  health.  The 
Hon.  James  R.  Lawrence,  an  eminent  member  of  the  Onondaga  bar, 
who  is  also  past  his  eightieth  year,  though  as  blind  as  Belisarius,  enjoys 
good  health,  and  is  passing  the  evening  of  life  cheerfully.  The  legis 
lative  experience  of  the  other  survivor,  Mr.  Quackenboss,  was  excep 
tional,  he  having  at  different  periods  represented  four  different  con 
stituencies.  He  was  elected  to  the  Assembly  from  Delaware  County 
in  1824,  from  Greene  County  in  1829,  and  from  New  York  in  1835, 
and  to  the  Senate  from  the  Third  District  in  1830. 

The  election  of  1824  brought  several  young  men  of  much  ability  and 
promise  into  public  life.  In  their  subsequent  history  their  aspirations 
were  largely  realized.  Samuel  Stevens,  of  Washington  County,  re 
moved  to  Albany  and  devoted  himself  to  his  profession  with  distin 
guished  success.  Robert  Monell,  of  Chenango,  became  successively  a 
member  of  Congress  and  Circuit  Judge.  Ambrose  L.  Jordan,  of  Co 
lumbia,  was  elected  to  the  Senate  from  the  Third  District  in  1825,  and 
chosen  Attorney- General  in  1846,  after  which  he  removed  to  the  city  of 
New  York.  He  attained  the  first  rank  at  the  bar  of  the  metropolis. 
Of  the  high  executive  and  judicial  officers  of  1824,  the  Hon.  Enos  T. 
Throop,  now  in  his  ninety-first  year,  is  the  only  survivor. 

In  one  respect  I  have  been  privileged  probably  beyond  any  citizen  of 
the  State.  While  a  member  of  the  Assembly  of  1830,  the  Albany 
"  Evening  Journal "  was  established,  and  from  that  time  until  1862  I 
was  personally  acquainted  with  each  and  every  member.  Your  resolu 
tion,  therefore,  opens  a  long  vista  for  reflection.  In  the  seats  which 
you  now  occupy,  so  familiar  to  my  memory,  I  see  and  hear  in  my 
imagination  forms  and  voices  once  elastic  and  eloquent,  but  now  form 
less  and  silent. 


1874.]  LETTER    TO   GENERAL  HUSTED.  503 

Prominent  among  the  legislative  statesmen  to  whom  I  listened  in 
former  days  were  Elisha  Williams,  James  Tallmadge,  James  McKown, 
David  B.  Ogden,  Peter  R.  Livingston^  Ogden  Hoffman,  Thomas  J. 
Oakley,  John  C.  Spencer,  Elisha  W.  King,  Michael  Ulshoeffer,  James 
Mullett,  Henry  G.  Wheaton,  Azariah  C.  Flagg,  Francis  Granger, 
George  R.  Davis,  Millard  Fillmore,  George  W.  Patterson,  George  P. 
Barker,  Peter  Gansevoort,  Silas  M.  Stillwell,  Philo  C.  Fuller,  Samuel 
B.  Ruggles,  Francis  B.  Cutting,  Dudley  Selden,  Charles  Livingston, 
Charles  P.  Clinch,  Michael  Hoffman,  John  A.  King,  Luther  Bradish, 
Greene  C.  Bronson,  John  A.  Dix,  Preston  King,  Abijah  Mann,  Willis 
Hall,  Sanford  E.  Church,  etc.,  of  the  Assembly,  and  Abram  Van 
Vechten,  Cadwallader  D.  Golden,  Silas  Wright,  John  Suydam,  Wil 
liam  H.  Maynard,  William  H.  Seward,  Albert  H.  Tracy,  Gulian  C. 
Verplanck,  Daniel  S.  Dickinson,  Erastus  Root,  A.  B.  Dickinson,  Sam 
uel  Young,  James  M.  Cook,  Benjamin  D.  Silliman,  Richard  P.  Mar 
vin,  Samuel  Gouverneur,  etc.,  of  the  Senate. 

The  remains  of  one  of  my  colleagues  in  the  Assembly  of  1830,  the 
Hon.  Aaron  Vanderpoel,  then  of  stalwart  frame  and  stentorian  voice, 
now  repose  under  the  sod,  scarcely  twenty  feet  from  the  window  of 
my  library,  where  I  am  now  writing.  But  this  letter  is  unconsciously 
reaching  beyond  its  appropriate  limit.  Its  purpose  was  to  convey  to 
the  members  of  the  House  over  which  you  preside  my  thanks  for  the 
honor  they  have  done  me,  and  to  express  the  hope  that,  after  discharg 
ing  the  responsible  duties  of  the  session  —  duties  which,  in  the  present 
financial  condition  of  the  State,  deeply  concern  its  welfare  —  in  a  man 
ner  alike  useful  and  creditable  to  your  constituents  and  yourselves,  you 
may  return  in  health  and  safety  to  your  homes  and  your  friends. 
Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

THUKLOW  WEED. 
Hon.  JAMES  W.  HUSTED,  Speaker,  etc. 

1874.  —  "The  first  session  of  the  present  Congress,"  wrote 
Mr.  Weed,  in  June,  "  approaches  the  day  of  adjournment,  and 
yet  its  first  duty,  the  duty  paramount  to  all  others,  is  no  nearer 
being  accomplished  than  it  was  when  the  session  began.  In 
deed,  the  question  of  resuming  specie  payments,  instead  of  being- 
advanced,  has  been  retarded.  At  the  opening  not  merely  high 
hopes,  but  a  confident  belief  was  universally  cherished.  These 
hopes  and  that  belief  have  been  disappointed.  And  yet  many 
will  not,  cannot,  relinquish  the  idea  that  Congress  will,  ere  the 
session  closes,  discharge  a  duty  which  its  members  cannot  fail 
to  regard  as  indispensable  to  the  honor  of  the  country  and  the 
prosperity  of  the  people. 


504  MEMOIR.  [1874. 

"  Other  governments,  like  our  own,  in  prosecuting  expensive 
wars,  have  been  compelled  to  suspend  specie  payments,  but  on 
the  restoration  of  peace,  those  governments,  in  obedience  to  in 
junctions  of  duty  and  honor,  have  made  it  their  first  business  to 
provide  at  as  early  a  day  as  practicable  for  the  payment  of  their 
debts  in  coin,  thus  restoring  their  varied  industries  to  the  pros 
perous  condition  from  which  they  had  fallen. 

"  Congress  might  have  been  aided  essentially  in  the  discharge 
of  its  financial  duties  by  a  capable  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
The  too-long-delayed,  but  finally  auspicious  change  in  the  head 
of  that  department  may  even  yet  encourage  and  stimulate  Con 
gress.  Of  one  thing  members  may  be  assured,  and  that  is,  if 
they  adjourn  leaving  the  country  in  the  wretched  financial  con 
dition  they  found  it,  the  places  which  know  them  now  will  here 
after  be  unknown  to  most  of  them  forever.  So  strong  will  be 
the  popular  feeling  against  a  delinquent  Congress  that  the  good 
will  be  confounded  with  the  bad. 

"  The  recent  publication  of  the  financial  views  of  the  Presi 
dent,  designed  to  explain  and  fortify  his  veto  message,  —  a  mes 
sage  reflecting  the  highest  credit  upon  his  wisdom  and  courage 
—  is  in  one  respect  at  fault,  and  will,  I  fear,  weaken  the  chances 
of  any  wholesome  legislation.  The  President  has  fallen  into  a 
once  popular  delusion  relating  to  small  bank-notes.  The  at 
tempt  to  exclude  from  circulation  notes  under  the  denomina 
tion  of  $5  was  tried  in  this  State  under  circumstances  as  favor 
able  to  the  success  of  the  experiment  as  could  possibly  exist. 
Belying  then,  as  now,  upon  the  example  of  England  and  France, 
federal  and  state  administrations  demanded  a  specie  currency. 
Our  legislature  passed  a  law  prohibiting  the  issue  by  our  state 
banks  of  any  note  under  the  denomination  of  $5.  The  result 
proved  not  only  inconvenient  and  unsatisfactory  to  every  busi 
ness  interest,  but  accomplished  the  signal  overthrow  of  the  Dem 
ocratic  party  in  this  State  in  1838,  and  the  Union  in  184(X 
What  the  American  people  require,  and  what  will  best  promote 
their  convenience  is  a  mixed  currency,  consisting  of  coin  and 
paper,  the  latter  properly  restricted  and  regulated,  and  convert 
ible  at  all  times  and  places  into  gold  and  silver.  Small  bills 
(not  fractional)  are  a  positive  convenience,  while  the  substitu 
tion  for  them  of  gold  and  silver  would  prove  as  positive  an  in 
convenience.  I  will  not  stop  to  show  why  in  this  respect  our 


1874.]          A    DISASTROUS  POLITICAL  REVERSE.  505 

circumstances  and  conditions  place  the  question  of  small  bills 
upon  a  financial  basis  differing  from  those  which  exist  in  France 
and  England.  But  I  venture  to  affirm  that  of  the  50,000  Amer 
icans  traveling  in  Europe,  ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred 
would  prefer  notes  of  the  value  of  $1,  $2,  $ 5,  and  $10  of  the 
Bank  of  England  to  the  gold  and  silver  with  which  they  are  bur 
dened.  If,  either  by  congressional  or  legislative  action,  the  cir 
culation  of  small  notes  were  prohibited,  the  border  states  from 
Maine  to  Wisconsin  would  be  inundated  with  the  small  bills  of 
Canadian  banks."  .  .  . 

At  the  Republican  convention  in  the  fall  General  Dix  was 
renominated,  but  his  opponent,  Mr.  Tilden,  was  elected  by  a 
majority  nearly  as  great  as  that  by  which  the  State  was  carried 
for  General  Dix  only  two  years  before.  After  learning  of  this 
reverse,  a  distinguished  United  States  Senator,  Mr.  Bayard,  is 
said  to  have  remarked  that  he  would  now  give  up  trying  to  un 
derstand  New  York  politics. 

[GOVERNOR   DIX   TO  MR.   WEED.] 

EXECUTIVE  CHAMBER,  ALBANY,  November  6,  1874. 

DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  The  results  of  the  elections  in  other  states 
indicate  beyond  the  possibility  of  misapprehension  the  true  cause. 
Yet,  if  reports  are  true,  General  Grant  does  not  understand  it  and  is 
confident  of  being  installed  in  public  confidence  in  1876 !  No  doubt 
commercial  depression  had  its  influence  ;  but  the  chief  reason  is  the 
feeling  of  deep-seated  dissatisfaction  with  General  Grant's  administra 
tion. 

It  is  hardly  to  be  expected  that  party  journals  will  admit  the  truth ; 
but  it  is  well  for  us  to  act  upon  it  and  see  now  whether  in  the  ap 
proaching  session  of  Congress  we  can  lay  the  foundation  of  a  recon 
struction  of  the  Republican  party. 

If  General  Grant  cannot  be  made  to  see  that  the  errors  of  his 
administration  have  resulted  in  this  defeat,  I  suppose  there  is  no  alter 
native  but  to  let  everything  drift,  and  trust  for  our  recovery  from  this 
heavy  blow  to  the  errors  of  our  opponents  when  they  shall  come  into 
power.  .  .  . 

I  am  very  much  amazed  at  a  representation  in  the  number  of 
"  Harper's  Weekly,"  which  came  out  yesterday,  of  the  indulgences 
granted  to  Tweed  by  the  Commissioners  of  Charities.  While  this 
malefactor,  with  millions  of  stolen  money  in  his  hands,  is  permitted  to 
live  at  ease  and  to  dress  like  a  gentleman,  convicts  who  have  appro- 


506  MEMOIR.  [1874. 

priated  a  few  dollars  of  other  people's  money  are  compelled  to  wear 
prison  costume  and  submit  to  established  discipline.  It  seems  to  me 
that  this  distinction  is  very  disgraceful  to  all  concerned,  and  I  am  not 
sure  that  it  is  not  my  duty  to  make  an  inquiry. 

Truly  yours,  JOHN  A.  Dix. 

[MR.    WEED   TO   JOHN   A.    DIX.] 

NEW  YORK,  November  7,  1874. 

DEAR  GOVERNOR,  —  There  were  many,  and  I  must  add  sufficient 
provocations  for  the  overthrow  of  the  federal  administration.  Unhap 
pily,  the  Republicans  of  New  York,  or  rather  the  Republican  adminis 
tration  of  New  York,  amid  the  storm,  could  not  be  heard  or  regarded. 
You  were  really  not  in  the  fight.  The  merits  or  demerits  of  your 
administration  were  wholly  ignored.  The  strain  upon  the  party  on 
account  of  incapacity  and  persistent  wrong-doing  at  Washington  was 
too  great  to  be  tolerated.  Under  wise  administration,  specie  pay 
ments  would  have  been  resumed,  and  the  industries  of  the  country 
rendered  moderately  prosperous. 

The  record  from  the  beginning  of  General  Grant's  second  term, 
with  the  single  exception  of  his  anti-inflation  veto,  is  bad,  and  his  re 
fusal  to  disclaim  the  u  third  term  "  accusation  unendurable. 

With  common  sense  and  common  honesty  in  the  party  now  triumph 
ant,  its  full  restoration  to  power  in  1876  is  assured.  But  will  com 
mon  sense  and  common  honesty  return  to  men  so  long  bereft  of  both  ? 
We  shall  see. 

I  have  not  seen  "  Harper's  Weekly,"  and  cannot  understand  why 
you  should  be  in  any  way  associated  with  Tweed's  indulgences.  The 
matter  belongs  to  the  Mayor  and  his  appointees.  If,  however,  what  is 
said  and  feared  proves  true,  Tweed's  condition  is  not  likely  to  be 
made  harder  by  the  result.  A  few  days  before  election  his  friends 
and  money  were  actively  at  work  for  your  opponent. 

Very  truly  yours,  THURLOW  WEED. 

The  Democratic  party  began  the  year  1875  greatly  encour 
aged  and  strengthened  by  Governor  Tilden's  brilliant  victory  in 
New  York.  State  officers  were  to  be  chosen  by  Pennsylvania, 
Massachusetts,  Minnesota,  and  Wisconsin  in  the  fall,  and  it  was 
confidently  expected  that  at  these  elections  emphasis  would  be 
added  to  the  verdict  of  1874.  Nothing  was  easier  than  to 
ascribe  the  general  depression  in  business  to  Republican  corrup 
tion  and  imbecility.  So  popular  became  the  demand  for  a 
change,  that  "  Tilden  and  Reform"  seemed  destined  to  prove 
irresistible  catch-words  in  the  presidential  canvass. 


1875.]  CAUSES   OF  REPUBLICAN  DISASTER.  507 

[MR.    WEED    TO   VIVUS   W.    SMITH.] 

NEW  YORK,  January  30,  1875. 

DEAR  OLD  FRIEXD,  —  Harriet  read  to  me  yesterday  morning  your 
letter  to  Speaker  Elaine,  explanatory  of  the  causes  which  have  over 
thrown  the  Republican  party.  I  listened  to  every  word  with  intense 
interest.  It  is  very  able,  and  in  my  judgment,  for  the  most  part,  very 
wise.  I  greatly  wish  that  the  Republican  city  journals  would  repub- 
lish  it,  for  it  could  not  fail  to  do  much  good. 

The  causes  you  assign  for  our  last  fall's  disastrous  defeat  are  quite 
sufficient  for  the  overthrow  of  any  dominant  party  held  responsible  by 
the  people  for  pervading  financial,  commercial,  manufacturing,  and 
mechanical  derangement  and  distress.  And  yet  this  general  stagna 
tion  in  business  was  inevitable,  resulting  as  it  did  from  the  exhaustive 
consequences  of  a  long  and  expensive  war.  While  no  administration 
could  have  averted  such  evils,  ours,  it  must  be  admitted,  failed  to  do 
much  that  might  have  been  done  to  relieve  and  mitigate  them. 

It  might,  also,  in  doing  some  things  and  in  omitting  to  do  others, 
have  calmed  rather  than  exasperated  popular  feeling.  The  adminis 
tration  was  seriously  weakened  and  wounded  by  the  congressional 
"  back  pay  grab,"  by  Treasury  Department  imbecilities,  by  Sanborn 
contracts,  and  by  Washington  city  government  frauds. 

Still  another  and  damaging  element  entered  into  the  canvass  of 
1874.  I  refer  to  it  reluctantly,  and  only  because  if  we  earnestly  in 
tend  to  recover  our  lost  ascendency  we  must  understand  clearly  the 
causes  of  our  defeat,  that  abuses,  may  be  reformed,  errors  corrected, 
and  illusions  dispelled.  When  the  press  began  to  agitate  about  a 
"  third  term,"  few  men  supposed  that  such  an  idea  was  seriously  en 
tertained.  No  such  thought  found  responsible  expression.  But  the 
agitation  continued  until  considerable  popular  solicitude  was  awakened. 
As  the  elections  approached,  Republicans  grew  apprehensive  and  anx 
ious.  Republican  members  of  Congress  not  only  wrote  to,  but  visited 
Washington  in  the  hope  of  being  authorized  to  contradict  this  accusa 
tion.  But  no  word  was  spoken,  no  sign  given  by  the  only  person  who 
could  by  the  utterance  of  a  single  sentence  have  disarmed  his  oppo 
nents  and  reassured  his  friends. 

There  has  not  been  a  day  or  an  hour  since  General  Washington's 
enlightened  and  patriotic  views,  enforced  and  fortified  by  the  strong, 
clear,  and  conclusive  arguments  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  were  submitted 
to  the  people,  that  any  President,  however  wise,  useful,  and  popular 
may  have  been  his  administration,  could  have  secured  or  approached 
an  election  for  a  "  third  term."  Nor  was  it  ever  alleged  that  Jeffer 
son,  Madison,  Monroe,  or  Jackson  (who  served  two  terms),  either  per- 


508  MEMOIR.  [1875. 

mitted  their  friends  to  entertain  such  an  idea,  or  deluded  themselves 
with  such  an  aspiration.  If  there  be  anything  unalterably  fixed  and 
determined  in  the  American  mind  and  heart,  —  if  there  be  any  one 
principle  to  which  our  people  have  anchored,  it  is  the  "  third  term  " 
example  of  Washington.  And  I  am  devoutly  thankful  that  there  is  so 
much  left  of  the  teachings  of  our  political  fathers  to  which  their  de 
scendants  cling.  These  things,  added  to  the  causes  which  you  so  clearly 
present,  both  explain  and  excuse  the  feeling  which  found  expression 
through  the  ballot-box  against  the  administration. 

The  Republican  party,  for  the  good  work  it  had  done  before  and 
during  the  Rebellion,  ought  to  hold  the  government  at  least  one  or 
two  presidential  terms  longer.  The  Democratic  party,  both  on  ac 
count  of  its  misrule  before  and  its  disloyalty  during  the  Rebellion,  justly 
forfeited  the  confidence  of  the  people.  Nor  has  it  evinced  since  the 
Rebellion  anything  of  the  wisdom  which  formerly  characterized  that 
great  party.  On  the  contrary  its  teachings  and  tendencies  justify  ap 
prehension  that  a  malign  element,  now  as  heretofore,  exerts  a  prepon 
derating  influence  in  its  councils.  Connecticut,  for  example,  having 
returned  a  Democratic  legislature,  elects  a  United  States  Senator 
whose  sentiments  and  proclivities  were  against  the  government  in  its 
struggle  to  suppress  the  Rebellion.  I  am  happy  to  admit,  however, 
that  our  own  legislature  did  not  make  itself  obnoxious  to  this  charge. 
Its  Senator,  Mr.  Kernan,  though  always  a  pronounced  Democrat,  was 
loyal  to  the  government  and  the  Union,  voting  in  Congress  with  his 
loyal  Democratic  colleagues,  Ganson,  Nelson,  Odell,  and  Steele,  for 
men  and  money  to  prosecute  the  war.  It  will  be  useful,  in  our  recu 
perative  efforts,  to  remember  that  the  Republican  administration  was 
beaten  in  1874,  not  by  the  augmented  strength  of  its  opponents,  but  by 
the  alienation  and  apathy  of  its  friends. 

Could  you  and  I  confer  personally  on  the  great  questions  of  the  day, 
our  differences  of  opinion  now,  as  heretofore,  would  be  found  very 
slight.  I  believe  the  resumption  of  specie  payments  entirely  practica 
ble  within  a  reasonable  time,  and  without  serious  injury  to  the  indus 
tries  of  the  country.  It  is  not  so  much  that  specie  is  required  for  gen 
eral  use  or  circulation  as  that  the  people  should  be  assured  that  specie 
can  be  obtained  when  it  is  actually  needed.  A  general  determination 
to  resume  would  go  more  than  half  way  toward  its  accomplishment. 
There  is  more  sense  and  truth  in  the  remark  that  u  the  way  to  resume 
is  to  resume,"  than  at  first  meets  the  eye.  Our  real  and  only  serious 
difficulty  relates  to  our  foreign  creditors,  the  holders  of  our  bonds,  and 
those  from  \vhom  we  purchase  luxuries.  There  are  modes,  however, 
of  dealing  with  both  of  these  questions.  Let  Congress,  for  instance, 
pass  a  law  imposing  duties  on  silks,  velvets,  jewelry,  wines,  etc.,  lim- 


1875.]  GREAT  ABUSES  AND  FOLLIES.  509 

ited  in  its  operations  to  two  years  ;  that  would  virtually  prohibit  dur 
ing  that  period  their  importation,  and  resumption  follows  without  an 
effort.  The  home  obstacles  to  resumption  are  largely  artificial,  pro 
duced  by  the  few  who  profit  at  the  expense  of  the  many.  Usurers 
and  speculators  are  interested  in  keeping  up  the  "  rate  of  usance  "  on 
gold. 

The  New  York  Gold  Exchange  Board  is  the  heaviest  drag  in  the 
way  of  resumption.  If  the  transactions  of  that  board  were  bondfide., 
if  that  board  went  no  further  than  to  purchase  and  sell  the  gold  re 
quired  to  pay  duties  and  buy  exchange,  no  objections  would  be  heard. 
But,  whatever  may  be  the  theory  on  which  the  board  is  based,  its 
practice  is  in  conflict  with  it.  The  real,  every-day  business  of  the 
board  is  speculative.  Gentlemen  meet  there  to  make  bets  upon  the 
fluctuating  price  of  imaginative  gold,  the  intrinsic  value  of  which  does 
not  enter  into  the  transaction  in  the  remotest  degree.  And  yet,  un 
fortunately,  the  standard  value  of  gold  is  assumed  and  governed 
throughout  the  country  by  the  quoted  prices  in  the  New  York  Gold 
Board,  while  the  millions  of  sales  reported  would,  if  scrutinized,  dwin 
dle  down  to  thousands. 

Then,  as  you  truly  say,  comes  the  gold  sent  to  Europe  for  luxuries. 
The  evidences  of  this  infatuation  are  flaunted  before  our  eyes  upon 
Fifth  Avenue,  at  balls,  receptions,  operas,  and  wherever  else  fash 
ionable  ladies  "  most  do  congregate."  There  are  10,000  New  York 
ladies  whose  costumes,  when  in  full  dress,  cost  at  least  $1,000  each. 
Fifteen  years  ago  the  same  number  of  fashionable  ladies  would  have 
appeared  adorned  quite  as  attractively  at  an  average  expense  of  $250. 
Ten  thousand  children  under  ten  years  of  age  are  now  elaborately  and 
fantastically  arrayed  at  an  expense  of  from  $100  to  $150  each,  while 
the  children  of  wealthy  citizens,  fifteen  years  ago,  were  simply  but  ap 
propriately  attired  at  an  expense  of  from  $20  or  $25.  And  it  is  pain 
ful  to  reflect  that  in  consequence  of  this  lavish  expenditure  upon  a 
class  that  never  earned  a  dollar,  there  are  other  tens  of  thousands  with 
out  employment,  and  suffering  for  food,  fuel,  and  raiment.  And  last, 
though  not  least,  are  the  millions  of  gold  sunk  by  Americans  who  idle 
away  both  their  time  and  their  money  in  Europe.  Ireland  is  not  now 
the  only  country  demoralized  by  absenteeism.  These  great  abuses  and 
follies  reformed,  nothing  would  be  easier  than  the  resumption  of  specie 
payments. 

Nor  does  resumption  in  any  case  necessarily  involve  onerous  con 
traction.  We  have  a  strongly  protected  and  uniform  nationalized 
currency.  For  all  domestic  uses  that  currency  is  just  as  good  as  gold 
and  silver.  It  is  even  better  than  the  debased  metallic  currency  of 
Austria.  And  when  the 'fact  shall  have  been  established  that  this 


510  MEMOIR.  [1875. 

paper  can  be  converted  into  gold  and  silver,  the  people  will  prefer 
bank-notes,  leaving  gold  and  silver  to  meet  the  foreign  demand.  The 
President  struck  a  chilling  blow  at  resumption  by  advocating  the  pro 
hibition  of  all  notes  under  five  dollars.  Coupled  with  such  a  prohi 
bition,  resumption  would  be  postponed  indefinitely,  for  the  people 
would  never  consent  to  be  deprived  of  the  small  notes  of  solvent  spe 
cie-paying  banks. 

Anxious  as  I  am  for  the  resumption  of  specie  payments,  I  would 
not  seek  it  by  turning  the  financial  screws  so  tightly  as  to  arrest  and 
paralyze  business  enterprises,  upon  the  healthy  working  of  which  the 
prosperity  of  all  classes  depends.  England,  as  a  consequence  of  her 
protracted  wars,  waited  patiently  more  than  twenty  years  for  the  op 
portunity  of  resuming  specie  payments  without  deranging  her  great 
manufacturing  and  commercial  interests,  or  distressing  her  people. 
We,  however,  can,  if  we  will,  reestablish  our  national  credit  much 
sooner.  Indeed,  had  Congress  and  the  Treasury  Department  paved 
the  way,  and  the  people  with  one  mind  bravely  determined  it  should 
be  so,  the  resumption  of  specie  payments  might  have  been  hailed  as 
the  signal  and  crowning  glory  in  the  approaching  celebration  of  the 
centennial  anniversary  of  our  national  independence. 

Worse  than  all  other  evils  and  follies,  if  possible,  has  been  the 
blind,  reckless,  and  criminal  squandering  of  the  public  domain.  Most 
prominent  among  the  bad  legacies  bequeathed  to  the  country  by  Mr. 
Greeley,  is  the  homestead  law.  But  I  must  do  his  memory  justice 
by  saying  that,  in  his  zealous  and  persistent  advocacy  of  that  law, 
he  believed  that  he  was  serving  the  "  toiling  millions,"  for  whose 
prosperity  and  elevation  he  ever  labored.  And  yet  how  few,  how 
very  few,  of  those  "  down-trodden  millions "  ever  possessed  them 
selves  of  what  he  regarded  as  their  greatest  boon  and  blessing !  The 
homestead  law,  so  far  as  its  most  popular  feature  is  concerned,  has 
proved  a  failure  and  a  delusion.  Things  which  cost  nothing  are  but 
slightly  valued.  There  would  have  been  a  larger  number  of  actual 
settlers  growing  up  in  industry  and  developing  into  usefulness  and 
prosperity,  as  farmers,  mechanics,  and  artisans,  under  the  law  which 
furnished  lands  from  the  public  domain  to  actual  settlers  at  $1.25  an 
acre,  than  have  been  secured  under  the  plausible  congressional  idea  of 
"voting  every  man  a  farm." 

If  the  public  domain  had  been  preserved,  we  should  now  have  in 
the  proceeds  of  that  rich  inheritance,  as  we  had  after  our  war  for  in 
dependence,  our  war  with  England,  in  1812,  and  our  earlier  Indian 
wars,  a  fund  sufficient  not  only  to  pay  the  annual  interest  of  our  debt, 
but  ultimately  to  retire  the  debt  itself.  I  never  objected  to  liberal  ap 
propriations  of  land  from  the  public  domain  to  aid  the  construction  of 


J875.]       THE    TARIFF  AND   THE  PUBLIC  DOMAIN.         511 

needed  railroads  through  that  domain.  Such  aid,  limited  to  meritori 
ous  enterprises,  was  wise  and  beneficent.  But  the  abuses  and  squan 
derings  of  the  system  have  been  alike  discreditable  to  the  government, 
and  disastrous  to  the  public  welfare.  The  land  given  to  aid  the  con 
struction  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad,  for  instance,  was  not  only 
sufficient  to  complete  the  enterprise,  but  continues  to  be  a  source  of 
large  income  to  that  company.  Untold  millions,  in  the  form  of  "  land 
grabs,"  which  should  have  been  reserved  for  the  uses  of  the  govern 
ment,  have  gone  to  enrich  speculators  and  capitalists.  If  Congress,  in 
its  alacrity  to  dispossess  the  country  of  its  domain,  had  reserved  to  the 
government  one  half  or  even  one  fourth  of  all  precious  metals,  min 
erals,  and  coals,  a  handsome  fund  would  have  been  rescued. 

All  you  say  on  the  subject  of  a  protective  tariff  is  historically  true. 
I  can  never  forget  the  high,  prosperous,  and  palmy  condition  of  our 
country  under  the  benign  influences  of  a  wise  protective  tariff  from 
1818  until  1836,  when  the  Democracy  of  the  North,  to  strengthen  and 
perpetuate  its  political  affiliations  with  the  South,  began  to  agitate  in 
favor  of  a  "  judicious  tariff."  During  the  administrations  of  James 
Monroe  and  John  Quincy  Adams,  the  welfare  of  our  people  and  the 
strength  of  our  government  were  promoted  and  augmented  by  an  en 
lightened  national  policy.  All  our  interests  moved  forward  har 
moniously.  All  the  industries  of  the  country  thrived.  Farmers,  me 
chanics,  manufacturers,  merchants,  importers,  and  capitalists  found 
themselves  working  together  with  reciprocal  interests  and  to  mutual 
advantage.  While  all  our  domestic  occupations  proved  abundantly  re 
munerative,  our  canvas  —  the  canvas  of  our  own  well-laden  ships  — 
whitened  every  ocean  and  sea.  And  amid  all  this  individual  prosper 
ity  and  happiness,  the  nation  was  advancing  by  rapid  strides  to  wealth 
and  power.  The  national  debt  was  paid  off,  after  which  the  surplus 
proceeds  of  the  public  domain  accumulated  so  rapidly,  and  became  so 
large,  as  to  create  apprehensions  that  they  might  become  dangerous  to 
the  integrity  and  stability  of  the  government.  If  we  had  that  domain 
now  unbroken,  to  fall  back  upon,  it  would  prove  stronger  to  our  gov 
ernment  as  a  financial  resource  than  is  the  Bank  of  England  to  the 
British  Crown.  But  those  golden  days  and  halcyon  hours  exist  only 
in  remembrance.  History  will  not,  I  fear,  in  reference  to  a  protective 
tariff,  and  certainly  cannot  in  regard  to  a  squandered  public  domain, 
"  repeat  itself."  And  unhappily  the  statesmen  to  whose  wisdom,  in 
dustry,  and  patriotism  the  country  was  then  indebted  for  its  whole 
some  laws,  have  passed  either  from  earth  or  into  private  life.  Much 
as  I  desire,  and  greatly  as  we  need,  a  wisely  adjusted  tariff,  I  see  no 
way  of  obtaining  it  until  successors  in  the  administrative  and  con 
gressional  departments  of  the  government  equal  to  the  emergency  are 
found. 


512  MEMOIR.  [1875. 

Nor  dare  I  anticipate  such  happy  changes  until  the  fearful  demoral 
ization  occasioned  by  a  war  of  unprecedented  magnitude  has  worked 
out  its  evil  mission,  nor  until  suffrage,  now  cheapened  and  degraded, 
rising  to  the  intelligence,  discrimination,  and  dignity  of  earlier  and 
better  days,  asserts  its  prerogative  in  the  elevation  of  representatives. 
For,  let  it  be  widely  understood  that  the  experience  and  teachings  of 
a  republican  form  of  government  prove  nothing  so  alarmingly  sugges 
tive  of  and  pregnant  with  danger  as  that  cheap  suffrage  involves  and 
entails  cheap  representation.  But  for  the  "  good  time  "  which  it  is  to 
be  hoped  is  "  coming,"  we  must  wait  patiently  for  a  generation  that 
will  return  to  Congress  such  men  as  Henry  Clay  and  John  J.  Critten- 
den,  from  Kentucky  ;  Daniel  Webster  and  John  Davis,  from  Massa 
chusetts  ;  Timothy  Pitkin  and  Truman  Smith,  from  Connecticut ; 
George  Evans,  from  Maine  ;  Horace  Everett,  from  Vermont ;  Albert 
H.  Tracy,  Francis  Granger,  Millard  Fillmore,  and  Thomas  C.  Love, 
from  New  York ;  Samuel  L.  Southard  and  Theodore  Frelinghuysen, 
from  New  Jersey ;  John  Sargent  and  Horace  Binney,  from  Pennsyl 
vania  ;  John  W.  Clayton,  from  Delaware  ;  Willis  P.  Mangum  and 
Edward  Stanley,  from  North  Carolina ;  John  Bell  and  Bailie  Peyton, 
from  Tennessee  ;  Elisha  Whittlesey,  Thomas  Ewing,  Joseph  Vance, 
Thomas  Corwin,  and  Samuel  F.  Vinton,  from  Ohio,  and  Edward 
Bates,  from  Missouri. 

While  I  agree  and  sympathize  with  you  in  all  possible  efforts  to 
promote  the  welfare  of  the  laboring  classes,  by  securing  to  them  steady 
employment  with  remunerative  wages,  I  am  quite  sure  that  you  will 
agree  with  me  in  reprobating  the  combinations  and  influences  which 
seek  to  extort  through  trades-unions  the  largest  possible  amount  of 
money  for  the  smallest  possible  equivalent  in  labor.  Ten  and  eight 
hour  systems,  and  the  "  strikes  "  consequent  upon  them,  have  been  a 
most  prolific  source  of  mischief  and  evil,  pecuniary  and  social,  to  the 
laboring  classes.  The  despotism  of  these  "  unions  "  has  become  un 
endurable.  Master-mechanics  are  not  permitted  to  labor  in  their  own 
workshops.  Less  than  half  the  number  of  bricks  formerly  laid  by 
journeymen  are  now  arbitrarily  held  to  be  a  day's  work.  And  the 
number  of  apprentices  by  whom  trades  are  to  be  learned  is  limited 
and  fixed,  not  by  master-mechanics,  but  by  the  "  unions."  In  a  few 
years,  therefore,  we  shall  be  wholly  dependent  upon  foreigners,  subject 
to  the  control  of  trades-unions,  for  our  mechanical  labor. 

Meantime,  thousands  of  boys  who  ought  and,  but  for  the  evil  in 
fluences  just  referred  to,  would  have  l^een  learning  trades,  by  means  of 
which  they  would  become  useful  citizens,  are  either  variously  seeking 
precarious  support  from  temporary  employments,  or  by  unavoidable 
idleness  acquiring  habits  which  consign  them  to  our  houses  of  refuge 


1875.]  IDLENESS  AND  DEMAGOGUERY.  513 

and  penitentiaries.  There  are  at  this  moment  hundreds  of  fathers  and 
other  hundreds  of  widowed  mothers  looking  in  anguish  and  despair 
upon  the  fate  which  awaits  their  sons,  —  a  fate  which,  hut  for  the 
tyranny  of  unions  in  preventing  boys  from  becoming  apprentices, 
might  be  averted.  Heretofore  the  intelligence,  enterprise,  public 
spirit,  patriotism,  and  virtue,  personal,  political,  social,  and  moral,  of 
the  mechanical  classes  have  been  our  boast  and  pride.  Through  these 
agencies  villages  have  grown  into  cities,  and  our  cities  developed  into 
wealth  and  power.  I  knew  nothing  in  early  life  of  these  miserable 
eight  and  ten  hour  systems,  and  I  owe  whatever  I  have  since  enjoyed 
of  success  and  consideration,  to  the  habit  as  an  apprentice,  a  journey 
man,  and  a  small  beginner  on  my  own  account,  of  devoting  from 
eleven  to  twelve  hours  a  day  diligently  and  cheerfully  to  active  and 
healthful  physical  labor. 

What  we  want  first  is  a  governmental  policy,  state  and  national, 
which  will  place  the  necessaries  of  life  within  the  reach  of  the  labor 
ing  classes  at  prices  that  ranged  through  the  forty  years  preceding  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Rebellion.  Consequent  upon  such  a  change,  labor 
would  be  in  free  demand  at  rates  which  could  not  be  injuriously  af 
fected  by  the  exactions  of  capital  on  the  one  hand,  or  by  pernicious 
trades-union  despotism  on  the  other.  Let  it  be  remembered  always 
that  the  real  purpose  of  these  combinations  —  for  which  we  are  unhap 
pily  indebted  to  the  worst  specimens  of  English,  French,  and  German 
radicalism  —  is,  first  as  '''socialists"  and  then  as  "communists,"  to 
sow  the  seeds  of  agrarianism  and  infidelity  among  us.  These  insidious 
enemies  to  all  that  is  good  and  virtuous  and  hopeful  affect  the  welfare 
of  the  laboring  classes.  And  yet  not  one  of  these  agitators  is  found 
laboring  himself  or  seeking  employment  for  others,  except  through 
agencies  that  derange  and  embarrass  the  industries  upon  which  the 
mechanical  and  laboring  classes  must  ever  rely  for  employment  and 
support. 

Reconstruction,  from  the  beginning  a  most  difficult  problem,  has 
been  embarrassed  by  a  want  of  wisdom  at  Washington,  and  by  em 
bittered  memories  in  the  South.  The  disorganized  condition  of  the 
Southern  States  has  attracted  there  bold  and  unscrupulous  northern 
adventurers,  who,  associating  with  disbanded  and  demoralized  soldiers, 
have  remained  to  devastate  a  conquered  country.  These  wretches 
have  inflicted  upon  South  Carolina,  Florida,  Louisiana,  and  other 
States,  the  worst  possible  specimens  of  government.  At  the  infamies 
perpetrated  in  these  and  other  rebel  states,  civilization  blushes.  And 
yet  those  who  suffer  from  "  carpet-bag  "  dishonesty  and  oppression  are 
themselves  largely  to  blame  for  it.  When  rebellion  was  conquered,  if 
the  white  inhabitants,  yielding  to  the  inevitable  and  recognizing  their 


514  MEMOIR.  [1875. 

former  slaves  as  freedmen,  had  treated  them  kindly  and  offered  them 
employment  with  reasonable  wages,  the  designs  of  carpet-baggers 
would  have  been  thwarted.  I  affirm  this  because  there  is  undeniable 
evidence  that  in  localities  where  the  law  of  kindness  prevails,  where 
masters  endeavored  to  conciliate  their  former  slaves,  they  were  uni 
formly  successful,  and  that  in  such  localities  not  only  nothing  is  heard 
of  a  "  war  between  races,"  but  reconstruction  has  been  practically  ac 
complished.  These  instances  of  good  sense  and  forbearance,  I  regret 
to  say,  are  exceptional.  For  the  most  part  those  who  rushed  into  a 
rebellion  to  divide  the  Union  are  now  as  aggressive  and  defiant  as 
they  were  when  Fort  Sumter  was  fired  upon.  Unable  to  establish  a 
Confederate  government,  they  seem  determined  to  avenge  themselves 
upon  the  freedmen,  who,  but  for  the  madness  and  folly  of  their  mas 
ters,  would  have  still  remained  in  bondage. 

The  "  White  Leagues  "  of  Louisiana  were  only  too  accurately  de 
scribed  by  General  Sheridan.  Such  organizations  are  not  needed  to 
subserve  the  purposes  of  good  government.  They  are  banded  to 
gether  to  hunt,  hound,  and,  if  needs  be,  murder  the  negroes.  Recon 
struction,  therefore,  seems  as  difficult  and  distant  as  it  was  at  the  close 
of  the  war.  Georgia,  always  less  ultra  and  more  practical  than  South 
Carolina  or  Alabama,  has  reestablished  law  and  order.  North  Caro 
lina,  infamously  governed  for  two  or  three  years,  seems  now  to  be  do 
ing  better.  That  United  States  soldiers  are  required  in  some  excited 
sections  to  protect  freedmen  cannot  be  doubted.  The  officers  in  com 
mand  should  be  men  of  intelligence  and  prudence,  acting  only  when 
the  duty  is  clearly  imperative.  In  Louisiana  there  has  been  nothing 
but  misrule,  disorder,  fraud,  corruption,  anarchy,  and  violence  from 
the  close  of  the  war.  It  is  difficult  to  ascertain  which  party  or  what 
faction  is  the  worst.  General  Grant  was  not,  I  fear,  fortunate  in  his 
early  appointments  of  federal  officers  ;  nor  do  I  believe  the  Kellogg 
government  worthy  of  the  sacrifices  required  to  maintain  it.  The 
congressional  committee  recently  in  New  Orleans  may  find  a  remedy 
for  evils  which  have  so  long  scourged  that  fertile  and  rich  but  misera 
bly-distracted  state. 

I  cherished  the  hope,  when  peace  was  restored,  that  the  old  Whigs 
of  the  South,  some  of  whom  reluctantly  consented  to  secession,  and 
nearly  all  of  whom  were  forced  into  rebellion,  would  form  a  nucleus 
for  reconstruction.  There  was  a  numerous  band  of  enlightened  and 
patriotic  Whigs  who  resisted  nullification,  and  who  for  ten  or  fifteen 
years  afterward,  by  boldly  opposing  the  encroachments  and  aggres 
sions  of  southern  Democrats,  bridged  over  many  dangers,  and  pre 
vented  a  catastrophe  until  ultra  men  and  malign  councils  North  and 
South  precipitated  secession  and  rebellion.  The  Union  had  no  truer 


1875.]     THE    OLD    WHIG   ELEMENT  AT   THE   SOUTH.     515 

or  bolder  or  more  devoted  friends  through  all  its  political  trials  for 
twenty-five  years  than  the  Whigs  of  the  South,  whose  representative 
men  were  distinguished  alike  for  talents,  integrity,  and  patriotism. 
Prominent  among  these  eloquent  and  earnest  friends  of  the  Union 
were  William  C.  Preston,  of  South  Carolina ;  William  A.  Graham, 
Lewis  Williams,  and  Kenneth  Raynor,  of  North  Carolina  ;  John  Tali- 
aferro,  Alexander  H.  H.  Stuart,  and  John  M.  Botts,  of  Virginia ; 
William  C.  Dawson,  Thomas  Butler  King,  and  James  L.  Seward,  of 
Georgia ;  John  White  and  James  T.  Morehead,  of  Kentucky ;  Mere 
dith  P.  Gentry,  Christopher  H.  Williams,  and  Joseph  L.  Williams,  of 
Tennessee.  That  Whig  element  bound  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  to 
the  Union,  and  but  for  adverse  influences  would  have  held  North  Caro 
lina  and  Virginia,  thus  so  narrowing  the  boundaries  of  rebellion  as  to 
have  greatly  lessened  its  horrors.  I  am  even  yet  unwilling  to  relin 
quish  the  hope  that  the  Whig  spirit  of  the  South  will  reassert  itself, 
and,  uniting  with  congenial  northern  sympathizers,  work  out  wholesome 
results. 

I  had  hoped  that  Congress  would  be  able  to  reach  and  remove 
some  of  the  causes  which  paralyzed  the  business  interests  of  the  coun 
try, —  something  that,  as  spring  advances,  would  give  life  and  elas 
ticity  to  trade  and  restore  all  classes  to  their  accustomed  occupations. 
If  this  object  can  be  reached  only  by  expansion,  I  cannot  but  think 
that  even  that  dreaded  alternative  is  preferable  to  the  dead  calm 
which  has  caused  all  our  material  interests  to  stand  still  for  more  than 
a  year.  I  make  this  concession  because  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  we  can  resume  specie  payments  without  distressing  the  laboring 
classes %by  stringent  '-contraction." 

Too  much  of  the  time  of  Congress  has,  I  fear,  been  consumed  by 
the  civil  rights  bill,  —  a  bill,  in  its  general  scope  and  purpose,  of 
questionable  wisdom.  All  has  been  done  by  constitutional  amend 
ments  and  congressional  enactments  that  is  necessary  to  place  freed- 
men  upon  a  perfect  equality  with  our  own  race.  "  Life,  liberty,  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness  "  has  been  guaranteed  to  them  as  to  us. 
They  are  free  to  enter  upon  an  open  and  fair  field,  competing  with  us 
upon  equal  terms  for  all  the  advantages  and  compensations  of  industry 
and  enterprise.  We  enjoy,  in  common,  all  the  rights  and  privileges, 
and  are  subjected  to  all  the  duties  and  responsibilities  conferred  and 
imposed  by  the  Constitution  and  the  laws.  The  disabilities  of  the 
freedmen,  if  they  are  to  be  regarded  as  disabilities,  are  providential, 
and  cannot  be  relieved  by  human  laws.  The  Almighty  created  two 
distinct  races,  giving  to  each  a  country  and  a  climate  adapted  to  their 
respective  organizations.  If  one  race  has  been  more  favored  than  the 
other,  if,  moreover,  one  race  has  been  oppressed  by  the  other,  it  is 


516  MEMOIR.  [1875. 

for  some  inscrutable  reason,  into  which  it  would  be  presumptuous  to 
inquire.  So  far  as  our  country  is  concerned,  the  wrongs  of  the  sub 
jugated  race  have  been  avenged.  We  have  converted  slavery  into  free 
dom,  and  elevated  chattels  into  citizens.  We  have  extended  to  the 
freedmen  all  the  personal  and  political  rights  we  possess  ourselves. 
Further  we  cannot  go.  Social  equality  is  alike  impracticable  and  im 
possible.  When  we  reach  this  point  a  "  higher  law  "  comes  in  —  a 
law  which  no  human  enactments  can  annul  —  a  law  which  will  remain 
in  full  force  and  effect  until  white  becomes  black,  or  black  becomes 
white.  All  enactments,  however  stringent,  and  with  whatever  penal 
ties,  designed  arbitrarily  to  constrain  social  equality,  will  prove  abor 
tive.  Such  laws  cannot  be  enforced.  To  insist  upon  social  equality 
among  ourselves  would  prove  equally  ineffectual.  Indeed,  nothing 
would  be  regarded  as  more  absurd  and  preposterous  than  an  attempt 
to  regulate  social  intercourse  by  statute  laws.  Society  has  its  own 
laws,  unwritten  to  be  sure,  but  clearly  defined  and  well  understood. 
These  laws  are  founded  in  good  sense,  are  adapted  to  the  condition  of 
all  classes,  and  all  classes  recognize  and  accept  them. 

I  do  not  believe  it  expedient  or  safe,  with  the  existing  organizations 
and  proclivities  of  the  Democracy,  to  intrust  that  party  with  supreme 
power.  I  do  not  say  this  in  a  partisan  spirit,  for  at  my  time  of  life, 
and  with  the  views  and  feelings  I  entertain  and  cherish,  I  desire  noth 
ing  but  to  see  the  government  of  my  country  well  and  wisely  adminis 
tered.  I  should  have  learned  little  from  the  political  ordeals  through 
which  I  have  passed,  if,  toward  the  close  of  a  long  life,  I  were  to  at 
tribute  all  that  is  bad  to  one  party,  and  all  that  is  good  to  another.  I 
would  prefer  the  election  of  an  enlightened  and  honest  Democrat  as 
President  to  the  elevation  of  an  incapable  Republican  of  equivocal 
integrity.  And  when  I  speak  of  an  honest  and  enlightened  Demo 
crat,  I  have  in  mind  such  men  as  General  Hancock  or  General  Ward, 
sometime  Minister  to  China  from  Georgia;  or,  as  far  as  I  have  been 
ajble  to  form  an  opinion  of  his  ability  and  character,  Governor  New 
ton  Booth,  the  newly-elected  Senator  from  California.  But  with  the 
purposes  and  passions  of  the  Democracy,  North  and  South,  its  nomi 
nee  for  President  is  not  likely  to  belong  to  that  category ;  and  hence 
I  ardently  hope  that  the  Republican  party  will  so  far  reassure  the 
people  of  its  devotion  to  their  prosperity  and  the  welfare  of  our  coun 
try  as  to  be  able  to  elect  a  capable,  experienced,  and  inflexibly-honest 
man  as  our  next  President. 

Of  the  chances  and  probabilities  of  our  being  able  to  recover  in  1876 
the  ground  lost  in  1874,  I  cannot  form  a  trustworthy  opinion,  for,  as 
you  know,  I  have  been  in  constrained  retirement  for  more  than  six 
years.  I  am,  therefore,  without  the  information  and  opportunities 


1875.]  LETTER  TO  VIVUS  W.  SMITH.  517 

upon  which  an  intelligent  estimate  can  be  safely  based.  "We  must 
have  constant  access  to  the  public  journals  from  all  sections  of  the 
Union,  and  as  constantly  inhale  a  political  atmosphere,  to  be  enabled 
to  perceive  and  comprehend  "  events  which  cast  their  shadows  before." 
You  and  I  worked  together  as  Whig  and  Republican  journalists  for 
nearly  forty  years.  We  had  something  to  do  all  that  time,  in  forming 
and  informing  parties  and  peoples.  And  when  the  candidates  of  both 
parties  were  in  the  field,  the  issue?  clearly  taken,  and  the  canvass  in 
progress,  we  almost  invariably  foresaw  the  result  of  important  elec 
tions.  But,  although  you  are  several  years  my  junior,  we  are  both  in 
the  "  sere,  the  yellow  leaf  of  life."  We  must  leave  to  others,  there 
fore,  the  duties  and  responsibilities  which  were  formerly  confided  to  us. 
Instead  of  lagging,  like  a  superannuated  actor,  "  superfluous  on  the 
stage,"  it  becomes  me  to  accept  the  situation  incident  to  old  age  and 
its  infirmities.  Nevertheless,  while  a  kind  Providence  spins  out  the 
attenuated  thread  of  life  and  preserves  my  faculties,  I  cannot  become 
wholly  indifferent  to  the  welfare  of  my  country.  While  in  the  world 
one  must,  to  some  extent,  be  of  it.  I  hope,  however,  not  to  be  seen 
or  heard  obtrusively,  and  that  in  my  bushel  of  chaff  some  kernels  of 
wheat  may  be  found. 

Faithfully  yours,  THURLOW  WEED. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

1876-1879. 

PRESIDENTIAL  CHANCES.  —  How  TO  MAINTAIN  REPUBLICAN  ASCENDENCY. 
—  MR.  WEED  TO  MR.  ELAINE.  — •  REPUBLICAN  STATE  CONVENTION  OF 
1876.  —  GOVERNOR  MORGAN  NOMINATED.  —  MR.  WEED  AND  THE 
TICKET.  —  ELECTION  OF  PRESIDENT  HAYES.  —  LETTER  TO  THE  STATE 
PRESS  ASSOCIATION.  —  CIPHER  DESPATCHES.  —  STATE  CONVENTION  OF 
1879.  —  NOMINATION  OF  MR.  CORNELL. 

"  1  SEE  no  reason,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed,  early  in  1876,  "  if  our 
ablest  and  best  men  are  nominated  for  President  and  Vice- 
President,  why  the  Republicans  should  not  succeed  in  the  fall 
elections.  I  rely  as  confidently  upon  the  inherent  weakness  of 
the  Democracy  as  upon  the  inherent  strength  of  our  own  party. 
While,  in  the  past,  much  has  been  done  to  weaken  the  Repub 
lican  party,  its  opponents  have  taken  only  spasmodic  advantages. 
Governor  Tilden  inaugurated  his  administration  by  a  bold  and 
praiseworthy  demonstration  against  a  ring  of  canal  contractors, 
by  whom  the  State  had  been  systematically  defrauded  for  twenty 
years  of  at  least  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  millions  appropriated  for 
the  repairs,  improvements,  and  enlargement  of  our  canals.  For 
this  he  deserved  and  received  the  hearty  approval  of  all  good 
men.  But  by  turning  the  results  of  an  investigation  designed 
to  punish  fraud  and  to  protect  the  state  treasury  into  a  party 
channel,  to  advance,  as  is  alleged  and  believed,  personal  aspira 
tions,  he  has  lost  the  opportunity  not  only  of  making  himself 
stronger  than  his  party,  but  of  rising  to  an  elevation  which 
blends  partisanship  with  patriotism.  .  .  . 

"  At  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  as  at  the  close  of  the 
War  of  1812,  enlightened  and  patriotic  statesmen  in  the  national 
government  set  themselves  diligently  to  work,  inaugurating  pol 
icies  and  enacting  laws  designed  —  by  reviving  commerce,  es 
tablishing  manufactures,  and  promoting  agriculture  —  to  restore 
public  prosperity ;  while  simultaneously  the  national  credit  was 
placed  upon  a  firm  footing  by  a  policy  which  insured  the  pay 
ment  of  the  public  debt. 


1876.]  NATIONAL  POLITICS  REVIEWED.  519 

"  These  beneficent  objects  accomplished,  all  the  great  pro 
ductive  interests  of  the  country,  each  acting  advantageously 
upon  the  other,  were  soon  in  successful  and  harmonious  opera 
tion. 

"T\re  came  out  of  the  war  with  England,  in  1815,  honorably, 
but  crippled  and  impoverished.  Except  that  the  demoralization 
was  far  less  fearful,  we  were  as  badly  off  then  as  when  the  war 
of  the  Rebellion  terminated.  But  in  three  years,  with  wise  and 
good  men  at  the  helm  and  on  the  lookout,  the  ship  of  state, 
with  full  and  flowing  canvas,  had  taken  a  new  departure  on  a 
long  and  prosperous  voyage.  A  protective  tariff,  with  an  eco 
nomical  and  honest  administration  of  the  government  under 
James  Madison,  James  Monroe,  and  John  Quincy  Adams, 
brought  palmy  days,  with  increasing  wealth  to  the  people  and 
strength  to  the  country.  Ultimately,  by  an  ill-omened  union 
between  Democracy  and  slavery,  these  measures  and  policies 
were  repudiated.  Then  ensued  twenty  years  of  misrule,  cul 
minating  finally  in  a  rebellion  which  wiped  out  both  Democracy 
and  slavery.  This  great  result,  however,  cost  much  more  than 
the  blood  and  treasure  shed  and  expended  in  its  accomplish 
ment.  The  complete  triumph  over  rebellion  did  not  '  trammel 
up  its  consequences.'  We  are  still  suffering  from  wounds  no 
less  serious  than  those  which  were  inflicted  during  the  war,  while 
we  are  threatened  with  others  in  the  form  of  '  claims  '  from  re 
bellious  states,  which,  if  recognized,  would  bring  the  government 
to  inevitable  bankruptcy.  In  the  hope  of  forcing  these  treason 
able  '  claims '  through  Congress,  rebellion  affiliates  with  Democ 
racy.  And  thus  the  issue  for  the  approaching  presidential 
canvass  is  made  up. 

"  The  elections  of  1874  resulted  in  the  return  of  northern 
Democrats  and  southern  rebels  enough  to  constitute  a  majority 
in  the  House  of  Representatives.  These  elements  fraternized  ; 
and  the  use  they  made  of  their  power  teaches  a  lesson  not 
likely  to  be  forgotten. 

"  A  prominent  and  zealous  traitor,  whose  hatred  of  the  Union 
prompted  him  to  give  the  name  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  assassin  to  his 
son,  was  appointed  secretary  to  the  standing  committee  on  ways 
and  means,  while,  simultaneously,  twelve  maimed  Union  sol 
diers  were  removed  to  make  places  for  as  many  rebel  politi 
cians. 


520  MEMOIR.  [1876. 

"  After  such  a  beginning1,  supplemented  by  the  speeches  of 
rebel  Generals  Gordon  and  Hill,  it  seems  evident  that  the  fol 
lowers  of  Jefferson  Davis  hope  to  recover  by  political  strategy 
what  they  lost  by  a  resort  to  arms. 

"Forewarned  of  the  character  and  intentions  of  their  adver 
saries,  friends  of  the  Union  ought,  and  I  doubt  not  will,  forearm 
themselves  for  the  contest.  In  view  of  the  importance  of  that 
contest,  and  of  the  intensity  of  feeling  and  effort  which  it  will 
awaken,  it  behooves  the  Republican  party,  shaking  off  all  in- 
cumbrances,  to  seek  and  occupy  its  highest  vantage-ground.  It 
cannot  be  denied,  nor  can  we  afford  to  conceal  the  fact,  that  the 
present  administration  has  failed  to  justify  the  expectations  of 
the  people,  or  even  to  realize  the  hopes  of  its  best  friends.  .  .  . 
There  were  difficulties,  however,  in  General  Grant's  way  which 
no  amount  of  wisdom  could  avoid.  The  '  cankers  '  of  a  long  war 
had  eaten  into  the  heart  of  the  nation.  Demoralization,  public 
and  private,  had  become  almost  universal.  Our  country  was 
doomed  to  pass  through  ordeals  of  fraud  and  corruption  similar 
to  those  described  by  Sir  William  Pepys  and  l<ord  Macaulay, 
by  which  England  was  long  dishonored,  and  in  consequence  of 
which  her  people  were  oppressed  for  many  years  by  crushing 
and  inexorable  taxation. 

"  In  his  encounter  with  these  difficulties  General  Grant  has 
not  been  fortunate.  His  Cabinet,  as  a  whole,  was  not  wisely 
chosen ;  and  when  vacancies  occurred,  his  original  mistakes 
were  nor  corrected.  The  late  Vice-President  Wilson  appealed 
often  and  earnestly  to  the  President  in  favor  of  elevating  and 
strengthening  his  administration  by  associating  with  Governor 
Fish  Cabinet  Ministers  of  large  experience,  recognized  talent, 
and  pronounced  integrity.  All  such  appeals,  however,  were 
disregarded.  At  a  crisis  requiring  the  exercise  of  the  high 
est  intelligence  and  the  most  inflexible  integrity,  the  financial 
department  of  the  government  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  an 
utterly  incompetent  man.  Nor  while  evidences  of  Mr.  Richard 
son's  incapacity  were  manifest  and  multiplied,  would  General 
Grant  listen  to  advice,  until,  after  obstinate  refusals  to  regard 
the  popular  will,  his  eyes  were  opened  by  the  disastrous  defeats 
sustained  by  the  Republican  party  in  1874.  But  even  that 
ominous  lesson  failed  to  awaken  the  President  to  a  just  and  full 
sense  of  his  high  responsibility. 


1876.]  OFFICIAL  DELINQUENCIES.  521 

"  Other  reforms  were  demanded  and  refused.  Early  in  Gen 
eral  Grant's  administration,  Governor  Cox,  of  Ohio,  retired  from 
the  Interior  Department  for  some  reason  unknown  to  the  peo 
ple.  Nothing  was  then,  or  has  been  since,  alleged  against  him. 
His  successor,  Mr.  Delano,  came  into  office  with  a  good  char 
acter  and  a  clean  record,  both  of  which  were  soon  lost.  As  in 
the  case  of  Mr.  Richardson,  however,  the  President  refused  to 
listen  to  numerous  and  damaging  accusations  against  Mr.  Delano. 
For  many  months  after  that  gentleman  felt  constrained  to  tender 
his  resignation,  the  President  perversely  refused  or  neglected  to 
accept  it,  and  yielded  at  last  only  to  an  indignant  popular  de 
mand,  seconded  by  the  other  members  of  the  Cabinet.  I  do  not 
care  to  dwell  upon  more  recent  and  still  more  startling  official 
delinquencies.  There  is  little  or  no  compensation  in  the  circum 
stance  that  our  Secretary  of  War  found  discreditable  examples 
for  his  misconduct  in  the  wholesale  traffic  in  offices  by  English 
Ministers  of  War  during  the  reigns  of  the  Georges.  These  de 
linquencies  constitute,  in  the  aggregate,  a  burden  under  the 
weight  of  which  no  administration  can  stand. 

"  Happily,  however,  the  Republican  party  is  stronger  than  its 
administration.  But  it  must  not  encumber  itself  with  the  ob 
loquy  that  attaches  to  official  misconduct.  It  cannot  afford  to 
defend  or  excuse  the  errors  of  the  President,  or  the  frauds  of 
his  appointees.  In  return  for  the  great  service  rendered  to  the 
government  and  the  Union  in  putting  clown  a  fearful  rebellion, 
and  overthrowing  an  institution  which  occasioned  it,  the  people 
will  go  far,  and  do  much,  to  sustain  and  perpetuate  Republican 
rule.  Public  confidence,  in  the  mean  time,  must  not  be  too  se 
verely  tried,  or  too  heavily  taxed.  Men  are  fallible,  and  may, 
as  they  often  do,  fall ;  but  principles  are  indestructible.  The 
Republican  party  will  survive  the  overthrow  of  its  unworthy 
representatives,  provided  always  that  the  party  is  prompt  and 
thorough  in  its  purifications.  We  should  be  as  quick  to  discern, 
and  as  ready  to  rebuke,  the  dishonesty  of  officials  in  our  own 
party  as  in  the  party  of  our  opponents.  In  this  way  only  can 
Republicans  hope  to  maintain  their  ascendency,  for  much  more 
is  expected  of  us  than  of  our  opponents." 

The  national  conventions  of  both  political  parties  were  called 
to  meet  in  June,  the  Republican  at  Cincinnati,  the  Democratic 
at  St.  Louis,  under  conditions  which  are  well  remembered. 


522  MEMOIR.  [1876. 

[MR.    WEED    TO   JAMES    G.    ELAINE.] 

NEW  YORK,  June  8,  1876. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  The  apprehension  that  our  government  may  fall 
into  the  hands  of  its  enemies  occasions  constant  and  painful  solicitude. 
The  conviction  that  this  great  calamity  can  be  averted  only  by  wisdom 
and  patriotism  at  Cincinnati  is  my  apology  for  asking  your  attention 
to  some  thoughts  which  seem  to  me  important  and  seasonable. 

All  the  industries  of  our  country  are  paralyzed.  Capital  seeks  in 
vain  for  investment.  Shrinkages  in  real  estate  are  pervading  and  ex 
haustive.  Manufacturers  either  lose  money  or  stop  work.  Commerce 
languishes.  Laborers  walk  the  streets  in  search  of  employment  which 
cannot  be  obtained.  For  all  these  things,  where  power  resides  with 
the  people,  the  administration  is  held  responsible. 

Inasmuch  as  we  can  neither  deny  nor  disguise  the  fact  that  General 
Grant's  second  term  has  been  a  failure,  is  it  not  best  that  our  national 
convention  should  look  the  question  full  in  the  face  ?  We  may  forget 
the  imbecilities  of  Secretary  Richardson,  and  the  infirmities  (speaking 
charitably)  of  Secretary  Delano,  but  they  will  be  remembered  in  the 
canvass.  If  General  Grant  were  now  to  come  before  the  people  for 
his  second  term  he  would  be  beaten  out  of  sight.  Nor,  in  my  judg 
ment,  can  any  candidate  be  elected  who  is  amenable  to  the  opprobrium 
which  attaches,  justly  and  unjustly,  to  the  administration. 

I  assume,  basing  the  assumption  upon  information  and  observation, 
that  the  votes  of  the  convention  after  an  informal  ballot,  will  be  di 
vided  between  Senators  Morton,  Conkling,  and  yourself.  If  I  am  not 
misinformed,  most  of  the  friends  of  Senator  Morton  will  go  over  to 
Conkling.  Under  such  circumstances,  should  they  occur,  your  friends, 
should  they  be  unable  to  gratify  their  first  wish,  will,  I  earnestly  hope, 
unite  with  other  delegates  in  securing  the  nomination  of  a  candidate 
who  can  be  elected. 

We  always  believe  that  vital  interests  are  involved  in  presidential 
elections.  In  the  approaching  canvass,  we  know  this  to  be  true.  De 
mocracy  is  now  allied  to  rebellion,  arid  if  the  government  falls  into 
such  hands,  the  destruction  which  was  attempted  by  a  war  will  be  ef 
fected  in  another  way.  In  view  of  such  consequences,  I  am  more 
anxious  than  on  any  former  occasion  that  the  Republican  national 
convention  should  not  make  a  fatal  mistake. 

The  malignant  and  persistent  assaults  upon  your  character  —  as 
saults  which  have  been  gallantly  and  triumphantly  met  and  repelled  — 
will  strengthen  the  confidence  and  stimulate  the  zeal  of  your  friends. 
Should  you  be  nominated,  I  believe  you  would  be  elected.  But  I 
write  with  an  impression  that  your  friends  will  be  disappointed  in  their 
first  choice,  and  that  you  will  be  found  prepared  for  and  equal  to  such 


1876.]  THE  LAST  CONVENTION  ATTENDED.  523 

an  emergency.  In  that  contingency,  you  have  the  power  to  render 
preeminent  service  to  the  Republican  party,  to  the  country,  and  to 
yourself ;  for  in  securing  the  nomination  of  a  man  who  as  President 
would  inaugurate  good  government,  your  magnanimity  and  wisdom 
would  be  appreciated  and  rewarded. 

Very  truly  yours,  THURLOW  WEED. 

The  last  political  convention  attended  by  Mr.  Weed  was  that 
held  by  the  Republicans  of  New  York  at  Saratoga  Springs  on 
the  23d  of  August,  1876.  Under  the  lead  of  Mr.  Tilden,  who 
had  become  their  candidate  for  President,  the  Democrats  were 
making  a  vigorous  canvass,  and  there  appeared  to  be  little  pros 
pect  of  Republican  success  in  the  State.  Mr.  Tilden  occupied 
a  very  advantageous  position.  He  was  not  only  certain  to  receive 
the  united  support  of  his  own  party,  which  through  all  the  vicis 
situdes  of  his  career  he  carefully  retained,  but  of  a  large  floating 
element  which  was  captivated  by  the  word  "  reform."  No  can 
didates  had  yet  been  named  on  the  Democratic  state  ticket,  but 
it  was  safe  to  assume  that,  whoever  they  were,  they  would  be 
carried  through  by  Mr.  Tilden's  vote. 

Believing  that  the  Republican  party  was  passing  through  a 
crucial  ordeal,  Mr.  Weed  reflected  long  and  anxiously  upon  po 
litical  prospects.  Before  deciding  upon  his  course  he  consulted 
with  those  of  his  old  friends  who  were  still  alive.  Finally,  when 
the  convention  was  called,  and  he  was 'asked  whom  he  should 
support,  he  declared  in  favor  of  Governor  Fish,  Governor  Mor 
gan,  or  Mr.  Evarts.  Neither  one  of  these  gentlemen,  he  knew, 
was  acceptable  to  Mr.  Colliding,  who,  acting  with  General  Ar 
thur,  was  making  a  strong  canvass  in  behalf  of  Mr.  Cornell.  It 
was  doubted,  therefore,  whether  Evarts,  Morgan,  or  Fish  could  be 
nominated.  "  Mr.  Weed  will  find,"  said  one  of  the  newspapers, 
"  that  age  will  not  command  the  reverence  due  it  unless  it  con 
templates  from  afar  off  the  hurly-burly  of  politics,  without  as 
suming  to  take  part.  Any  attempt  by  him  to  outflank  Mr. 
Conkling  will  be  very  roughly  dealt  with  by  very  rough  men." 

"  The  convention  was  an  intelligent  and  earnest  body,"  said 
Mr.  Weed  to  a  newspaper  reporter  after  his  return  to  New 
York.  "  The  question  before  the  delegates  was  of  more  than 
usual  importance,  related  as  it  is  to  the  presidential  canvass.  A 
majority  of  the  New  York  delegation,  one  third  of  the  Brooklyn 
delegation,  the  Columbia  and  Dutchess  delegations  entire,  and 


524  MEMOIR.  [1876. 

scattering  delegates  from  other  parts  of  the  State  went  to  Sara 
toga  in  favor  of  Mr.  Cornell. 

o 

u  The  first  choice  of  the  Brooklyn  delegation  was  Mr.  Wood- 
ford  ;  the  Westchester  delegation  and  delegates  from  some  other 
districts  were  for  Judge  Robertson,  but  the  large  majority  were 
uninstructed  and  uncommitted.  As  soon  as  the  sentiment  of 
the  convention  was  ascertained,  it  was  evident  that  the  question 
would  be  between  Morgan  and  Evarts.  The  nomination  of 
either  would  have  been  generally  and  cordially  approved.  The 
friends  of  Cornell  and  Woodford,  when  the  names  of  those  gen 
tlemen  had  been  withdrawn,  generally  decided  in  favor  of  Gov 
ernor  Morgan,  whose  nomination,  after  the  graceful  withdrawal 
of  other  candidates,  was  heartily  made  unanimous.  I  regard  that 
nomination  as  giving  the  Republican  party  its  best  chance  of 
success.  .  .  .  The  nomination  of  Sherman  S.  Rogers  for  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor  adds  positive  strength  to  the  ticket.  Mr.  Rog 
ers  was  a  member  of  the  constitutional  convention,  and  to  his 
enlightened  course  in  that  body  the  State  is  indebted  to  very  im 
portant  and  much-needed  amendments  of  its  Constitution.  The 
nomination  of  Mr.  Danf orth  for  the  Court  of  Appeals  was  equally 
fortunate.  Comparatively  a  young  man,  he  is  recognized  as  one 
of  the  most  capable,  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  upright  lawyers 
of  Western  New  York.  .  .  .  Individually  and  as  a  whole  the 
ticket  is  excellent." 

But  Mr.  Tilden's  promises,  following  upon  the  mistakes  of 
General  Grant's  administration,  proved  insurmountable  obsta 
cles  to  Republican  success  in  New  York  State.  The  presi 
dency  itself  remained  in  doubt  during  several  months.  On  the 
2d  of  March,  1877,  it  was  formally  declared  that  Mr.  Hayes 
had  been  elected. 

[MR.    WEED   TO   CHARLES  EMORY   SMITH.] 

NEW  YORK,  June  7,  1877. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  Your  letter  of  the  5th  instant,  inviting  me  to  attend 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  New  York  Press  Association,  at  Albany,  on 
Wednesday  next,  was  duly  received.  I  very  much  regret  that  my  en 
gagements  for  Tuesday  and  Wednesday  of  next  week  will  deprive  me 
of  the  pleasure  of  meeting  gentlemen  with  whom  I  am  associated  in 
sympathy,  and  whose  occupation  enables  them  to  exert  a  powerful  influ 
ence  upon  all  questions  which  concern  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of 
the  people  and  the  welfare  and  stability  of  the  government. 


1877.]  MR.  WEED'S  LETTERS.  525 

Old  men  live  in  the  past.  My  past  was  connected  with  the  press. 
My  life,  from  1811  to  18(58,  was  passed  as  an  apprentice,  journeyman, 
publisher,  and  editor  in  printing  offices.  These  occupations  were  emi 
nently  congenial.  Sixty-six  years  of  constant  labor  were  cheered  by 
aspirations  which  were  gradually  but  ultimately  realized.  Industry 
and  fidelity  were,  under  the  guidance  of  a  kind  Providence,  abundantly 
rewarded.  And  now,  in  the  evening  of  life,  my  chief  enjoyment  con 
sists  in  remembrances  of  the  stirring  events  with  which  I  have  been 
connected,  and  of  the  army  of  patriotic  and  devoted  friends  of  whom  I 
cherish  agreeable  recollections  —  recollections  saddened  only  by  the 
reflection  that  most  of  them  have  passed  away. 

When  I  published  my  first  newspaper  at  Norwich,  Chenango  County, 
there  were  about  sixty  journals  in  the  State.  Of  their  proprietors  my 
friend  Lewis  H.  Redfield,  of  Syracuse,  is  the  only  survivor. 

With  thanks  for  your  kind  invitation,  and  reiterated  regrets  that 
I  am  unable  to  accept  it,  please  express  to  the  members  of  the  asso 
ciation  the  hope  that  in  maintaining  and  preserving  the  dignity  and 
purity  of  the  press  their  own  prosperity  and  happiness  may  be  perpet 
uated.  Truly  yours,  THURLOW  WEED. 

[MR.    WEED   TO    BENJAMIN    K.    PHELPS.] 

NEW  YORK,  September  18,  1877. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  was  compelled  several  years  ago,  by  severely  im 
paired  health,  to  seek  in  retirement  from  journalism  and  its  incidental 
duties  and  associations  the  repose  which  old  age  requires.  My  friends 
will  not  be  surprised,  therefore,  to  learn  that  the  same  considerations 
impel  a  resignation  of  my  seat  in  the  Republican  central  committee  as 
a  delegate  from  the  Seventh  Assembly  District. 

Although  in  constrained  retirement,  I  avail  myself  of  this  opportu 
nity  to  say  that  there  is  no  abatement  either  in  my  devotion  to  the  Re 
publican  party  or  in  my  solicitude  for  its  enduring  ascendancy.  That 
solicitude  is  indeed  intensified  by  the  severity  of  the  ordeal  through 
which  we  are  passing.  .  .  . 

We  shall  have,  I  earnestly  hope,  under  President  Hayes,  an  enlight 
ened  administration  of  the  Government.  We  need  resumption  as  a 
means  of  restoring  prosperity,  but  resumption  must  be  beneficent,  not 
cruel.  The  pressure  upon  the  industries  of  the  country,  which  has 
been  gradually  tightening,  must  relax.  We  have  had  our  years  of  fam 
ine.  Let  us  now  anticipate  our  years  of  plenty.  Providence  is  taxing 
the  earth  as  it  never  was  taxed  before.  It  is  doing  more  than  its  part 
to  gladden  the  hearts  of  our  people.  If  such  bounteous  interposition 
be  supplemented  by  a  generous  response  from  human  government,  all 
will  be  well  with  our  country. 


526  MEMOIR.  [1877. 

Capital,  under  the  protection  of  just  laws,  watchful,  diligent,  and 
farseeing,  will  take  care  of  itself ;  labor,  confiding  and  patient,  relying 
more  upon  muscle  than  mind,  requires  guardianship  and  sympathy. 
Let  it  be  the  purpose,  as  it  is  the  duty  of  a  Republican  administration, 
to  adopt  measures  which  will  furnish  employment  to  mechanics  and 
laborers,  and  we  shall  in  the  future  have  nothing  to  fear  from  the  in 
sidious  efforts  and  destructive  influence  of  communists  and  strikers. 
Truly  yours,  THURLOW  WEED. 

"  I  think  the  cry  of  fraud  raised  against  the  Republicans,'' 
said  Mr.  Weed,  in  November,  "  has  recoiled  with  crushing  force 
upon  the  Democrats.  What  was  attempted  to  be  proven  against 
the  friends  of  President  Hayes  has  been  established  beyond  dis 
pute  against  Mr.  Tilden  and  his  friends.  I  say  Mr.  Tilden, 
because  the  cipher  despatches  have  been  brought  home  so  close 
to  his  confidential  agents,  his  relatives,  and  his  lieutenants  as  to 
render  his  complicity  beyond  doubt  or  question.  It  will  be  ut 
terly  impossible  for  him  to  assume  leadership  again.  The 
party  will  fall  away  from  him.  .  .  .  His  habits  of  life  will,  of 
course,  keep  him  in  politics.  Indeed,  when  a  man  once  gets 
the  presidency  '  on  the  brain,'  he  is  never  curable." 

[JAMES  WATSON  WEBB  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

NEW  HAVEN,  December  8,  1877. 

MY  DEAR  FRIEND,  —  You  and  I  have  suffered  a  great  loss  in  the 
death  of  our  dear  and  life-long  friend,  Grinnell.  Younger  than  either 
of  us,  and  blessed  with  a  constitution  which  appeared  to  warrant  con 
tempt  for  precautions  which  we  habitually  observed,  it  did  appear  that 
he  would,  in  all  human  probability,  long  outlive  either  of  us.  But 
alas !  he  has  been  taken  and  we  are  spared,  —  spared  doubtless  for 
some  wise  purpose,  surrounded  with  a  thousand  things  for  which  we 
should  be,  and  doubtless  are,  duly  thankful. 

We  have  some,  but  not  many,  of  the  infirmities  of  age.  Although 
your  partial  loss  of  a  strong  vision  is  in  its  nature  depressing,  yet  my 
almost  entire  loss  of  locomotion  is  the  greater  infliction  ;  but  I  thank 
God,  as  I  am  sure  you  do,  for  all  the  blessings  which  we  do  enjoy. 
You  are  doubly  blessed.  After  upwards  of  fourscore  years  of  active 
usefulness,  such  as  could  not  be  compressed  in  the  lives  of  a  dozen  men 
of  more  than  ordinary  powers,  you  find  yourself  as  powerful  for  good 
to  your  friends  and  the  deserving  as  in  the  very  zenith  of  your  mental 
and  physical  activity.  In  fact,  you  have  everything  to  be  thankful 
for. 


1877.]  MR.  WEED'S  LETTERS.  527 

I  am  rejoiced  to  perceive  in  how  flourishing  a  state  Grinnell  left  his 
business  affairs,  and  to  know  that  he  suffered  nothing  from  that  source. 
You,  too,  are  surrounded  by  every  earthly  blessing ;  and,  cheered  by 
the  devotion  and  affection  of  such  a  daughter  as  Harriet,  yours  cannot 
fail  to  be  as  bright  and  cheerful  an  evening  of  as  long  and  useful  a 
life  as  is  rarely  vouchsafed  to  man.  God  bless  you  and  yours. 

Affectionately,  J.  WATSON  WEBB. 

[MR.  WEED    TO   JAMES    WATSON    WEBB.] 

NEW  YORK,  December  13,  1877. 

Thanks,  dear  General,  for  your  interesting  and  welcome  letter.  I 
was  with  our  friend  an  hour  and  a  half  on  the  Wednesday  evening  be 
fore  he  died.  He  was  feeling  so  much  better  that  he  hoped  to  ride  out 
the  first  pleasant  day.  He  talked  most  of  the  time  of  old  associations, 
political  and  social,  remembering  sadly  how  many  loved  ones  had  de 
parted.  Yrou  and  I  knew  him  well  and  enjoyed  his  warm  affection  to 
the  last. 

Your  letter  recalls  very  pleasantly  our  long  and  uninterrupted  friend 
ship.1  Differing  occasionally  upon  public  questions,  our  personal  inter 
course  has  ever  been  cordial,  until,  in 

"  The  sere,  the  yellow  leaf  of  life," 

our  relations  have  become  very  endearing. 

We  had  been  meditating  a  visit  to  New  Haven  before  the  purpose 
was  stimulated  by  Mrs.  Webb's  kind  invitation.  We  now  hope  to  go 
to  Hartford  while  Moody  and  Sankey  are  laboring  there,  and  if  not 
disappointed  in  that,  we  shall  see  you  at  New  Haven.  With  affec 
tionate  remembrances  to  Mrs.  Webb,  I  am 

Truly  yours,  THURLOW  WEED. 

"  I  fear  that  delegates  will  be  aggravated  by  the  presence,  if 
not  the  importunities  of  candidates  ;  "  wrote  Mr.  Weed  to  Gen 
eral  Sharpe,  a  few  days  before  the  New  York  Republican  state 
convention  of  1879.  "I  do  not  want  to  reflect  upon  gentlemen 
who  act  in  accordance  with  changed  methods  of  conducting  a 
canvass,  but  I  cannot  forget  that  there  was  more  freedom  of 
opinion  and  less  constraint  in  action  when  political  assemblages 
were  not  thus  embarrassed.  ...  A  new  generation  of  public 
men  has  succeeded  those  with  whom  I  was  identified.  I  am 
less  competent  now  than  formerly  to  judge  of  their  relative  fit 
ness  for  public  duties ;  but,  were  I  able  to  attend  the  conven- 
1  It  began  in  1814. 


528  MEMOIR.  [1879. 

tion,  I  should  vote  for  Judge  Robertson,  whom  I  have  known 
long  and  intimately." 

In  carrying  out  Mr.  Conkling's  policy  of  opposition  to  Mr. 
Hayes,  it  became  necessary,  in  1879,  to  nominate  a  Republican 
candidate  for  Governor  who  was  distinctively  opposed  to  the 
federal  administration.  Such  a  candidate  was  obligingly  pro 
vided  by  the  President  himself,  who,  to  enforce  the  theory  that 
office-holders  ought  not  to  u  interfere  "  in  politics,  removed  Na 
val  Officer  Cornell,  then  also  chairman  of  the  Republican  state 
committee.  "  Crowns  are  reserved  for  martyrs  in  politics  as 
well  as  martyrs  in  religion,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed,  commenting 
upon  the  convention's  choice.  "  Had  Mr.  Cornell  been  left  un 
disturbed  in  the  acceptable  discharge  of  his  official  duties,  he 
would  have  been  in  nobody's  way  as  a  candidate  for  Governor,, 
He  is  indebted  for  this  nomination,  as  he  will  be  for  his  elec 
tion,  to  the  fact  that  he  has  been  made  the  victim  of  an  imprac 
ticable  idea." 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

1873-1879. 

A  DEFENSE  OF  BIMETALISM.  — No  STEPS  TAKEN  BY  CONGRESS  EXCEPT  IN 
THE  INTEREST  OF  BONDHOLDERS.  —  How  SILVER  WAS  DEMONETIZED.  — 
FRAUDS  PERPETRATED  TO  KEEP  GOLD  AT  A  PREMIUM.  —  A  CONVENTION 
OF  BANKERS.  — "  EVENTS  WHICH  CAST  THEIR  SHADOWS  BEFORE."  — 
"NoT  GOLD  ENOUGH  IN  THE  WORLD  TO  Do  THE  WORLD'S  BUSINESS." 

BELIEVING  that  the  government  issued  "  greenbacks  "  not 
only  to  suppress  rebellion  but  to  relieve  the  business  of  the 
country,  inasmuch  as  business  had  been  in  an  exhausted  condi 
tion  a  good  part  of  the  time  from  1856  to  1861,  Mr.  Weed  was 
dissatisfied  with  much  of  the  more  recent  financial  legislation 
at  Washington,  "the  only  effect  of  which,"  he  often  said,  "has 
been  to  make  the  rich  richer  and  the  poor  poorer."  The  u  hard 
times "  of  1873  to  1877  he  ascribed  to  fickle  and  'narrow- 
minded  dealing  with  the  currency  question.  The  first  of  the 
objects  sought  by  our  issues  of  paper  money  was  attained ;  but 
the  importance  of  the  second,  Mr.  Weed  claimed,  was  often 
entirely  overlooked,  or  willfully  disregarded. 

July  25,  1876. 

"  I  have  been  a  '  looker  on '  for  several  months  during  the 
discussions  in  Congress  and  in  the  press  of  the  silver  question. 
My  merely  superficial  knowledge  of  finance  leads  to  so  much 
distrust  that  I  approach  the  subject  with  much  hesitation.  Yet 
so  strong  are  my  intuitions  that  leading  journalists  are  mislead 
ing  their  readers,  that  I  have  determined  to  break  silence.  The 
persistent  effort  to  reject  silver  as  an  element  in  resumption 
seems  to  me  so  manifestly  unwise,  that  I  desire  to  call  attention 
to  facts  which  most  of  those  who  speak  or  write  upon  the  ques 
tion  have  forgotten,  or  choose  to  ignore. 

"The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  confers  upon  Con 
gress  the  power  to  '  coin  money,'  and  in  a  subsequent  section 
prohibits  states  from  coining  money  or  from  making  4  anything 
but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts.'  Gold 

34 


530  MEMOIR.  [1876. 

and  silver  coin  therefore  is  declared  by  our  fundamental  law  a 
legal  tender  in  the  payment  of  debts,  and  hence  gold  and  silver 
became  the  specie  currency  of  our  country.  Every  lafo  of  Con 
gress  authorizing  the  issue  of  bonds  and  notes,  the  proceeds  from 
the  sale  of  which  were  used  to  preserve  the  government  and 
Union,  provided  that  both  the  interest  and  principal  of  those 
obligations  (amounting  in  the  aggregate  to  nearly  three  thou 
sand  millions)  should  be  paid  '  in  coin,'  and  finally  on  the  18th 
of  March,  1869,  when  it  was  deemed  important  solemnly  to 
assure  the  public  creditors  of  the  good  faith  of  the  government, 
Congress  passed  a  declaratory  law,  saying  that 

The  faith  of  the  United  States  is  solemnly  pledged  to  the  payment 
in  coin,  or  its  equivalent,  of  all  the  obligations  of  the  United  States  not 
bearing  interest,  known  as  United  States  notes,  and  of  all  the  interest- 
bearing  obligations,  except  in  cases  where  the  law  authorizing  the  issue 
of  any  such  obligation  has  expressly  provided  that  the  same  may  be 
paid  in  lawful  money,  or  in  other  currency  than  gold  and  silver.  .  .  . 
And  the  United  States  also  solemnly  pledges  its  faith  to  make  provision 
at  the  earliest  practical  period  for  a  redemption  of  the  United  States 
notes  in  coin. 

"The  Court  of  Appeals  of  the  State  of  New  York  having  de 
cided  that  a  contract  made  before  the  passage  of  the  legal  tender 
act,  payable  expressly  '  in  gold  and  silver  coin,  lawful  money  of 
the  United  States,'  might  be  paid  and  satisfied  by  a  tender  of 
United  States  notes,  the  case  was  taken  to  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States,  at  Washington,  by  which  the  decision  was 
reversed.  Chief  Justice  Chase,  in  announcing  the  opinion  of 
the  court,  in  February,  1869,  said,  4  The  coined  dollar  was  a 
piece  of  .gold  or  silver  of  a  certain  degree  of  purity  and  weight. 
The  note  dollar  was  a  promise  to  pay  a  coined  dollar.'  By  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  by  the  laws  of  Congress  au 
thorizing  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  borrow  three  thousand 
millions,  and  by  the  language  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  '  silver  and  gold '  have  been  solemnly  declared 
and  affirmed  to  be  legal  tender  in  the  payment  of  debts.  The 
distinction,  therefore,  between  the  values  of  silver  and  gold, 
which  has  recently  obtained,  is  in  disregard  of  constitutional, 
legislative,  and  judicial  authorities  ;  and  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
throughout  the  commercial  world  silver  has  been  for  centuries, 
and  is  now,  more  largely  used  than  gold,  this  new  revelation 


1876.]  ARBITRARY  OPPOSITION    TO    SILVER.  531 

rests  upon  extrinsic,  artificial,  and  arbitrary  ideas.  It  might, 
with  far  better  reason,  be  claimed  that  gold  should  not  be  a  legal 
tender,  because,  unlike  silver,  it  has  never  had  international 
circulation.  Even  in  England  and  France,  divided  only  by  a 
narrow  channel,  the  English  sovereign,  with  the  queen's  head 
on  it,  and  the  Napoleon,  with  the  emperor's  profile,  circulate 
principally  in  their  own  dominions,  while  the  Spanish  milled 
dollar,  the  Mexican  dollar,  the  French  franc,  and  the  English 
shilling  have  a  world-wide  circulation.  Nor  has  silver  been  the 
currency  of  modern  civilization  only.  It  was  a  '  legal  tender ' 
when  "fine  gold,'  like  4  rubies,'  was  '  precious'  only  for  ornament. 
The  Jewish  shekel  was  silver.  Joseph  was  sold  to  the  Ishmael- 
ites  by  his  brethren  for  '  twenty  pieces  of  silver,'  and  Judas,  for 
the  betrayal  of  our  Saviour,  received  '  thirty  pieces  of  silver.' 
As  early  as  we  have  any  knowledge  of  currency,  silver  was  its 
basis,  and  was  the  medium  of  exchange  for  all  commodities. 

"  It  is  claimed  that  the  largely  increased  supply  of  silver  from 
American  mines  is  affecting  its  value  throughout  the  world. 
This  result,  when  we  were  augmenting  our  public  debt,  was  an 
ticipated.  Our  ability  to  pay  both  the  principal  and  interest 
was  based  in  part  upon  the  value  of  mines  then  being  developed 
in  the  far  West.  And  now  that  these  hopes  are  realized,  shall 
we  deprive  ourselves  voluntarily  of  a  resource  which  will  essen 
tially  aid  in  reestablishing  and  restoring  the  credit  and  prosper 
ity  of  the  country?  Congress,  under  authority  derived  from 
the  Constitution,  inaugurated  the  coinage  of  silver  and  gold, 
fixing  the  value  of  each.  That  authority  remains.  Congress 
has  the  power  to-day,  as  it  had  the  day  after  the  Constitution 
was  adopted,  to  coin  silver  into  money,  to  fix  its  value  and  to 
declare  it  a  legal  tender.  The  discovery  and  development  of 
our  rich  silver  mines  was  providential.  Why,  if  Europeans 
deprecate  the  abundance  of  American  silver,  should  we  join  in 
a  temporarily  popular  cry  against  it?  If  it  be  just  or  wise  or 
patriotic  to  unite  in  efforts  to  depreciate  the  value  of  silver  be 
cause  our  mines  are  too  prolific,  would  it  not  be  equally  so  to 
unite  with  foreign  countries  to  cry  down  the  price  of  agricultu 
ral  products,  when  our  bountiful  harvests  enable  us  to  export 
largely  to  Europe  ?  .  .  . 

"  It  was  in  the  power  of  the  administration  and  Congress, 
had  they  set  themselves  diligently  and  wisely  to  the  task  ten 


532  MEMOIR.  [1876. 

years  ago,  to  have  accomplished  resumption  without  deranging, 
depressing,  or  disturbing  any  section,  any  class,  or  any^  interest. 
But,  most  unhappily,  statesmanship,  which  the  emergency  de 
manded,  was  lacking.  The  administration  and  Congress  have 
been  distinguished  as  'circumlocutionists.'  Their  efforts  toward 
resumption  so  far  have  been  in  the  direction  of  '  how  not  to  do 
it ; '  and  finally,  when  the  proposed  action  of  Congress  011  the 
silver  question  evinces  a  disposition  to  learn  how  to  do  it,  resis 
tance  comes  from  influential  journalists  ! 

"Silver  has  quietly  taken  the  place  of  fractional  currency. 
Our  eyes  and  ears  are  again  gladdened  by  the  sight  and  chink 
of  bright  silver  dimes,  quarter  and  half  dollars.  Had  the  ad- 
VQnt  of  this  precious  currency  been  cheerfully  accepted  by  cap 
italists,  bankers,  and  journalists,  resumption  would  have  been 
more  than  half  accomplished,  while  what  remained  to  be  done 
would  have  been  much  more  easily  achieved.  But  to  return  for 
a  moment  to  the  legal  view  of  the  question.  The  government 
agreed  to  pay  its  creditors  '  in  coin,'  i.  e.,  in  silver  or  gold.  The 
creditor  lent  his  money  upon  this  stipulation.  Has  either  party 
a  right  to  impair  the  contract  ?  If  silver  instead  of  gold  had 
appreciated,  could  the  government  for  that  reason  have  refused 
to  pay  its  creditors  in  silver  ?  And  is  the  creditor,  because  we 
have  more  silver  than  was  expected  either  by  him  or  the  govern 
ment,  at  liberty  to  refuse  it  ?  The  government  should  be  held 
strictly  to  its  obligation  as  '  nominated  in  the  bond.'  The  cred 
itor  in  demanding  his  c  pound  of  flesh  '  may  not,  at  his  peril, 
draw  '  one  drop  of  blood.'  Let  the  government  pay  all  it  owes, 
and  all  it  agreed  to  pay  to  its  creditors.  I  cannot  sympathize 
with  those  who  are  so  fastidiously  watchful  of  the  interests  of 
bondholders,  for  I  failed  to  discover  in  that  class  of  creditors, 
either  at  home  or  abroad,  anything  which  entitles  them  to  more 
consideration  than  other  and  much  larger  classes  who  receive 
for  their  labor  depreciated  paper.  The  former,  by  forces  which 
capital  knows  so  well  how  to  utilize,  have  been  greatly  favored. 
Large  bondholders,  foreign  and  domestic,  paid  less  than  par  for 
securities  which  now  bear  a  high  premium.  This  was  their 
privilege ;  but  this  does  not  give  them,  in  justice  or  equity,  the 
right  to  refuse  silver  and  demand  gold,  because  since  the  con 
tract  was  entered  into  the  manipulations  of  capital  have  de 
pressed  the  former  and  appreciated  the  latter." 


1877.]  IMPORTANT  INTERESTS  NEGLECTED.  533 

August  5,  187G. 

"  Congress  is  supposed  to  represent  the  interests  of  the  whole 
people,  but  in  making  gold,  and  gold  only,  a  legal  tender,  the 
interest  of  a  small  class  only  was  consulted.  The  premium  on 
gold  is  perpetuated  by  a  law  of  Congress,  while  these  premiums 
are  squeezed,  drop  by  drop,  from  the  brow  of  labor.  I  take 
leave  to  ask  representatives  and  senators  how  long,  in  their 
judgment,  this  process  in  favor  of  capital  and  against  labor  can 
be  practiced  with  impunity?  The  citizens  of  the  Western 
States  demand  a  repeal  of  the  wrong  law.  They  oppose  re 
sumption,  under  the  erroneous  impression  that  resumption  would 
aggravate  evils  from  which  we  are  all  suffering.  The  real  diffi 
culty  is  that  Congress  has  required  resumption  in  1879,  without 
having  taken  any  step  to  facilitate  or  aid  resumption.  Nor  is 
the  '  masterly  inactivity '  of  Congress  its  gravest  fault.  The  act 
of  1873,  demonetizing  silver,  renders  it  impossible  to  resume 
without  greatly  increasing  the  burdens,  losses,  and  sufferings  of 
the  commercial,  manufacturing,  and  laboring  classes.  Mean 
while  the  bondholders  and  foreigners  from  whom  we  purchase 
luxuries  profit  largely." 

November  23,  1877. 

"  Conscious  only  of  a  desire  to  be  useful,  I  can  afford  to  be 
misunderstood,  or  even  misrepresented,  while  claiming,  under 
the  authority  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  that  sil 
ver  is  lawful  money.  Under  that  authority  the  government  has 
borrowed  and  paid  thousands  of  millions  of  dollars  in  coin. 
Until  recently  no  one  questioned  the  money  value  of  silver.  It 
was  equally  precious  with  gold  until  it  was  secretly  demonetized 
in  1873.  A  bill  ostensibly  intended  to  regulate  the  government 
mints  contained  a  clause  demonetizing  silver,  but  so  cautiously 
drawn  as  to  conceal  its  purpose.  Nothing  appears  in  the  debate 
showing  that  any  member  of  Congress  was  aware  that  a  bill,  ap 
parently  harmless,  not  only  deprived  the  country  of  one  half  of 
its  monetary  power,  but  was  in  violation  of  the  Constitution. 
The  title  of  the  law  of  1873,  '  An  act  revising  and  amending 
the  laws  relative  to  the  mints,  assay  offices,  and  coinage  of  the 
United  States,'  furnished  no  intimation  that  it  contained  such 
a  sweeping  clause.  Conspirators,  however,  did  not  accomplish 
all  they  desired  by  that  act.  The  following  section  found  its 
way  into  the  Re  vised  Statutes,  which  were  enacted  in  bulk  in 
1874:  — 


534  MEMOIR.  [1877. 

The  silver  coins  of  the  United  States  shall  be  a  legal  tender,  at  their 
nominal  value,  for  any  amount  not  exceeding  five  dollars  in  any  one 
payment. 

"The  chairman  of  the  committee  who  submitted  the  report 
assured  the  House  that  it  contained  nothing  but  what  was  found 
in  special  and  separate  enactments  of  Congress.  And  yet  there 
was  nothing  in  any  act  of  Congress  giving  the  semblance  of 
authority  for  the  section  above  quoted.  These  double  frauds 
were  perpetrated  without  the  knowledge  of  those  who  voted  for 
them,  and  without  attracting  the  attention  of  newspaper  corre 
spondents.  Nor  did  the  President,  in  approving  the  bills  referred 
to,  know  or  suspect  that  either  struck  a  fatal  blow  at  the  inter 
ests  of  the  country  and  the  welfare  of  the  people.  In  a  letter 
written  by  General  Grant,  dated  October  3,  1873,  seven  months 
after  the  passage  of  the  law  relating  to  mints,  etc.,  he  said :  — 

I  wonder  that  silver  is  not  already  coming  into  the  market  to  supply 
the  deficiency  in  the  circulating  medium.  .  .  .  Experience  has  proved 
that  it  takes  about  $40,000,000  of  fractional  currency  to  make  the 
small  change  necessary  for  the  transaction  of  the  business  of  the 
country.  Silver  will  gradually  take  the  place  of  this  currency,  and, 
further,  will  become  the  standard  of  values,  which  will  be  hoarded  in 
a  small  way.  I  estimate  that  this  will  consume  from  $200,000,000  to 
$300,000,000,  in  time,  of  this  species  of  our  circulating  medium.  .  .  . 
I  confess  to  a  desire  to  see  a  limited  hoarding  of  money.  But  I  want 
to  see  a  hoarding  of  something  that  is  a  standard  of  value  the  world 
over.  Silver  is  this.  .  .  .  Our  mines  are  now  producing  almost  unlim 
ited  amounts  of  silver,  and  it  is  becoming  a  question,  "  What  shall  we 
do  with  it  ?  "  I  suggest  here  a  solution  which  will  answer  for  some 
years,  to  put  it  in  circulation,  keeping  it  there  until  it  is  fixed,  and  then 
we  will  find  other  markets. 

"The  President  did  not  know  that  he  had  approved  and 
signed  a  bill  prohibiting  the  coinage  of  a  currency  he  valued  so 
highly!  It  was  not  until  1874,  when  the  code  was  adopted, 
that  the  coinage  of  subsidiary  silver  was  authorized,  and  be 
came  a  legal  tender  for  $5.  And  finally,  when  these  frauds, 
perpetrated  to  keep  gold  at  a  premium  for  the  benefit  of  bond 
holders,  became  known,  no  word  of  reprobation  was  heard. 
The  press,  generally  alert,  vigilant,  and  outspeaking,  has  no 
word  of  condemnation  against  a  conspiracy  to  cripple  and  op- 


1877.]  A    WORD    WITH   CAPITALISTS.  535 

press  the  industries  and  labor  of  the  country.  On  the  con 
trary,  leading  journals  bitterly  assail  those  who  seek  to  restore 
to  the  country  a  money  standard  of  which  it  was  deprived 
fraudulently.  We  are  stigmatized  as  '  silver  inflationists,'  for 
asking  the  government  to  reestablish  a  financial  basis  under 
which  the  country  and  people  were  prosperous  and  happy  for 
more  than  eighty  years. 

"  This  question,  stripped  of  sophistry  and  verbiage,  presents 
a  naked  issue  of  capital  against  labor.  Shylocks,  ever  rapa 
cious,  are  struggling  to  4  keep  up  the  rate  of  usance.'  In  main 
taining  one  standard  —  thus  narrowing  our  specie  basis  one  half 
—  they  strengthen  and  perpetuate  their  advantages.  There  has 
been,  as  there  ever  must  be,  between  the  thousands  who  labor 
and  the  hundreds  who  enjoy  the  fruits  of  such  labor,  an  4  irre 
pressible  conflict.'  But  it  is  the  duty  of  governments  to  see 
that  the  faces  of  those  who  labor  are  not  held  too  closely  to  the 
grindstone. 

"  The  country  is  threatened,  as  is  usual  when  capital  takes 
alarm,  with  return  of  the  bonds  held  abroad,  should  holders  be 
asked  to  receive  their  interest '  in  coin.'  If  foreigners  choose  to 
return  their  bonds  because  we  offer  to  pay  them  in  the  precise 
currency  which  they  agreed  to  receive,  I  do  not  see  that  either 
our  character  or  our  pockets  would  be  injuriously  affected.  For 
eigners,  during  our  civil  war,  '  made  haste  slowly '  in  purchasing 
our  bonds.  Nothing  of  friendship  or  patriotism  was  manifested. 
Capital,  ever  cautious,  waited  and  doubted  a  long  time  in  Ger 
many,  and  still  longer  in  England.  Most  of  these  investments 
were  made  when  our  bonds  cost  but  fifty  cents  on  the  dollar. 
Holders  have  been  receiving  their  interest  in  gold  until  it  is 
proposed  to  pay  it  '  in  coin.'  If  for  this  reason,  they  choose 
to  send  home  our  bonds,  we  can  afford  to  receive  them,  hav 
ing  large  amounts  of  money  seeking  profitable  investments. 
Nor  is  this  the  only  method  of  intimidation  resorted  to.  We 
are  told  that  if  the  money  standards  of  the  Constitution  are  re 
stored,  the  Syndicate  will  suspend  its  negotiations.  How  far 
this  threat  will  be  carried  remains  to  be  seen.  .  .  . 

"  My  confidence  in  the  wisdom  of  returning  to  '  the  financial 
policy  of  our  fathers  '  has  been  strengthened  by  conversations 
with  the  venerable  Thomas  W.  Olcott,  for  more  than  sixty  years 
the  successful  financial  manager  of  the  Mechanics'  and  Farmers' 


536  MEMOIR.  [1877. 

Bank  of  Albany.  Mr.  Olcott  is  not  only  the  oldest  bank  presi 
dent  in  the  State,  but  is  as  widely  known  as  a  uniform,  earnest, 
and  enlightened  hard-money  man."  .  .  . 

December  11,  1877. 

"  I  waited  anxiously  for  the  President's  message,  in  the  hope 
that  it  would  advert  to  the  fraudulent  demonetization  of  silver, 
recommending  its  restoration,  with  such  modifications  as  might 
be  deemed  proper.  I  have  long  believed  that  resumption  can 
be  reached  easily  and  rendered  permanent  by  the  utilization  of 
silver.  That  conviction  has  confirmed  and  strengthened  by 
experience  and  observation.  Silver  has  quietly  and  advanta 
geously  taken  the  place  of  fractional  paper  currency  —  a  cur 
rency  by  which,  saying  nothing  of  its  inconvenience,  the  people 
lost  millions  of  dollars.  But  even  subsidiary  silver,  precious  as 
it  is  to  the  masses,  offends  advocates  of  a  gold  standard.  A 
national  convention  of  bankers,  embodying  and  representing,  it 
is  to  be  presumed,  the  financial  wisdom  of  the  country,  unan 
imously  adopted,  as  the  result  of  its  deliberations,  the  following- 
resolution  :  — 

Resolved,  That,  in  the  opinion  of  this  convention,  silver  money,  as 
a  subsidiary  currency,  is  desired  by  the  people,  and  that  its  "  free  " 
and  not  "  enforced  "  use  will  greatly  aid  in  restoring  the  value  of  our 
paper  money. 

"  My  great  respect  for  individual  bankers  leads  me  to  be 
lieve  that,  while  this  resolution  was  unanimously  adopted,  many 
bankers  would  hesitate,  individually,  to  avow  approval  of  it. 
While  the  whole  country  is  enjoying  the  advantages  of  partial 
specie  resumption  ;  while  the  people  everywhere  hail  the  re 
turn  of  silver  coin  as  a  precious  boon,  bankers,  though  con 
strained  to  admit  its  usefulness  in  '  restoring  the  value  of  our 
paper  money,'  grudgingly  consent  to  its  'free,'  but  not  to  its 
4  enforced  '  circulation.  In  other  words,  the  bankers  say  that 
as  the  people  in  their  ignorance  '  desire '  silver  coins  instead  of 
paper  stamps,  it  is  well  enough  to  gratify  them  by  its  circula 
tion  among  themselves,  provided  banks  are  not  '  enforced  '  to 
recognize  it  as  a  legal  tender. 

"The  bankers'  resolution  reflects  the  spirit  manifested  gener 
ally  by  gold  advocates.  This  remark  is  especially  true  in  refer 
ence  to  the  press.  All  the  bitterness  of  denunciation  against 


1877.]  METALLIC  AND  PAPER  DOLLARS.  587 

paper  inflationists  and  repudiators  has  been  turned  upon  those 
whose  offense  consists  in  advocating'  the  restoration  of  a  money 
standard  authorized  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
and  enjoyed  by  the  people,  under  Congressional  laws,  until  they 
were  fraudulently  deprived  of  it  in  1873.  Indeed,  hostility  to 
silver  is  so  absorbing  that  gold  advocates  begin  to  contemplate 
a  paper  currency  with  favor.  The  fact  that  greenbacks  are 
worth  more  than  silver  is  urged  against  its  remonetization, 
while  the  other  fact  that  the  relative  value  of  the  greenback 
and  silver  dollar  was  fixed  and  determined  by  congressional 
law  is  concealed.  If  the  silver  dollar  be  now  worth  eight  cents 
less  than  the  gold  dollar,  it  is  because  the  government  made  it 
so.  Gold,  like  silver  and  paper,  owes  its  money  value  now,  as 
ever,  to  the  government  stamp.  How  could  silver  be  expected 
to  retain  its  money  value  when  it  ceased,  under  a  law  of  Con 
gress,  to  be  a  legal  tender  ? 

"  Heretofore,  during  the  existence  of  our  government,  all  par 
ties  have  claimed  that  legislation  should  be  so  guided  as  to  de 
velop  the  resources  of  the  country  and  stimulate  the  industries 
of  the  people.  There  have  been  conflicts  between  the  planting, 
the  manufacturing,  and  the  mineral  interests,  but  all  interests 
which  came  into  competition  with  foreign  countries  have  de 
manded  protection.  New  England  required  protection  for  her 
factories,  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania  for  their  iron  and  coal, 
and  Louisiana  for  her  sugar.  Later,  when  valuable  deposits  of 
lead  and  copper  were  discovered  in  the  Western  States,  protec 
tion  was  required  by  and  accorded  to  those  interests.  But 
when,  in  a  trying  crisis,  kind  Providence  revealed  treasures  still 
more  precious,  instead  of  extending  protection  to  silver,  the 
government  stealthily  and  secretly  deprived  it  of  its  monetary 
character.  Other  metals,  in  their  various  ways,  have  been  util 
ized.  But  the  government,  the  bondholders,  the  press,  and 
even  the  pulpit,  now  unite  in  refusing  to  repeal  a  law  which  was 
fraudulently  enacted.  While,  therefore,  other  interests  have 
been  vigilantly  guarded,  we  not  only  refuse  to  protect  silver, 
but  deny  ourselves  the  advantages  resulting  from  its  use  as 
money.  Before  silver  was  found  in  our  own  country,  we  cheer 
fully  availed  ourselves  of  the  Spanish  and  Mexican  silver  dol 
lars  as  a  legal  tender  in  the  payment  of  all  debts.  Now,  when 
we  are  rich  in  silver,  we  recklessly  throw  away  all  of  these  ad 
vantages. 


538  MEMOIR.  [1877. 

"  John  Randolph,  in  a  speech  against  a  protective  tariff,  de 
livered  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  half  a  century  ago,  said 
that  he  k  hated  wool,'  and  would  go  a  mile  out  of  his  way  to 
6  kick  a  sheep.'  It  is  very  much  in  this  spirit  that  the  warfare 
against  silver  is  waged.  The  worshipers  of  gold  hate  silver, 
and  go  out  of  their  way  to  '  kick '  the  4  dollar  of  their  fathers.' 
And  yet,  from  the  close  of  our  war  with  England,  in  1815,  the 
history  of  the  world  furnishes  no  parallel  to  the  growth,  pros 
perity,  and  happiness  of  the  American  people,  up  to  1860,  when 
we  encountered  rebellion  and  war.  During  that  long  period, 
subject  to  occasional  checks  incident  to  all  nations,  commerce, 
manufactures,  and  agriculture,  each  cherishing  and  assisting  the 
other,  furnished  remunerative  employment  to  all  willing  hands, 
and  a  rich  reward  to  the  capital  invested.  During  those  4  years 
of  plenty,'  of  industry  and  economy,  wealth  was  acquired  which 
has  since  been  squandered.  We  are  slowly  working  back  to 
that  palmy  condition  under  the  demoralizing  legacies  of  a  san 
guinary  and  expensive  war  —  greatly  retarded  by  habits  of  ex 
travagance  and  idleness  which  that  war  engendered.  What  we 
now  need  to  restore  prosperity  is  a  return  to  the  financial  policy 
which  gave  us  a  paper  currency,  convertible  at  all  times  and 
places  into  specie.  If  it  be  urged  against  such  a  policy  that 
certain  foreign  governments  have  adopted  a  single  standard, 
and  that  we  must  conform  thereto,  my  answer  is,  that  we  must 
have  a  fair  start  by  righting  the  Wrong  perpetrated  in  1873. 
Under  providential  laws,  we  are  a  wonderfully  favored  nation. 
We  are  producing  silver  in  great  abundance.  It  is  our  right 
and  our  duty  fairly  and  honestly  to  make  the  most  of  it,  as  we 
do  with  other  products  of  earth  and  ocean.  If  for  reasons  which 
concern  the  credit  or  honor  of  the  nation  it  is  deemed  expedient 
to  pay  the  bondholder  in  gold,  even  though  he  agreed  to  receive 
his  pay  in  coin,  let  that  concession  be  made.  Silver  would  still 
remain  a  standard  among  ourselves,  and  with  full  two  thirds  of 
all  nations  and  peoples  related  to  us  commercially.  This  was 
the  financial  ground  that  I  fondly  hoped  the  administration 
would  occupy.  Upon  such  a  basis  resumption  and  prosperity 
would  have  been  reached  and  maintained. 

"  There  is,  however,  one  more  chance  left  for  averting  evil. 
Gold  men,  if  not  lost  to  considerations  of  justice  and  duty,  and 
to  a  sense  of  their  own  true  interest,  will,  after  it  has  been  prop- 


1877.]  "SIGNAL  LIGHTS  ARE   BURNING."  539 

erly  amended,  accept  and  vote  for  the  Bland  silver  bill.  In  this 
way  manifold  dangers  will  not  only  be  averted,  but  resumption 
and  prosperity  achieved.  Should  this  last  chance  be  lost ;  if 
gold  men  persist  in  a  course  which  protracts  the  hoarding  and 
sweating  financial  policy,  they  will  become  responsible  for  the 
consequences.  Already,  signal  lights  are  burning.  There  is 
danger,  it  is  said,  that  the  Bland  bill  will  be  passed  by  con 
stitutional  majorities  in  both  Houses  over  a  presidential  veto. 
Now,  I  take  leave  to  say  to  aggressive  and  rapacious  capitalists 
that  the  worst  thing  possible  for  them  and  for  the  welfare  of 
our  country  will  be  the  defeat  of  a  bill  remonetizing  silver,  by 
a  presidential  veto.  If  gold  men  persist  in  sowing  the  storm, 
they  must  prepare  to  reap  the  whirlwind.  Thoughtful  men 
would  be  admonished  by  the  fact  that  already  nearly  or  quite 
two  thirds  of  the  members  of  both  Houses  of  Congress  are  in 
favor  of  the  remonetization  of  silver.  But  should  the  voice  of 
the  people  and  the  votes  of  their  representatives  be  overridden 
by  an  executive  veto,  no  prophet  is  needed  to  foretell  the  con 
sequences. 

•'  Those  who  delude  themselves  with  the  idea  that  the  present 
defeat  of  a  silver  bill  terminates  the  controversy  will  soon  find 
that  illusion  dispelled.  Returned  to  the  people,  the  question 
will  be  considered  in  the  light  which  discussion  has  thrown 
upon  it.  Advocates  of  silver  will  not,  as  heretofore,  be  con 
fined  largely  to  the  South  and  the  West.  The  people  of  New 
Jersey,  New  York,  and  New  England,  whose  business  interests 
have  long  stood  still,  will  speak  and  act,  in  ways  that  their 
representatives,  who  vote  to  deprive  them  of  the  use  of  money 
providentially  provided  for  their  prosperity  and  happiness,  will 
not  misunderstand. 

"  If  I  discern  and  characterize  '  events  '  which  '  cast  their 
shadows  before,'  it  is  only  in  the  hope  of  inducing  good  men  to 
act  wisely.  I  deprecate  and  deplore,  as  earnestly  as  any  other 
citizen,  possibilities  which  we  may  be  forced  to  encounter.  It  is 
only  to  avoid  shipwreck  that  I  reluctantly  point  out  reefs  and 
rocks  toward  which  we  are  drifting.  My  individual  interests, 
in  a  small  way,  are  identified  with  the  class  that  differs  so 
widely  with  me  as  to  what  methods  are  best  for  its  security  and 
protection." 


540  MEMOIR.  [1879. 

December  15,  1879. 

"  The  people  are  now  rejoicing  in  the  beneficent  rewards  of  a 
financial  policy  which  achieved  resumption.  But  for  the  wisdom 
and  firmness  of  the  last  Congress  in  passing  the  bill  remonetiz- 
ing  silver  over  an  ill-judged  presidential  veto,  supplemented  by 
the  courage  and  fidelity  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in 
utilizing  silver  and  greenbacks,  there  would  have  been  neither 
resumption  nor  prosperity.  If  the  silver  dollar  is  not  equiv 
alent  in  value  to  the  gold  dollar,  the  fault  and  the  responsibility 
belong  to  the  banks,  the  press,  and  the  Eepublican  senators  in 
Congress  from  New  York  and  New  England,  by  each  and  all  of 
whom  silver  in  any  form  was  repudiated.  The  banks  of  our 
city  made  proclamation  that  they  would  have  no  transaction 
with  the  West  not  based  upon  gold.  At  a  national  bank  con 
vention,  Mr.  Hayes,  a  modern  financial  Solomon,  objected  to 
silver  as  money  because  in  an  age  distinguished  for  '  riotous  liv 
ing  '  silver  was  '  nothing  accounted  of  for  drinking  vessels  ! '  And 
yet,  while  the  bacchanalians  of  a  dark  age  preferred  gold  for 
drinking  vessels,  Mr.  Hayes  will  find  silver  recognized  as 
'  money  current  with  the  merchants  '  in  every  book  and  almost 
every  chapter  of  the  Bible  from  Genesis  to  Revelation.  When, 
however,  the  Shy  locks  of  the  present  generation  determined  to 
increase  the  purchasing  power  of  gold,  silver  was  demonetized 
by  the  Latin  and  American  governments.  That  this  was  done 
by  Congress,  as  is  now  alleged,  because  silver  had  largely  lost 
its  intrinsic  value,  is  disproved  by  a  letter  from  the  Comptroller 
of  the  Currency,  written  in  1873,  informing  Congress  that  the 
silver  dollar  was  worth  three  per  cent,  more  than  the  gold  dollar. 

"  Silver  and  gold  are  our  constitutional  money  standards. 
The  Constitution  imposes  upon  Congress  the  duty  of  providing 
for  the  coinage  of  silver  and  gold  bullion  in  such  proportions 
as  will  equalize  their  market  value.  That  duty  was  discharged 
from  time  to  time  as  the  relative  value  of  the  metals  required,  for 
more  than  eighty  years,  and  until  1873,  when  the  Constitution 
was  violated  by  a  law  demonetizing  silver.  I  have  stated  in  for 
mer  letters  that  but  very  few  members  in  supporting  a  bill  to  reg 
ulate  the  government  mints  knew  that  they  were,  in  violation  of 
the  Constitution,  depriving  the  country  of  one  half  of  its  money 
power.  And  President  Grant  has  said  that  he  signed  that  bill 
without  knowing  that  its  most  important  effect  was  to  demone- 


1879.]  BIMETALISM  DEFENDED.  541 

tize  silver.  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  then  a  member  of 
the  Senate,  and  chairman  of  its  committee  on  finance,  did  not, 
as  far  as  I  can  learn,  speak  to  the  question.  But,  as  the  time 
for  resumption  approached,  the  people  discovered  that  by  some 
body's  sharp  practice  their  faces  were  to  be  held  down  upon  a 
gold  grindstone.  The  remonetization  of  silver  was  promptly 
and  loudly  demanded.  Happily,  advocates  of  a  single  money 
standard  are  beginning  to  learn,  to  quote  the  terse  expression 
of  ex-Secretary  McCulloch,  that  '  there  is  not  gold  enough  in 
the  world  to  do  the  world's  business.' " 


CHAPTER  XL. 

1874-1880. 

THE  EFFORT  TO  RENOMINATE  GENERAL  GRANT  FOR  A  THIRD  TERM.  — 
NEW  YORK  AND  PENNSYLVANIA  DEVELOPMENTS.  —  A  SENTIMENT  NOT 
TO  BE  TRIFLED  WITH.  —  "  THE  FIRST  STEP  IN  THE  DIRECTION  OF  A 
MONARCHY."  —  AN  EDITORIAL  ANNIVERSARY.  —  ELECTION  OF  GEN 
ERAL  GARFIELD.  —  MR.  WEED'S  BIRTHDAY  CELEBRATED.  —  SPEECHES 
AND  LETTERS. 

DURING  the  years  1874,  1875,  and  1876,  it  was  sometimes 
felt  that  the  Republican  party  was  destined  to  break  into  two 
great  fragments  on  the  question  of  renominating  General  Grant. 
Mr.  Weed  was  urged  to  secure  an  expression  against  another 
Grant  canvass  from  the  New  York  Republican  convention 
which  renominated  Governor  Dix.  Whitelaw  Reid  was  often 
in  consultation  with  him,  strongly  advocating  a  resolution  of 
protest,  as  the  only  safeguard  against  party  disintegration.  Mr. 
Weed  was  himself  inclined  to  take  the  same  view,  but  other 
friends  of  the  Governor  thought  differently,  and  they  prevailed. 
In  the  following  year,  1875,  Mr.  Conkling  was  regarded  as  a 
presidential  possibility,  and  it  became  necessary  to  clear  the 
way  for  his  advance.  When,  therefore,  the  anti-Grant  resolu 
tion  was  again  suggested  at  the  Republican  state  convention, 
it  was  warmly  indorsed  by  Mr.  Conkling's  adherents.  Without 
dissent,  a  resolution  was  passed  recognizing  as  conclusive  the 
President's  public  declarations  that  he  was  not  a  candidate  for 
renomination,  and  avowing  "  unalterable  opposition  to  the  elec 
tion  of  any  President  for  a  third  term."  Again  the  scene 
changes.  New  York  has  no  presidential  possibility,  it  is  thought, 
in  1880,  and  the  Grant  movement,  now  first  swelled  to  realty 
formidable  proportions,  is  placed  for  guidance  in  Mr.  Conkling's 
hands.  The  Republican  state  convention  assembles  in  mid 
winter,  and  pledges  the  united  vote  of  New  York  to  the  doctrine 
"  unalterably  opposed  "  in  1875,  and  declared  to  be  "  fraught 
with  peril  to  our  free  institutions  "  by  a  Republican  Congress 
in  1876. 


1880.]  THE    THIRD    TERM  CONTEST.  543 

1880.  —  Thus  the  struggle  for  a  third  term  was  not  pushed  to 
the  bitter  end  until  after  Mr.  Weed  had  passed  his  eighty-sec 
ond  year ;  nevertheless  he  felt  great  interest  in  all  its  develop 
ments.  "  Though  withdrawn  by  age  and  infirmities  from  active 
participation  in  public  affairs,"  he  wrote,  in  February,  u  I  can 
not  be  indifferent  to  the  interests  of  the  Republican  party,  be 
lieving  as  I  do  that  the  welfare  of  our  country  depends  largely 
upon  its  continued  ascendency.  It  was  my  habit  during  half  a 
century  that  found  me  an  earnest  working  Whig  and  Repub 
lican,  to  remember  that  our  successes  depended  largely  upon 
our  wisdom  in  the  selection  of  candidates.  Conventions  should 
so  discharge  their  responsible  trusts  as  to  insure  zealous  support 
for  their  nominees.  .  . 

"  In  the  judgment  of  a  large  class  of  Republicans  there  are 
objections  to  third  term  nominations.  Usages,  in  the  course  of 
time,  come  to  possess  the  strength  of  enactments.  England,  for 
example,  has  no  written  constitution,  yet  usage  has  given  her  a 
form  of  government  as  well  defined  and  binding  as  it  could 
have  been  by  fundamental  law.  Should  an  exigency  exist  de 
manding  the  renomination  of  General  Grant,  it  would  be  mani 
fested  by  a  spontaneous  popular  movement,  —  a  movement  which 
would  insure  his  election.  Under  other  circumstances  his  nom 
ination  would  be  undesirable.  ...  I  cannot  but  regret  that 
state  conventions  were  called  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  York 
before  the  public  mind  was  prepared  to  express  its  best  judg 
ment.  President  Grant,  Senator  Elaine,  Senator  Sherman,  and 
Mr.  Washburne  are  recognized  by  their  respective  friends  as 
candidates  for  the  presidency.  Each  and  all  of  these  gentlemen 
are  capable  and  trustworthy.  Either  can  be  elected  if  his  nom 
ination  can  be  reached  harmoniously.  Is  it  not  important,  then, 
that  our  delegation  should  go  to  the  national  convention  without 
instructions  ?  If  the  right  sort  of  Republicans  are  designated 
as  delegates,  may  they  not  be  safely  trusted  to  ascertain  and  ex 
press  the  best  phase  of  public  sentiment?  *  .  .  If  bestowed  by 
delegations  appointed  in  accordance  with  the  views  of  congres 
sional  districts,  and  left  free  to  act  upon  the  latest  and  best 
reflection  of  public  opinion,  the  nomination  of  General  Grant 
would  be  vindicated  by  his  election.  But  should  a  nomination 
be  secured  by  other  methods,  the  success  of  our  ticket  will  be 
hazarded." 


544  MEMOIR.  [1880. 

"The  announcement  that  Governors  Boutwell,  Banks,  Rice, 
Washburne,  and  other  prominent  citizens  have  appealed  to  the 
Republicans  of  Massachusetts  in  favor  of  General  Grant's  re- 
nomination,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed  in  April,  "  must  occasion  wide 
spread  surprise  and  regret.  My  own  surprise  and  regret  are 
measured  by  my  high  estimate  of  their  wisdom  and  patriotism. 
Without  in  the  slightest  degree  impugning  their  motives,  I  am 
constrained  to  believe  that  they  have  acted  without  giving  them 
selves  the  benefit  of  the  fullest  and  most  careful  consideration 
of  the  question,  in  all  its  aspects.  Six  months  ago  General 
Grant's  nomination  was  a  '  foregone  conclusion.'  There  was 
then  a  general  belief  that  the  country  needed  him.  But  cir 
cumstances  and  conditions  have  entirely  changed.  The  wave 
which  was  wafting  him  onward  has  subsided,  leaving  him  with 
out  that  advantage  over  his  competitors.  In  this  aspect  of  the 
question,  should  not  eminent  Republicans  in  Massachusetts 
and  elsewhere  reserve  their  judgment  upon  the  presidential 
question?  It  is  of  vital  importance  that  those  upon  whose 
knowledge  and  experience  the  people  are  accustomed  to  rely 
for  guidance  should  hold  themselves  free  to  act  as  the  welfare 
of  the  country  requires  when  the  national  convention  assembles. 
All  things  else  being  equal,  the  nomination  of  either  of  the 
other  gentlemen  named  would  be  preferable  to  that  of  General 
Grant,  for  the  reason  that  he  has  been  honored  for  distinguished 
services  rendered  his  country,  like  Washington,  Jefferson,  Mad 
ison,  Monroe,  Jackson,  and  Lincoln,  with  two  terms,  and  can 
now,  like  his  illustrious  predecessors,  '  with  all  his  country's 
honors  blest,'  find  truest  happiness  in  calm  and  dignified  retire 
ment.  And  here  comes  in  another  reason  against  General 
Grant's  nomination.  A  pervading  and  deep  seated  anti-third 
term  sentiment,  unless  quieted  by  some  great  emergency,  would 
imperil  his  election.  This  anti-third  term  element,  whether  it 
be  a  sentiment,  or  a  prejudice,  or  compounded  of  both,  must  be 
recognized,  like  the  '  Maine  law '  idea,  as  one  of  the  obstruc 
tive  forces  encountered  by  the  Whig  and  Republican  parties. 
...  If  General  Grant  is  kept  well  informed,  he  will  not  per 
mit  his  name  to  go  before  the  national  convention.  A  '  scrub- 
race  '  would  detract  from  the  character  and  standing  of  one 
who  has  been  twice  chosen  President  by  the  spontaneous  senti 
ment  of  a  grateful  country. 


1880.]     GENERAL   GRANT'S  REELECTION  OPPOSED.      545 

"Neither  public  nor  even  party  considerations  inspired  the 
call  for  premature  conventions  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  York. 
The  object  of  such  action  was  purely  personal ;  and  that  object 
is  now  so  apparent  as  to  provoke  a  powerful  reaction,  —  so 
powerful,  indeed,  that  were  conventions  to  assemble  now,  the 
proceedings  of  the  February  state  conventions  would  be  re 
pudiated.  The  Republicans  of  Kings  County  have  repudiated 
those  proceedings  ;  and  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  a  Grant 
delegation  could  now  be  chosen  in  this  city.  Those  conventions 
were  mischievous  in  another  respect.  Other  states  are  follow 
ing  the  bad  example  of  Pennsylvania  and  New  York,  by  '  in 
structing  '  their  delegates.  In  case  such  '  instructions '  are 
obeyed,  the  national  convention  will  be  anything  but  a  delib 
erative  body ;  and,  worst  of  all,  the  great  states  of  Pennsylvania 
and  New  York,  in  so  far  as  delegates  obey  their  '  instructions,' 
will  be  misrepresented." 

A  month  before  the  national  convention,  several  New  York 
delegates,  headed  by  William  H.  Kobertson,  then  in  the  State 
Senate,  responding  to  the  demands  of  public  sentiment,  united  in 
a  letter  declaring  that  at  the  national  convention  they  would  dis 
regard  instructions  and  vote  against  the  third  term  candidate. 
These  avowals  Mr.  Weed  commended  warmly. 

"  They  prove,"  he  said  in  a  published  interview,  "  not  only  a 
determination  to  act  from  conviction  in  the  nomination  of  a  can 
didate  for  President,  but  also  the  unwisdom  of  embarrassing 
delegates  with  instructions  before  public  sentiment  indicates  the 
relative  strength  of  candidates.  Every  intelligent  Republican  in 
New  York  and  Pennsylvania  perceives  that  in  conventions  held 
now,  as  they  should  have  been  held,  '  instructions  '  in  favor  of 
General  Grant  would  be  an  impossibility.  Conditions  and  cir 
cumstances  which  six  months  ago  rendered  the  nomination  of 
General  Grant  not  improbable  have  all  changed.  That  nomina 
tion  is  now  neither  expedient  nor  probable.  .  .  .  Nothing  but 
some  impending  danger  can  reconcile  the  American  people  to  the 
violation  of  a  rule  which,  by  the  force  of  illustrious  examples,  has 
become  an  unwritten  article  in  the  federal  Constitution.  Noth 
ing  less  than  an  emergency  should  secure  the  consent  of  a  Presi 
dent,  who  has  served  two  terms,  to  allow  his  name  to  go  before 
a  national  convention. 

"  In  the  absence  of  any  such  emergency,  I  think  it  is  the 

35 


546  MEMOIR.  [1880. 

imperative  duty  of  ex-President  Grant  to  withdraw  from  the 
canvass." 

"  But  if  he  does  not  withdraw,  what  then  ?  " 

"  The  result  must  be  inglorious  ;  for  should  he  be  nominated 
at  Chicago,  he  would  be  disastrously  defeated  at  the  polls." 

"  No  matter  who  the  candidate  of  the  Democratic  party  may 
be?" 

"  I  don't  think  it  makes  any  difference." 

"How  about  Mr.  Tilden?" 

"  I  think  Tilden  would  be  a  stronger  candidate  than  Grant." 

"  Do  you  think  the  General's  friends  are  aware  of  the  strength 
of  the  anti-third  term  movement?" 

"  If  the  supporters  of  General  Grant  would  faithfully  en 
deavor  to  ascertain  and  measure  the  length,  breadth,  and 
strength  of  anti-third  term  sentiment,  they  would  realize  the  im 
possibility  of  electing  such  a  candidate.  Nearly  five  generations 
have  grown  up  in  the  belief  that  a  third  term  is  the  first  step  in 
the  direction  of  a  monarchy." 

The  "Evening  Journal"  was  fifty  years  old  in  the  spring  of 
1880,  and  responding  to  Mr.  Dawson's  invitation,  Mr.  Weed 
went  to  Albany  to  resume  control  for  that  day  of  the  paper 
which  first  appeared  under  his  hand  on  the  22d  of  March, 
1830.  This  was  an  experience  probably  never  paralleled  in  the 
history  of  journalism  in  this  or  any  other  country. 

Half  a  century  ago  [he  wrote]  the  first  number  of  this  paper  was 
issued.  Its  editor,  who  is  indebted  to  a  kind  Providence  for  length  of 
days,  is  privileged  to  occupy  for  the  hour  his  editorial  chair,  for  the 
purpose  of  greeting  old  friends  and  their  descendants. 

The  occasion  carries  us  back  in  memory  to  the  infancy  of  a  journal 
which,  during  the  thirty-five  years  of  my  connection  with  it,  enjoyed 
the  confidence  of  a  great  party,  a  generous  people,  and  of  statesmen 
whose  lives  constitute  an  important  part  of  the  history  of  our  country. 
The  remembrances  of  those  years  are  exceedingly  agreeable.  My 
"lot  was  cast  in  pleasant  places."  The  occupation  was  in  all  respects 
congenial.  Its  compensations,  ample  in  what  is  generally  regarded 
as  the  chief  end  of  life,  were  most  valued  in  relations  and  associations 
which  furnish  the  surest  guarantee  of  enduring  happiness.  .  .  . 

Time  has  wrought  marvelous  changes  among  those  by  whom  our 
various  industries  were  then  [in  1830]  promoted.  How  few  of  those 
then  of  mature  age,  actively,  usefully,  and  honorably  employed,  and 
who  became  friends  and  patrons  of  the  "  Journal,"  are  now  alive  ! 


1880.]  HALF  A    CENTURY  IN  RETROSPECT.  547 

Not  only  most  of  those  then  associated  with  me  in  the  battle  of  life, 
but  many  of  their  immediate  descendants,  have  passed  away.  Of  the 
ten  or  eleven  sons  and  daughters  of  William  James  there  is  but  a  sin 
gle  survivor.  When  the  first  number  of  the  "  Journal "  was  issued 
(before  my  family  came  from  Rochester  to  Albany),  I  was  lodged  at 
the  Eagle  Tavern  with  Richard  Marvin,  William  Cook,  John  I.  Boyd, 
Jared  L.  Rathbone,  Henry  L.  Webb,  and  Weare  C.  Little,  intelligent, 
prosperous,  and  esteemed  merchants.  Mr.  Little  is  the  only  survivor. 
There  is  not  now,  from  the  foot  of  State  Street  to  the  Capitol,  a  single 
person  left  of  all  who  were  then  either  doing  business  or  residing 
there.  Nor  do  I  remember  more  than  two  signs  (Gladding's  and 
Friend  Humphrey's  Sons)  that  have  withstood  all  changes  and  re 
forms.  Isaiah  and  John  Townsend  are  remembered  as  eminent  hard 
ware  merchants,  and  have  transmitted  tin's  honored  name  to  sons 
worthy  of  such  an  inheritance. 

Another  old  and  highly  reputable  hardware  house,  Stafford  &  Ben 
edict's,  has,  with  most  of  its  immediate  descendants,  long  been  among 
things  of  the  past.  I  believe  that  a  son  of  Mr.  Stafford  and  a  son 
and  two  daughters  of  Mr.  Benedict  are  the  only  survivors  of  two  large 
families.  Mr.  Lewis  Benedict  became  my  warm  personal  and  politi 
cal  friend  in  1824,  and  acted  with  me  efficiently  and  cordially  ever 
after.  I  never  knew  a  more  untiring,  zealous,  and  unselfish  politician. 
He  was  for  many  years  chairman  of  our  state  committee.  And  it 
occurs  to  me  here  and  now  to  say  that  in  at  least  one  respect  I  am  the 
most  fortunate  of  men,  for  during  a  long  life  I  have  enjoyed  friend 
ships  which  brightened  and  cheered  my  labors  through  seasons  of 
prosperity  and  soothed  and  solaced  afflictions  common  to  humanity. 

It  was  my  happiness  to  find  such  friends  in  the  late  Richard  M. 
Blatchford,  Robert  B.  Minturn,  William  Kent,  and  John  L.  School- 
craft.  Such  a  friend  also  was  the  late  Rufus  H.  King,  with  whom  I 
became  acquainted  in  1815,  when  he  came  from  Connecticut  to  Albany 
as  a  clerk  for  his  brother-in-law,  Mr.  McHarg.  From  that  time 
until  he  was  called  to  his  final  rest,  he  was  a  "  friend  that  sticketh 
closer  than  a  brother."  When  the  "  Journal "  was  established,  and 
for  several  subsequent  years,  I  gave  my  time  and  thoughts  wholly  to 
the  advancement  of  our  cause.  Aware  of  my  indifference  to  pecuni 
ary  matters,  my  friends  Seward  and  Whittlesey  looked  after  my 
worldly  affairs.  At  the  instance  of  those  gentlemen,  the  proprietors 
of  the  "  Journal "  increased  my  salary  as  editor  annually  from  $750 
in  1830  to  $2,000  in  1838.  Subsequently,  when  the  "Journal"  be 
came  the  state  paper  and  I  a  partner,  Mr.  King  kindly  became  my 
pecuniary  guardian,  taking  the  same  care  of  my  interests  as  of  his  own. 
Under  his  auspices,  during  the  next  twenty  years,  he  saw,  as  he  used 


548  MEMOIR.  [1880. 

to  say  with  much  gratification,  "  the  acorn  grow  into  an  oak."  It  is  to 
his  devoted  friendship  that  I  am  largely  indebted  for  the  competency 
which  not  only  renders  the  evening  of  life  free  from  care  and  toil, 
but  enables  me  to  do  something  for  those  less  fortunate.  I  am  con 
soled  for  the  loss  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  King  by  the  affectionate  regard  of 
their  sons  and  daughter. 

The  "  Journal,"  representing  a  new  political  element,  and  one  par 
ticularly  obnoxious  to  influential  men  in  both  the  "  Clintonian "  and 
"  Bucktail "  parties,  found  a  u  hard  road  to  travel."  The  "  Adver 
tiser,"  with  whose  principles  and  proprietors  I  had  but  a  short  time 
previously  been  in  accord,  was  even  more  bitter  than  the  "  Argus." 
But  contrary  to  a  very  general  belief,  the  "  Journal,"  strong  from  the 
beginning  in  the  West,  made  its  way  more  rapidly  in  other  parts  of 
the  State  than  was  expected,  and  in  1834,  when  the  Whig  party  was 
organized,  became  its  recognized  organ.  The  hitherto  invincible  De 
mocracy,  with  leaders  distinguished  for  talent  and  tact,  though  at  first 
ignoring  the  "  Journal,"  soon  found  in  it  a  "  foeman  worthy  of  their 
steel." 

The  "  Albany  Regency,"  as  the  "  Journal  "  christened  the  leaders 
of  that  party,  consisted  of  Martin  Van  Buren,  Benjamin  Knower, 
William  L.  Marcy,  Charles  E.  Dudley,  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  Thomas 
W.  Olcott,  James  Porter,  Samuel  L.  Talcott,  John  A.  Dix,  Azariah  C. 
Flagg,  and  Silas  Wright,  with  Edwin  Croswell,  then  state  printer,  as 
the  editor  of  their  organ.  This  was  an  array  of  men  strong  in  purpose 
and  irreproachable  in  character.  They  all  possessed  qualities  which 
fitted  them  for  their  several  positions,  and  when  united,  rendered  them 
invincible  for  many  years.  For  the  first  two  or  three  years  I  was  left 
to  contend  with  such  antagonists  almost  single*  handed,  while  Mr. 
Croswell,  himself  an  able  writer,  was  assisted  by  Governor  Marcy, 
Mr.  Flagg,  and  General  Dix. 

During  the  sessions  of  the  legislature  I  was  greatly  strengthened 
by  constant  political  communion  with  Francis  Granger,  William  H 
Seward,  Albert  H.  Tracy,  William  H.  Maynard,  Millard  Fillmore, 
and  John  C.  Spencer.  Strong  as  the  Democratic  party  was  in  its 
leaders,  in  its  organization,  and  in  its  following,  watching  our  oppor 
tunity,  and  taking  advantage  of  all  the  mistakes  of  our  opponents,  we 
elected  a  Whig  Governor  in  1838  and  a  Whig  President  in  1840. 
With  occasional  reactions  against  us,  the  State  has  been  Whig  or  Re 
publican  more  than  half  the  time  since,  and  in  the  character  and  ser 
vices  of  the  men  to  whose  elevation  it  contributed,  the  "  Journal  " 
may  reflect  with  just  pride. 

To  speak  only  of  those  "  who  rest  from  their  labors,"  the  archives 
of  the    State   show  the    names   of  William  H.  Seward,  Washington 


1880.]  HALF  A    CENTURY  IN  RETROSPECT.  549 

Hunt,  John  A.  King,  and  John  A.  Dix  as  governors  ;  Luther  Bradish, 
George  W.  Patterson,  and  Henry  J.  Raymond  as  lieutenant-gover 
nors  ;  John  C.  Spencer,  Christopher  Morgan,  secretaries  of  state  ;  Bates 
Cook,  John  A  Collier,  Millard  Fillmore,  Philo  C.  Fuller,  James  M. 
Cook,  and  Robert  Denniston  as  comptrollers  ;  Jacob  Haiglit,  Gamaliel 
H.  Barstow,  Alvah  Hunt,  James  M.  Cook,  and  Philip  Dorsheimer  as 
treasurers ;  Willis  Hall,  Ambrose  L.  Jordan,  and  Ogden  Hoffman,  at 
torney-generals  ;  Asa  Whitney,  S.  Newton  Dexter,  David  Hudson, 
George  H.  Bougliton,  Thomas  Clowes,  Charles  Cook,  Nelson  J.  Beach, 
and  Henry  Fitzhugh  as  canal  commissioners  ;  Luther  Bradish,  George 
W.  Patterson,  Peter  B.  Porter,  Henry  J.  Raymond,  and  Jonas  C. 
Heartt,  speakers  of  assembly ;  William  H.  Maynard,  Albert  H.  Tracy, 
Hiram  F.  Mather,  Timothy  H.  Porter,  Moses  Hayden,  William 
H.  Seward,  Philo  C.  Fuller,  Trumbull  Gary,  John  Birdsall,  Isaac 
Lacey,  Chauncey  J.  Fox,  Frederick  A.  Tallmadge,  Samuel  Works, 
Gulian  C.  Verplanck,  Henry  A.  Livingston,  Martin  Lee,  John  May 
nard,  Laurens  Hull,  Win.  A.  Moseley,  Gabriel  Furman,  Alvah  Hunt, 
Robert  C.  Nicholas,  Henry  Hawkins,  Erastus  Root,  Mitchell  Sanford, 
Friend  Humphrey,  James  G.  Hopkins,  Andrew  B.  Dickinson,  Mark 
H.  Sibley,  John  W.  Taylor,  Elijah  Rhoades,  Harvey  Putnam,  Freder 
ick  F.  Backus,  Joshua  A.  Spencer,  Francis  H.  Ruggles,  A.  J.  Coffin, 
Samuel  J.  Wilkin,  James  M.  Cook,  Benjamin  N.  Huntington,  William 
Beach,  George  R.  Babcock,  Charles  Colt,  Azor  Taber,  W.  H.  Van 
Schoonhoven,  Harmon  Bennett,  James  Platt,  James  Monroe,  Clarkson 
F.  Crosby,  Frederick  P.  Bellinger,  Alexander  B.  Williams,  Charles 
Cook,  Ezra  Cornell,  as  senators  ;  and  of  G.  H.  Barstow,  John  A.  Col 
lier,  Bates  Cook,  John  Dickson,  John  W.  Taylor,  Alfred  Conkling, 
Phineas  Tracy,  Frederick  Whittlesey,  James  Tallmadge,  Samuel  J. 
Wilkin,  Millard  Fillmore,  Philo  C.  Fuller,  Abner  Hazeltine,  Henry 
C.  Martindale,  Timothy  Childs,  Francis  Granger,  Thomas  C.  Love, 
David  Russell,  John  C.  Clark,  Edward  Curtis,  Ogden  Hoffman,  Har 
vey  Putnam,  Mark  H.  Sibley,  Daniel  D.  Barnard,  Thomas  C.  Chitten- 
den,  Seth  M.  Gates,  Moses  H.  Grinnell,  Thomas  Kempshall,  Christo 
pher  Morgan,  James  Monroe,  Luther  C.  Peck,  Victory  Birdseye,  John 
Greig,  Hiram  P.  Hunt,  Archibald  L.  Linn,  John  Maynard,  Thomas 
A.  Tomlinson,  Henry  Van  Rensselaer,  John  Young,  Charles  H.  Car 
roll,  Washington  Hunt,  Preston  King,  William  A.  Moseley,  Thomas 
J.  Patterson,  J.  Phillips  Phoenix,  Charles  Rogers,  Asher  Tyler,  Rich 
ards  P.  Herrick,  Hugh  White,  William  Duer,  Daniel  Gott,  Horace 
Greeley,  N.  K.  Hall,  John  M.  Holley,  Elias  B.  Holmes,  Dudley  Mar 
vin,  Joseph  Mullin,  Gideon  Reynolds,  Robert  L.  Rose,  Frederick  A. 
Tallmadge,  Peter  H.  Sylvester,  Henry  P.  Alexander,  Henry  Bennett, 
Charles  E.  Clark,  John  A.  King,  James  G.  King,  Elijah  Risley, 


550  MEMOIR.  [1880. 

Abraham  M.  Schermerhorn,  John  L.  Schoolcraft,  Obadiah  Bowne, 
Solomon  G.  Haven,  Augustus  P.  Hascall,  J.  H.  Hobart  Haws,  Jede- 
diah  Horsford,  George  A.  Simmons,  Gerrit  Smith,  Amos  P.  Granger, 
Wm.  H.  Kelsey,  Killian  Miller,  John  Williams,  Samuel  G.  Andrews, 
William  A.  Sacket,  Clark  B.  Cochrane,  Abraham  B.  Olin,  John  H. 
Reynolds,  and  John  A.  Griswold,  as  members  of  Congress. 

Among  the  oldest  and  most  zealous  political  patrons  and  friends  of 
the  "Evening  Journal"  and  its  editor,  with  whom  enduring  relations 
exist  and  who  have  been  associated  with  it  in  all  its  trials  and  all  its 
triumphs,  are  Elias  W.  Leavenworth,  Edward  Dodd,  Benjamin  D. 
Silliman,  Samuel  B.  Ruggles,  Eldridge  G.  Spaulding,  Edwin  B.  Mor 
gan,  Robert  H.  Pruyn,  Judson  W.  Sherman,  Richard  P.  Marvin,  S. 
P.  Allen,  Oran  E.  Follett,  Bloomneld  Usher,  John  A.  Cook,  J.  S.  T. 
Stranahan,  Seth  C.  Hawley,  E.  Peshine  Smith,  James  Bowen,  Theo 
dore  S.  Faxton,  Ambrose  W.  Clark,  O.  B.  Matteson,  A.  D.  Barber, 
Vivus  W.  Smith,  George  Geddes,  Lewis  H.  Redfield,  Henry  W  Tay 
lor,  Governor  Myron  H.  Clark,  Gideon  Hard,  Dan  H.  Cole,  D.  W.  C. 
Littlejolm,  Duncan  McDonald  (the  "  Schoharie  Poet "),  George  W. 
Ernst,  Ebenezer  Blakeley,  Alonzo  S.  Upham,  James  M.  Marvin,  Wil 
liam  A.  Sacket,  William  H.  Robertson,  David  Rumsey,  George  Dex 
ter,  Samuel  Miller,  William  McElroy,  Thomas  McElroy,  Lawson 
Annesley,  and  Joseph  Mullen,  together  with  William  White,  John  D. 
Parsons,  and  Visscher  Ten  Eyck,  who  are  pleasantly  remembered  as 
business  associates. 

Distinguished  among  those  who  came  later  into  public  life  as  cher 
ished  friends  of  the  "  Journal,"  are  Governors  Fish  and  Morgan,  Vice- 
President  Wheeler,  and  Secretary  Evarts. 

It  is  pleasant  in  this  retrospect  to  remember  that  political  differ 
ences,  however  sharp,  did  not  prevent  or  disturb  personal  friend 
ships.  During  our  most  exciting  campaigns  agreeable  social  relations 
existed  with  Governor  Marcy  and  Governor  Throop,  Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor  Gardiner,  Comptroller  Flagg,  Thomas  W.  Olcott,  Benjamin 
Knower,  Dean  Richmond,  Governor  Seymour,  Henry  H.  Van  Dyck, 
Michael  Hoffman,  Abijah  Mann,  Charles  Van  Benthuysen,  Erastus 
Corning,  Charles  L.  Livingston,  Dudley  Selden,  Francis  B.  Cutting, 
Dr.  Peter  Wendell,  Sanford  E.  Church,"  Amasa  J.  Parker,  J.  H.  Van 
Antwerp,  and  Charles  P.  Clinch. 

Between  the  "  Argus  "  and  "  Journal  "  there  was  "  war  to  the  knife  " 
for  more  than  twenty  years,  during  which  time  their  respective  editors 
were  not  on  speaking  terms.  But  when  a  political  and  financial 
change  in  our  relative  fortunes  came,  an  incident  connected  with  that 
change  occurred  which  brightened  and  solaced  the  lives  of  both.  .  .  . 

If  friendships  were  convertible  into  pounds,  shillings,  and  pence,  I 


1880.J  FIFTY    YEARS   IN  RETROSPECT.  551 

should  be  a  very  rich  man,  for  in  this  respect  my  investments  have 
proved  alike  profitable  and  enduring.  Notwithstanding  the  length  of 
the  above  roll-call,  memory  is  constantly  busy  in  supplying  omissions. 
While  there  are  thousands  of  Whig  and  Republican  friends  whose  gen 
erous  confidence  and  cooperation  is  gratefully  remembered,  I  will  not 
now  trespass  farther  on  these  columns  than  to  pay  a  tribute  of  grati 
tude  to  James  Wadsworth,  of  Geneseo,  farmer,  philanthropist,  philos 
opher,  and  patriot. 

Mr.  Wadsworth  was  the  wealthiest  man  in  Western  New  York.  He 
devoted  his  wealth  and  what  was  even  more  valuable,  the  wealth  of 
his  large  intellect,  to  the  improvement  of  rising  generations.  He 
founded  Normal  schools ;  he  originated  district  school  libraries.  I 
was  fortunate  enough  in  1823,  as  editor  of  the  Rochester  "  Telegraph," 
to  attract  his  attention  and  secure  his  confidence  and  friendship,  —  a 
friendship  that  strengthened  until  by  his  death  the  State  lost  one  of  its 
best  and  most  distinguished  citizens.  Mr.  Wadsworth  was  earnestly 
urged  to  accept  representative  honors,  but  he  was  inflexible  in  his 
refusals.  The  present  State  Comptroller,  a  son  of  the  late  General 
James  S.  Wadsworth,  and  a  grandson  of  James  Wadsworth,  inherits 
the  virtues  of  both. 

In  referring  to  personal  relations,  existing  between  myself  and  lead 
ing  political  opponents,  I  take  pleasure  in  remembering  the  late  Gen 
eral  Peter  Gansevoort,  with  whom  a  friendship  existed  from  1816,  and 
who  was  my  colleague  in  the  legislature  of  1830,  the  late  Garret  Y. 
Lansing,  Henry  H.  Martin,  and  the  late  J.  V.  L.  Pruyn,  of  this  city, 
together  with  John  McKeon  and  John  E.  Develin,  of  New  York.  The 
latter  two  gentlemen,  as  members  of  the  Assembly  in  the  long  past, 
were,  as  they  are  to-day,  cherished  friends. 

It  was  my  intention,  on  this  semi-centennial  occasion,  to  confine  my 
self  to  the  past,  but  I  feel  constrained  to  suggest  a  few  thoughts  con 
cerning  the  present  and  future  of  the  Republican  party.  It  must  now 
be  evident  to  all  that  premature  calls  for  conventions  in  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania  were,  speaking  mildly,  mistakes  ;  double  mistakes,  indeed, 
because  they  diminish  General  Grant's  chances  for  the  nomination, 
and  if  he  should  now  be  nominated  after  a  struggle,  his  election  would 
be  doubtful.  When  an  extra  session  of  Congress  revealed  revolu 
tionary  designs,  the  public  mind  turned  instinctively  to  General  Grant. 
Should  such  apprehensions  exist  when  our  national  convention  meets, 
his  nomination  would  be  vindicated  by  his  election,  and  under  such 
circumstances  only  should  his  nomination  be  urged  or  desired.  Dele 
gates  to  the  national  convention  ought  to  be  left  free  to  respond  to 
public  sentiment  as  they  find  it  when  they  assemble.  It  is  not  the 
man  so  much  as  the  cause  that  should  be  considered  in  the  selection  of 
a  candidate. 


552  MEMOltf.  [1880. 

On  the  8th  of  June,  1880,  James  A.  Garfield  became  the  Re 
publican  candidate  for  President,  and  opponents  of  General 
Grant  hailed  this  result  joyfully. 

"  The  party  is  to  be  congratulated,"  wrote  Mr.  Weed,  "  upon 
the  auspicious  close  of  the  protracted  and  exciting  labors  of  the 
national  convention.  The  nomination  of  General  Garfield  will 
unite  the  Republicans  of  this  and  other  states,  who,  after  months 
of  antagonism  and  rivalry,  will  now  enter  the  canvass  refreshed 
and  invigorated.  The  action  of  the  convention  insures  success 
in  New  York.  Besides,  it  disposes  of  a  question  which,  until 
now,  was  never  seriously  agitated.  .  .  .  General  Grant  is  the 
only  one  of  the  Presidents  who  has  been  pressed  upon  the  peo 
ple  for  a  reelection,  after  having  served  two  terms.  The  issue 
has  been  squarely  made ;  has  been  forever  settled  ;  and  the 
victory  is  worth  all  that  it  has  cost." 

"  Do  you  think  that  Grant  men  will  support  General  Gar- 
field?" 

"  I  do,  undoubtedly.  Had  Blaine,  Grant,  or  Sherman,  been 
nominated  after  such  trouble  as  they  had  at  the  convention, 
there  would  have  been  strong  opposition  within  the  party,  and 
in  all  probability  we  should  have  been  defeated.  It  was  neces 
sary  to  unite  upon  some  one  who  had  been  in  the  background." 
The  day  after  the  election,  Mr.  Weed  sat  before  the  open  fire 
in  his  study,  looking  cheerful,  when  asked  what  he  thought  of 
the  result. 

"  The  canvass,"  he  said,  "  involved  questions  of  vast  interest. 
.  .  .  But  it  is  evident  that  the  people  have  studied  the  work  ac 
complished  by  the  Republican  party  during  the  last  twenty 
years.  ...  If  any  evidence  was  needed  of  General  Garfield's 
fitness  for  the  Presidency,  it  has  been  afforded  by  his  actions 
and  utterances  since  his  nomination.  .  .  .  I  think  General 
Hancock  ought  to  congratulate  himself  that  he  was  not  elected. 
His  life,  as  President,  would  have  been  anything  but  peaceful." 
Just  before  Mr.  Weed's  birthday,  in  the  fall  of  1880,  a  re 
ception  was  arranged  in  his  honor  by  the  New  York  Press  club, 
to  occur  at  the  rooms  of  the  club  on  that  anniversary.  Many 
guests  were  present  and  the  occasion  proved  very  enjoyable. 
One  or  two  of  the  speeches  and  selections  from  the  letters  of 
absent  friends  seem  to  deserve  a  place  in  this  chapter. 


1880.]  A   BIRTHDAY  ANNIVERSARY.  553 

While  others  have  been  able,  and  wise,  and  patriotic  [said  the  late 
J.  TV.  Simonton],  Mr.  Weed,  more  than  any  other  in  the  journalistic 
profession,  has  recognized  that  as  the  creator  is  greater  than  the  crea 
ture,  so  the  king-maker  is  greater  than  the  king,  at  least  in  power 
for  usefulness.  And  so  he  has  preferred  to  be  a  conscientious  king 
maker,  rather  than  to  sit  upon  the  throne  and  wield  its  sceptre. 
During  his  long  career  his  efforts  have  been  steadily  addressed  to 
moulding  and  shaping  the  public  opinion  which,  in  a  free  government, 
is  king  at  last. 

He  realized  that  his  influence  could  be  best  broadened  and  con 
served  by  earnest  work  in  the  editorial  chair.  And  so,  while  always 
striving  faithfully  and  well  to  put  whatever  cause  his  pen  espoused 
into  the  hands  of  capable  administrators,  he  ever  and  resolutely  pushed 
aside  the  honors  of  high  office  which  were  within  his  personal  grasp. 
Thus  no  suspicion  of  self-seeking  could  impair  his  power  for  good  ; 
and  thus,  also,  his  thoughtful,  wise,  and  unselfish  use  of  the  influence 
commanded  by  his  exceptional  talents,  won  for  him  that  general  re 
spect,  admiration,  and  love  of  which  we,  here  and  now,  tender  him 
our  most  cordial  expression.  .  .  . 

A  volunteer  in  the  war  of  1812,  I  believe  he  never  again  engaged 
in  official  service  until  1861.  Then,  when  our  country  was  in  the 
throes  of  revolution,  Lincoln  —  recognizing  his  social  charm,  no  less 
than  his  logical  power,  directness  of  purpose,  and  marked  capacity  for 
terse  and  vigorous  statement  —  invited  him  to  visit  Europe,  as  a  citi 
zen  representative  of  the  Union  cause,  to  mingle  in  the  society  of  the 
capitals  of  England  and  France,  and  there  to  create  and  stimulate  a 
sentiment  against  foreign  intervention  in  American  affairs.  The  dan 
ger  of  such  intervention  was  the  one  half -hidden  rock  lying  in  the  path 
of  our  ship  of  state,  which,  perhaps  more  than  any  other,  imperiled 
its  safety  during  the  cloud  and  tempest  of  that  critical  hour. 

Mr.  Weed  promptly  accepted  this  call  to  duty,  though  unheralded 
by  official  proclamation,  and  with  no  hope  of  other  reward  than  con 
sciousness  of  duty  done.  Himself  a  printer,  he  followed  in  the  foot 
steps  of  the  printer  Franklin,  and  served  the  nation  as  well  at  the 
Court  of  St.  Cloud  as  Franklin  did  at  an  earlier  crisis  in  our  nation's 
life.  The  golden  link  which  thus  connects  the  names  of  Benjamin 
Franklin  and  Thurlow  Weed  will  carry  them  down  together  in  his 
tory,  to  be  cherished  among  the  choicer  memories  of  a  grateful  pos 
terity. 

It  is  our  proud  distinction  that  their  reflected  light  will  also  and 
ever  illuminate  the  records  of  the  journalistic  craft  to  which  we  be 
long.  Let  this  thought  inspire  us  to  higher  aims,  to  nobler  purposo, 
and  to  grander  endeavor. 


554  MEMOIR.  [1880. 

After  speeches  by  Algernon  S.  Sullivan,  Erasttis  Brooks, 
David  M.  Stone,  James  Watson  Webb,  and  others,  Dr.  J.  B. 
Wood,  chairman  of  the  committee  of  arrangements,  called  at 
tention  to  a  group  of  portraits  which  hung  on  one  side  of  the 
wall,  representing  Mr.  Seward,  Mr.  Weed,  and  Mr.  Greeley ; 
spoke  of  the  presence  of  the  only  survivor  of  the  famous  copart 
nership,  referred  to  a  despatch  just  received  from  Mr.  F.  W. 
Seward,  and  called  upon  Whitelaw  Eeid  to  speak  on  behalf  of  the 
I  remaining  member  of  "  the  firm  of  Seward,  Weed  &  Greeley." 

This  call  [said  Mr.  Reid]  reminds  me  of  the  first  time  I  ever  had 
the  pleasure  of  seeing  your  efficient  chairman.  I  had  just  come  from 
the  wilds  of  Ohio,  and  had  been  drawn  to  the  office  of  a  newspaper 
which  perhaps  need  not  be  further  designated.  I  was  not  familiar 
with  its  ways,  did  not  even  know  how  to  put  the  office  marks  for  type, 
etc.,  on  my  copy,  and  was  referred  to  the  chairman  of  your  committee 
for  instructions.  I  shall  never  forget  the  first  order  he  gave  me,  and 
it  seems  particularly  appropriate  now,  —  "  cut  it  down  one  half."  .  .  . 

The  time  for  speaking  frankly  and  fully  of  that  firm  has  not  yet 
come.  This,  however,  we  may  fairly  say  :  It  was  the  greatest  politi 
cal  triumvirate  this  State,  or  indeed  the  country,  ever  knew.  This, 
also,  we  may  fairly  say  :  When  this  partnership  was  dissolved,  each 
member  retained  the  highest  respect  for  the  commanding  power  and 
ability  of  each  of  his  late  associates,  and  each  cherished  it  to  the  end. 
It  shaped  the  politics  of  this  State  and  of  the  country  during  a  most 
critical  formative  period.  It  carried  us  safely  through  the  death 
throes  of  the  old  Whig  party,  and  shaped  the  development  and  growth 
of  the  lusty  successor  that  abolished  slavery,  put  down  the  greatest 
civil  war  of  modern  times,  and  has  ruled  the  country  for  well-nigh  a 
generation.  If  it  be  true  that  one  result  of  the  dissolution  of  this  firm 
was  the  nomination  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  then  I  am  sure  no  man  re 
joices,  or  ever  did  rejoice,  more  heartily  over  the  dissolution  than  does 
the  venerable  survivor  to-night.  [Mr.  Weed,  interrupting,  "  Yes,  in 
deed  !  "]  It  is  a  pleasure  that  the  acerbities  of  the  separation  have 
long  faded  out.  There  are  some  here  who  will  remember  that  an  ar 
rangement  had  been  made  to  bring  about  a  meeting  between  the  two 
great  political  editors,  which  was  prevented  only  by  the  events  of 
1872,  and  the  tragic  close.  They  did  come  together,  but  it  was  only 
over  the  coffin  of  one,  with  the  other  among  the  first  of  the  pall-bear 
ers  at  a  funeral  where  men  represented  alike  the  official  dignity  and 
the  heart  of  the  city  and  nation. 

Both  of  Mr.  Weed's  old  associates  are  long  gone,  each  full  of  years 


1880.]  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS.  555 

and  of  honor.  Each  fills  a  great  space  in  our  history.  The  memory 
of  each  is  tenderly  cherished.  Who  that  remembers  Seward  and 
Greeley  can  fail  in  gratitude  to  this  surviving  Nestor  of  our  politics, 
who  guided  the  one  and  discovered  the  other  ?  His  way  of  life  is,  in 
deed,  fallen  into  the  sere  and  yellow  leaf,  but  as  he  looks  about  him, 
here  or  wherever  he  goes,  he  may  be  sure  that  he  has  to  the  full  — 

"  That  which  should  accompany  old  ago, 
Honor,  love,  obedience,  troops  of  friends." 

Among  letters  of  regret  addressed  to  the  secretary  of  the  club 
were  the  following :  — 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA.,  November  13,  1880. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  have  delayed  answering  your  kind  invitation  of  the 
8th,  to  join  your  club  in  the  reception  to  Thurlow  Weed,  hoping  to  be 
able  to  attend,  but  I  find  that  it  will  be  impossible. 

It  would  be  a  special  gratification  to  me  to  join  you  in  honoring 
Mr.  Weed,  who  has  made  himself  single  from  his  editorial  associates 
in  the  country,  in  asserting  the  power  and  dignity  of  the  newspaper 
press,  by  placing  it  above  all  official  positions. 

Very  truly  yours,  A.  K.  McCLURE. 

WEST  NEW  BRIGHTON,  STATEN  ISLAND,  N.  Y., 

November  9,  1880. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  regret  exceedingly  that  previous  engagements 
prevent  me  from  paying  my  respects  in  person  to  Mr.  Weed  at  the 
Press  Club  on  Monday  evening. 

But  no  one  of  the  editorial  fraternity  can  more  cordially  wish  for 
him  continued  health  and  prosperity  than  I.  Certainly  no  one  has 
shown  more  conspicuously  than  he  how  great  an  influence  may  be  ex 
erted  upon  practical  politics  without  official  position. 

Very  respectfully  yours,  GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS. 

GEXESEO,  N.  Y.,  November  13,  1880. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  am  in  receipt  of  your  favor  of  the  4th,  inviting  me 
to  the  celebration,  by  the  New  York  Press  Club,  of  the  eighty-third 
anniversary  of  the  birthday  of  Mr.  Thurlow  Weed. 

It  would  give  me  great  pleasure  to  accept  your  invitation,  but  1 
shall  be  unable  to  do  so.  There  is  no  man  in  the  journalistic  ranks 
whom  I  hold  in  such  esteem  and  veneration  as  the  distinguished  gen 
tleman  whom  you  propose  to  honor. 

I  have  known  him  forty  years,  but  have  known  of  him  for  more 
than  half  a  century.  I  first  met  him  upon  the  deck  of  a  canal  boat  at 


556  MEMOIR.  [1880. 

Syracuse,  at  the  great  Whig  meeting  of  September  16,  1840,  and 
have  had  frequent  evidence  of  his  kindness,  for  which  I  shall  never 
oease  to  be  grateful.  Very  respectfully,  S.  P.  ALLEN. 

NEW  YORK,  November  15,  1880. 

My  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  regret  very  much  that  I  cannot  be  with  you  to 
night,  to  join  with  you  in  the  celebration  of  the  eighty -third  anniver 
sary  of  the  birth  of  Mr.  Thuiiow  Weed,  who,  to  quote4rom  your  own 
language,  "  has  so  long  been  a  distinguished  and  revered  member  "  of 
the  profession  to  which  I  have  the  honor  to  belong. 

Your  invitation,  however,  affords  me  an  opportunity  to  express  the 
admiration  and  respect  I  feel  for  the  venerable  gentleman,  whose 
career  as  journalist  and  statesman  has  been  marked  by  the  broadest 
benevolence,  generosity,  and  patriotism.  If  all  newspaper  men  would 
only  study  and  imitate  the  shining  example  of  your  illustrious  guest, 
how  much  more  agreeable  would  be  the  post  of  journalist  to-day ! 

Yours  very  truly,  THOMAS  B.  CONNERY. 

NEWBURYPORT,  MASS.,  November  10,  1880. 

MY  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  am  so  immersed  in  work  at  present  that  I  am 
obliged  to  deny  myself  the  very  great  pleasure  of  being  with  you  on 
Monday  evening  next. 

It  was  only  yesterday  that  I  met  a  passage  in  the  Diary  of  John 
Quincy  Adams,  which  showed  that  during  the  presidency  of  that  ex 
cellent  man,  Mr.  Thurlow  Weed  was  already  an  active,  influential, 
and  patriotic  politician.  He  has,  I  believe,  influenced  or  admonished 
every  administration  since  ;  and  always,  I  am  sure,  with  the  best  in 
tentions,  often  with  the  happiest  effects.  He  was  fortunate  in  enter 
ing  journalism  when  the  path  upward  (always  difficult)  had  not  become 
nearly  impossible,  and  when,  in  order  to  direct  an  influential  newspaper, 
it  was  not  necessary  to  own  a  million  dollars. 

The  intellectual  element  of  the  press  seems  now  trodden  under  the 
feet  of  millionaires.  Ask  your  venerable  guest  what  the  element 
aforesaid  ought  to  do  about  it.  I  am  confident  he  could  give  valuable 
hints. 

With  sincere  thanks  for  the  honor  of  your  invitation,  I  remain, 

Very  truly  yours,  JAMES  PARTON. 

NEW  YORK,  November  13,  1880. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  am  in  receipt  of  your  very  kind  invitation  to  be 
present  and  join  with  the  New  York  Press  Club  in  celebrating  the 
eighty-third  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Mr.  Thurlow  Weed,  for  which 
honor  please  accept  my  thanks. 


1880.]  LETTERS   OF  REGRET.  557 

I  find  I  must  deny  myself  the  pleasure  of  meeting  Mr.  Weed,  your 
self,  and  the  members  of  your  respected  association  ;  but  I  cannot 
forbear  saying  that,  in  my  judgment,  your  honorable  and  honored 
guest  is  worthy  of  the  highest  respect  and  best  wishes  of  every  jour 
nalist  and  patriot  in  the  country.  His  natural  gifts  and  endowments, 
his  great  wisdom  in  dealing  with  public  questions,  his  able  advice  in 
times  of  peril  and  bitter  political  strife, 'together  with  his  great  kind 
ness  of  heart  and  unselfish  desire  to  do  good  to  all  men,  have  con 
verted  his  enemies  —  if  he  ever  had  any  —  and  made  him  an  army  of 
friends,  who  will  be  glad  to  know  of  his  continued  health,  happiness, 
and  prosperity.  Permit  me  to  offer  him,  through  you,  my  hearty 
congratulations  on  this  eventful  occasion,  and  if  he  will  accept  the  ad 
vice  of  an  humble  member  of  the  craft,  to  wish  that  he  will  continue 
to  hold  on  to  the  old  quill,  that  he  will  not  lay  aside  the  harness  as  a 
laborer  with  us,  and  that  he  may  be  able  many,  many  times  to  meet 
you  on  such  anniversary  occasion  to  receive  the  greetings  and  good 
wishes  of  the  members  of  your  club. 

With  great  respect,  etc.,  HEXRY  C.  BOWEN". 

P.  S.  —  If  I  were  present  and  permitted  the  opportunity  I  would 
offer  the  following  sentiment :  — 

Our  venerable  and  highly-respected  guest  —  a  living  illustration 
that  journalism  can  produce  in  a  single  man  the  qualities  needed  in 
the  presidential  chair  and  the  halls  of  Congress,  in  a  court  of  justice, 
or  in  any  home  or  foreign  service,  where  wisdom,  justice,  and  patriot 
ism  are  of  more  value  than  gold  or  guns  or  armies. 

PHILADELPHIA,  November  10,  1880. 

DEAR  SIB,  —  "Hoping,"  as  you  kindly  express  it  in  your  note, 
that  I  might  so  arrange  affairs  as  to  be  able  to  accept  the  New  York 
Press  Club's  invitation  to  join  in  the  birthday  reception  to  Thurlow 
Weed,  on  the  loth  inst.,  I  have  postponed  a  reply  until  to-day,  only 
to  find  imperative  business  engagements  still  in  the  way. 

It  takes  a  matter  of  some  urgency,  you  may  be  sure,  and  some  self- 
denial,  too,  to  keep  me  away  from  the  reception  that  commemorates 
the  eighty-third  anniversary  of  the  dear  old  gentleman's  birthday,  — 
to  enjoy  once  more  the  presence  and  the  conversation  of  the  veteran 
exemplar  of  the  virtue  of  growing  old  gracefully,  and  bearing  the  in 
firmities  of  far-advanced  age  with  unflagging  cheerfulness  of  spirit. 

Think  of  the  volume  of  history  covered  by  his  eighty-three  years  of 
life,  with  all  of  which,  during  his  sixty-two  years  of  manhood,  he  was 
in  close  contact,  and  part  of  which  he  was  !  I  shall  not  attempt  even 
a  glance  at  it  in  this  short  letter,  for  the  beginning  goes  back  beyond 
the  inauguration  of  De  Witt  Clinton  as  Governor,  and  it  seems  an  age 


558  MEMOIR.  [1880. 

since  the  era  of  that  great  statesman  and  friend  of  Thurlow  Weed 
passed  away.  What  a  mass  of  eventful  annals  in  your  State  and  in 
the  United  States,  between  then  and  now,  are  called  back  to  memory 
by  the  celebration  of  Mr.  Weed's  eighty-third  birthday,  even  when  we 
limit  recollection  to  those  only  in  which  he  took  active  part,  as  coun 
selor,  negotiator,  manager.  These  will  doubtless  be  recounted  at  the 
reception  from  nearer  memories  than  mine. 

His  personal  influence  and  action  have  left  more  continuous  and  en 
during  impress  on  the  history  of  your  State  and  of  the  nation  than 
those  of  any  other  one  man  I  can  call  to  mind,  —  and  this  without 
official  station  or  official  power  in  his  possession.  His  has  been  a 
grand  and  inspiring  career. 

With  very  great  regret  that  I  cannot  be  present  on  so  interesting 
an  occasion,  I  am,  dear  sir, 

Very  truly  yours,  GEORGE  W.  CHILDS. 


CHAPTER  XLI. 

1872-1881. 

SCATTERED  UTTERANCES  ON  PUBLIC  THEMES.  —  CONTRASTS  IN  JOURNAL 
ISM.  —  DEVELOPMENT  OF  EDITORIAL  ENTERPRISE.  —  DEMAGOGUES  ; 
THEIR  METHODS  AND  THEIR  OPPORTUNITIES.  —  INAUGURATION  OF 
PRESIDENT  GARFIELD.  —  His  DEATH.  —  SELECTIONS  FROM  MR.  WEED'S 
LETTERS. 

IT  grew  to  be  a  custom  with  writers  for  the  press,  during  the 
later  years  of  Mr.  Weed's  life,  when  anything  of  importance 
came  up,  to  seek  and  make  public  his  opinions.  Not  infre 
quently  several  of  these  gentlemen  met  each  other  in  his  study, 
waiting  for  him  to  return  home,  or  taking  notes  of  his  conver 
sation.  Sometimes  when  there  was  nothing  particular  to  write 
about  they  would  go  to  him  and  simply  ask  him  to  talk  upon 
any  subject  in  which  he  felt  interested.  Thus  prompted,  such 
was  the  training  of  his  life  that  he  dealt  always  with  topics  up 
permost  at  the  time  in  the  public  mind. 

"  Have  you  anything  to  say  about  Jay  Cookc?  "  was  asked  on 
the  21st  of  September,  1873. 

"  He  has  failed  by  attempting  to  carry  out  a  great  enterprise 
fifteen  years  too  soon." 

"  Where  should  the  obelisk  be  put  ?  "  was  asked  when  Cle 
opatra's  Needle  arrived  in  New  York. 

"  The  right  place  for  the  obelisk  is  at  the  Fifth  Avenue  en 
trance  to  Central  Park,  where  it  can  be  seen.  But  I  am  afraid 
it  will  be  hidden  away  somewhere  inside  the  inclosure." 

"  What  do  you  think  about  the  Passion  Play  ?  " 

"  New  Yorkers  wisely  absented  themselves  from  an  exhibition 
of  Spanish  cruelty,  when  bull-baiting  was  recently  proposed  as 
an  amusement.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  they  will  distinguish 
themselves  in  like  manner  when  invited  to  a  dramatic  entertain 
ment  which  desecrates  the  Scriptures.  There  is  ample  room 
for  play-goers  without  invading  the  prerogatives  of  religion." 


560  MEMOIR.  »  [1881. 

"  What  strikes  you,  Mr.  Weed,  as  the  most  salient  feature  in 
the  contrast  between  the  journalism  of  to-day  and  that  of  your 
youth?" 

"  The  remarkable  development  of  enterprise,  which  has  been 
most  marked  during  the  last  ten  or  fifteen  years,  and  especially, 
wonderful  in  the  last  four  or  five,  stimulated  by  the  new  facili 
ties  afforded  by  the  telegraph,  the  cable,  etc.  There  never  be 
fore  was  anything  like  the  enterprise  and  intelligence  which 
characterize  the  newspaper  press  to-day." 

"  How  does  the  influence  of  newspapers  compare  with  that 
which  they  wielded  a  generation  ago  ?  " 

"  While  the  newspapers  of  to-day  do  infinitely  more  than 
their  predecessors  in  the  way  of  diffusing  knowledge,  I  do  not 
think  they  exert  so  large  a  political  influence  now  as  formerly. 
This  is  especially  true  of  Washington.  In  all  the  early  history 
of  the  country  there  were  one  or  two  journals  in  Washington 
which  were  a  power  in  the  whole  land.  The  press  at  the 
national  capital  in  these  days  exerts  comparatively  little  influ 
ence." 

"  To  what  do  you  attribute  this  falling  off  in  the  influence  of 
purely  political  journals  ?  " 

"  For  one  thing  I  don't  think  editors  nowadays  seek  to  ex 
ert  the  political  influence  which  their  predecessors  did  twenty- 
five  years  ago.  Then,  too,  they  don't  have  time.  The  growth  in 
the  scope  of  the  modern  newspaper  leaves  its  conductor  small 
leisure  for  devotion  to  details  of  political  management.  Be 
sides,  people  are  inclined  to  think  more  for  themselves  than 
they  used  to." 

"I  should  like  to  ask,  Mr.  Weed,  what  you  regard  as  the 
most  serious  danger  by  which  the  country  is  threatened  ?  " 

"  Ignorance  —  ignorance  of  the  masses,  who  hold  the  balance 
of  power  in  many  states.  I  do  not  mean  that  ignorance  of  it 
self  is  so  dangerous,  or  that  ignorant  people  by  themselves  are 
dangerous;  the  great  peril  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  ignorant  be 
come  a  force  in  the  hands  of  intelligent,  educated,  but  dishonest 
men.  The  paramount  object  of  universal  education  should  be 
to  make  such  voters  independent  of  the  designs  of  the  educated 
and  dishonest,  —  to  make  them  capable  of  thinking  and  judging 
for  themselves  and  voting  upon  their  own  responsibility.  Mis- 
government  comes,  not  up  from  the  masses,  but  down  from  the 


1881.]  ^EDUCATION  AND   SUFFRAGE.  561 

educated  and  dishonest.  .  .  .  The  true  theory  of  our  govern 
ment  is  that  universal  education  and  universal  suffrage  should 
go  hand  in  hand." 

"  Then  you  believe  it  would  be  better  if  suffrage  were  limited 
by  an  educational  qualification?" 

"  "Well,  when  the  question  of  the  extension  of  suffrage  was  de 
bated,  that  very  matter  was  considered.  I  feared  the  dangers 
of  universal  suffrage  unqualified  in  any  way,  and  for  that  reason 
strenuously  opposed  the  amended  State  Constitution,  but  the 
people  passed  it  with  an  overwhelming  vote.  I  fought  against 
it,  wrote  against  it,  did  all  I  could  against  it,  but  the  Demo 
cratic  party  were  unanimously  in  favor  of  its  passage,  and  a 
large  proportion  of  my  own  party  supported  it,  and  so  it  was 
easily  carried  through.  That,  if  I  remember  rightly,  was  in 
1821  —  sixty  years  ago  —  and  I  have  lived  all  these  years  un 
der  that  amended  constitution,  and  have  not  seen  the  danger  I 
once  feared.  The  fact  of  the  matter  is,  regular  political  parties, 
managed  by  talented,  educated  men,  have  always  used  these 
ignorant  classes,  and  for  that  reason  the  danger  I  first  had 
in  mind  has  been  averted." 

"  What  was  the  danger  which  you  then  feared  ?  " 

"  That  at  some  time  the  masses  of  ignorant  and  poor  people 
might  unite  together,  elect  men  to  office  from  among  them 
selves,  who  would  then  pass  laws  which,  while  benefiting  their 
class,  would  impoverish  and  ruin  those  who  were  large  posses 
sors  of  property.  That  was  about  the  idea ;  but  I  am  con 
vinced  now  that  there  was  really  no  danger  to  be  feared  from 
such  a  cause.  The  ignorant  and  poor  never  have  united  so  far 
as  to  be  able  to  accomplish  anything  by  themselves  ;  they  are  al 
ways  in  the  hands  of  intelligent  men ;  demagogues  and  scoun 
drels,  it  may  be,  but  still  intelligent.  Take  the  case  of  the  Tweed 
ring,  which  preyed  upon  this  city  for  so  many  years.  While 
these  men  were  elected  by  the  votes  of  the  ignorant  majority,  it 
was  intelligence  that  directed  and  united  this  vote.  I  do  not 

O 

believe  that,  as-a  general  thing,  the  ignorant  and  poor  want  to  do 
wrong,  or  what  is  harmful  to  the  government ;  the  great  trouble 
is  that  they  are  misled,  and  misled  through  their  ignorance. 
Sixty  years  ago  I  believed  that  an  educational  qualification 
should  be  required  to  limit  suffrage  to  those  sufficiently  intelli 
gent  to  vote  upon  convictions  born  from  their  own  reasoning. 


562  MEMOIR.  [1881. 

Such  a  limit,  too,  might  incite  those  with  the  desire  to  vote 
to  labor  for  the  attainment  of  the  requisite  qualification,  thus 
helping  along  the  educational  average  of  the  nation." 

"  You  alluded  to  the  fact  that  the  dangers  you  feared  in  1821 
have  never  come  to  pass,  and  therefore  you  have  ceased  to  fear 
them  ;  may  they  not  obtrude  themselves  yet?" 

"  No,  I  cannot  say  that  I  think  so." 

"  You  do  not  anticipate  any  danger  from  a  possible  coalition 
of  strikers  and  the  formation  of  a  party  by  them?  " 

"  Oh,  no  ;  nothing  could  be  accomplished  by  such  a  party.  It 
is  true  that  there  are  now,  as  there  have  been  in  the  past,  spas 
modic  organizations  of  workingmen,  with  organs,  candidates,  and 
party  platforms ;  but  in  all  the  past  the  result  has  been  almost 
invariably  the  same.  The  representatives  of  these  organizations, 
or  the  men  elected  to  office,  have,  after  election,  sold  out  to  the 
highest  bidder,  —  corporation,  party,  or  individual,  wherever 
was  to  be  obtained  the  highest  reward  for  treachery.  .  .  . 

"  All  movements  having  the  object  in  view  of  drawing  voters 
away  from  existing  parties  have  resulted  in  failure,  with  one 
partial  exception.  About  forty-five  years  ago  an  attempt  was 
made  to  organize  a  workingmen' s  party  in  New  York ;  in  fact 
the  party  was  organized.  It  had  papers  published  in  its  inter 
est,  plenty  of  men  who  devoted  all  their  energies  to  its  success, 
and  really  did  an  extensive  work.  It  elected  one  of  its  candidates 
to  the  legislature.  That  party  I  regarded  as  dangerous.  Had 
it  been  able  to  remain  in  power,  New  York  would  have  suffered 
from  it  severely.  Its  continued  success  would  have  meant  plun 
der  and  ruin,  but  the  good  sense  of  the  people  discovered  how 
things  were  going  in  time,  and  the  party  was  put  down  after  an 
existence  of  a  single  year.  That  movement,  like  the  recent 
Kearney  movement,  was  an  exception  to  the  general  rule  that 
all  movements  which  attempt  to  draw  voters  away  from  existing 
parties  are  instigated  by  men  of  letters  or  of  superior  educa 
tion. 

"  In  the  past  century  there  have  been  efforts  to  organize  all 
manner  of  '  special '  parties  —  as  the  '  anti-Slavery '  party,  the 
4  Temperance '  party,  the  4  Know  Nothing '  party,  and  more  re 
cently  the  4  Civil  Service  Eeform  '  party.  None  of  these  parties 
originated  with  the  ignorant  and  poor.  Every  one  was  brought 
into  being  by  respectable  and  educated  men,  though  all  appealed 


1881.]  SLAVERY  AND   OTHER   QUESTIONS. 

to  the  ignorant  element  for  success.  All  such  parties  have 
failed  in  the  past,  and  must  fail  in  the  future.  Not  that  slavery 
and  drunkenness  were  not  great  evils,  needing  reformation,  but 
that  that  was  not  the  way  to  do  it.  Slavery  was  finally  abol 
ished  and  intemperance  has  been  greatly  mitigated ;  but  this  has 
not  been  done  by  these  special  parties,  nor  by  the  extreme  men 
who  have  had  their  own  ends  in  view  while  endeavoring  to  effect 
reformations  by  prohibitory  laws.  Various  anti-slavery  organiza 
tions  actually  strengthened  slavery  for  forty  years.  It  was  the 
attempt  of  that  institution  to  extend  itself  into  the  free  terri 
tories  which  caused  its  extinction.  That  which  was  aimed  at 
slavery's  destruction  helped  it ;  that  which  aimed  at  its  exten 
sion  broke  it  down.  Slavery  destroyed  itself.  When  it  failed 
to  get  itself  into  the  Constitution  of  California  and  other  west 
ern  states,  leaders  of  the  pro-slavery  party  determined  upon 
secession.  Now,  I  can  tell  you  exactly  what  precipitated  that 
movement.  It  was  the  revelation  made  by  the  census  of  18GO, 
—  a  census  showing  such  a  preponderance  in  favor  of  freedom, 
that  slavery,  with  its  old  ally,  Democracy,  was  no  longer  able 
to  control  elections  and  administrations.  That  was  the  whole 
secret  of  the  beginning  of  the  Rebellion.  Up  to  that  time  pro- 
slavery  people,  by  uniting  with  the  Democrats,  kept  control  of 
this  o'overnment  for  three  fourths  of  our  national  existence.  The 

O 

census  of  1860  showed  that  they  could  hope  to  do  this  no  longer. 
"  You  spoke  about  strikers,  here  and  elsewhere.  ...  I  have 
thought  a  great  deal  about  this  question  of  strikes.  There  are 
two  sides  to  the  question.  Capital  goes  just  as  far  as  it  dare  go 
to  cheapen  labor  and  grind  down  the  laborer,  and  I  see  great 
danger  arising  to  the  country  from  this.  I  also  see  great  cause 
for  alarm  in  the  existence  of  trades-unions  and  in  the  organiza 
tion  of  strikes, —  a  danger  which  is  aggravated  by  the  accessions 
which  our  laboring  men  receive  to  their  number  from  abroad,  — 
accessions  of  men  educated  to  hate  capital  and  to  make  war 
upon  it.  And  yet,  despite  this  condition  of  affairs,  in  our  legis 
lation  we  have  never  yet  recognized  the  importance  of  assimi 
lating  capital  and  labor.  It  is  a  shame  that  our  government 
has  utterly  failed  in  any  effort  to  harmonize  the  interests  of  the 
two.  How  to  accomplish  this  is  worthy  of  the  attention  of  our 
statesmen.  A  great  deal  which  has  never  been  thought  of  might 
be  done  in  this  direction. 


564  MEMOIR.  [1881. 

"  Much  has  been  said  about  '  soulless  corporations,'  which,  to 
a  great  extent,  has  been  true.  The  object  of  a  corporation  is  to 
get  money,  and  through  its  accumulated  capital  it  often  attains 
great  power,  which  is  not  always  used  wisely,  and  rarely,  if  ever, 
generously.  Labor,  as  a  rule,  is  patient,  but  it  has  within  it 
elements  leading  too  frequently  to  violations  of  peace  and  or 
der.  There  are  demagogues  everywhere  who  take  advantage 
of  these  elements,  and  frequently  delude  laborers  into  ruinous 
strikes,  —  ruinous  equally  to  employers  and  the  laborers  them 
selves.  .  .  .  While  strikes  are  dangerous,  it  is  to  be  deplored 
that  there  are  occasional  provocations  for  them.  In  most 
cases,  the  demands  of  strikers  are  exorbitant,  though  sometimes 
they  are  undoubtedly  just.  As  an  example  of  the  former  I  may 
mention  the  plumbers'  strike,  in  which  four  dollars  a  day  was 
demanded.  Coming  down  to  this  recent  strike,  however,  the 
demands  of  the  men  who  handle  freight  are  not  large,  nor,  so  far 
as  I  can  judge,  unreasonable ;  yet  my  feelings  are  so  strongly 
against  such  combinations  that  I  yesterday  refused,  somewhat 
reluctantly,  to  make  a  contribution  for  the  support  of  the  fam 
ilies  of  the  freight  strikers.  ...  I  believe  it  would  have  been 
better  for  both  parties  if  the  appeal  of  the  laborers  for  an  ad 
vance  of  three  cents  an  hour  had  been  granted. 

"lleturning,  however,  to  our  original  topic,  I  want  to  say 
again  that  I  consider  this  matter  of  education  a  subject  of  the 
gravest  importance,  —  one  which  demands  immediate  attention. 
While  there  is  an  element  of  ignorance  among  our  people,  there 
is  danger  of  its  use  by  educated,  designing,  dishonest  men.  Not 
that  universal  education  is  an  unqualified  good.  An  educated 
criminal  is  much  more  successful  than  an  uneducated  one.  An 
educated  bad  man  will  do  us  more  harm,  perhaps,  than  hun 
dreds,  or  even  thousands,  of  ignorant  men.  Guiteau  was  a 
pretty  fair  example  of  that,  —  yet  this  is  exceptional.  The  true 
safety  of  the  country  lies  in  the  liberal  education  of  the  masses. 
The  great  danger  of  the  country  lies  in  the  rapacity  and  ambi 
tion  of  educated  Shylocks  and  demagogues  who  have  ignorant 
classes  at  hand  to  become  their  tools." 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1881,  General  Garfield  was  inaugu 
rated  President.  On  the  2d  of  July  he  was  assassinated.  He 
died  on  the  19th  of  September. 

The  time  has  not  yet  come  when  the  history  of  those  months 


1881.]  MR.    WEED'S  LETTERS.  505 

may  be  impartially  written.  It  is  proper,  however,  that  certain 
portions  of  Mr.  Weed's  later  correspondence  should  be  incorpo 
rated  in  this  volume. 

[MR.    WEED    TO    JUDGE    GARDINER.] 

NEW  YORK,  March  ±2,  1881. 

MY  DEAR  ADDISON, —  I  have  thought  often,  within  the  last  few 
days,  of  you,  Whittlesey,  Backus,  Elwood,  Livingston,  Hunter,  Gen 
eral  Matthews,  and  others  "  waiting  and  watching  at  the  beautiful 
gates  "  for  those  so  soon  to  follow. 

I  often  recall  our  Manlius  life  —  the  hooks  we  used  to  read  and  talk 
about,  the  whist  we  used  to  play,  in  the  back  room  of  Rhodes's  store, 
the  hopes  we  cherished  of  visiting  Europe  in  the  long  future  —  hopes 
fully  realized  in  my  case,  and  strangely  rejected  by  you  when  offered  a 
first  class  mission.  .  .  . 

I  am  in  my  eighty-fourth  year,  suffering  from  vertigo,  and  with 
sight  seriously  impaired.  But  I  have  much  for  which  to  be  thankful. 
Indeed,  few  men  — very  few  — have  enjoyed  for  so  long  a  period  so 
many  of  the  bounties  and  blessings  of  a  merciful  God. 

Truly  yours.  Turn  LOW  WEED. 

[THE   POSTMASTER-GENERAL  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

WASHINGTON,  May  6,  1881. 

DEAR  MR.  WEED,  —  Rest  assured  I  shall  do  my  whole  duty  in  the 
matter  of  the  Star  Route  swindlers.  It  is  a  hard  task,  but  it  shall  be 
pushed  fearlessly,  regardless  of  whom  it  may  involve.  ...  In  other 
matters  you  mention  I  shall  be  fully  in  accord  with  our  friends.  .  .  . 

I  never  needed  your  counsel  more  than  now,  and  if  you  can,  please 
give  me  your  advice  often.     I  shall  show  your  letter  to  the  President. 
Truly  yours,  THOMAS  L.  JAMES. 

[MR.    WEED    TO    GENERAL    DALY.] 

NEW  YORK,  July  4,  1881. 

DEAR  GENERAL,  —  My  reply  to  your  invitation  has  been  delayed 
in  the  hope  that  I  might  be  able  to  meet  the  few  surviving  veterans  of 
the  War  of  1812  at  their  annual  dinner.  But  to  impaired  health 
comes  the  afflicting  intelligence  of  the  assassination  of  our  beloved 
President.  These  causes  unfit  me  for  social  enjoyment. 

The  anniversaries  of  our  national  independence  have  rarely  been 
saddened  by  inauspicious  events.  The  present,  however,  is  a  day  of 
deep  and  dark  gloom  and  sorrow,  relieved  only  by  slight  gleams  of 
hope.  Please  make  my  affectionate  regards  to  such  of  our  comrades 


566  MEMOIR.  [1881. 

as  are  able  to  join  you  on  this  occasion,  and  present  to  Messrs.  Leland 
my  cordial  thanks  for  their  generous  hospitalities. 

Truly  yours,  THURLOW  WEED. 

[MR.    WEED   TO    PRESIDENT   ARTHUR.] 

NEW  YORK,  October  18,  1881. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  am  getting  uneasy  about  the  election.  The  Demo 
cratic  factions  seem  to  be  united  in  support  of  their  state  ticket.  Their 
platform,  as  a  whole,  is  well  calculated  to  catch  votes.  So  far,  how 
ever,  it  does  not  seem  to  me  that  either  party  shows  much  zeal  or 
energy,  though  in  this  I  may  be  mistaken,  for  I  am  too  infirm  to  take 
an  active  part  in  the  canvass  and  do  not  see  many  people. 

Your  presence  would  wake  up  our  friends  in  the  city,  but  I  fear 
that  your  visit  to  Yorktown  will  prevent  your  coming  here  next  week. 
The  best  thing  for  us,  politically,  would  be  the  appointment  of  Gover 
nor  Morgan  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  His  name  as  a  candidate 
has  been  received  with  marked  favor.  I  believe  that  his  appointment 
would  ensure  the  success  of  our  state  tickets.  I  know  nothing  of  your 
views  in  regard  to  this  question,  and  would  not,  but  for  my  great  anx 
iety  that  New  York  shall  be  found  sustaining  its  President,  refer  to  it. 

Inasmuch  as  a  Republican  could  not  have  been  elected,  I  regard 
the  election  of  Senator  Davis  as  an  auspicious  event.  There  are  sea 
sons  when  crime  is  contagious.  With  a  Democratic  president  pro  tern 
of  the  Senate,  the  danger  that  a  third  Republican  President  might 
be  assassinated  was  appalling.  Happily  we  are  now  safe  from  such  a 
bereavement.  Very  truly  yours,  THURLOW  WEED. 

[MR.    WEED    TO    PRESIDENT   ARTHUR.] 

NEW  YORK,  October  20$,  11  A.  M. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  failed  on  Monday  and  Tuesday  to  find  Governor 
Morgan  in  his  office.  Yesterday  he  called  here  when  I  was  out,  leav 
ing  word  that  he  would  call  again  at  two  o'clock,  but  he  was  so  much 
occupied  in  the  afternoon  that  he  could  not  do  so.  He  called  this 
morning  to  tell  me  of  your  great  kindness  and  the  conclusion  he  had 
reluctantly  reached. 

I  deeply  regret  this,  because  I  now  fear  the  defeat  of  our  state 
ticket.  If  you  were  here,  all  might  yet  be  changed.  Indeed,  I  do  not 
despair  of  being  authorized  to-morrow  to  say  that  he  will  accept.  If 
I  had  seen  him  when  he  called  yesterday  morning,  all  would  have 
been  different.  Truly  yours,  THURLOW  WEED. 


1881.]  MR.    WEED   TO  JUDGE   GARDINER.  f>67 


[MB.    WEED   TO   JUDGE    GARDINER.] 

NEW  YORK,  August  24,  1881. 

MY  DEAR  ADDISOX,  —  I  had  intended  to  visit  Rochester  during  the 
present  summer,  but  the  extreme  heat,  even  if  the  severe  illness  of  my 
daughter  had  not  kept  me  at  home,  would  have  prevented.  Now  the 
chances  are  against  me. 

I  have  already  written  you  of  the  religious  meetings  in  New  York. 
I  believe  that  I  am  a  better  and  a  happier  man  for  them,  and  I  think 
the  same  might  be  said  by  thousands  of  people  in  the  city.  They 
have  reformed  and  converted  hundreds  whom  all  other  influences 
failed  to  touch. 

The  hymns  are  especially  attractive,  and  draw  great  numbers,  who 
never  before  thought  of  sacred  songs.  I  send  you  a  bound  volume 
containing  all  these  songs,  and  have  marked  those  which  I  particu 
larly  enjoy.  I  send  you  also  a  collection  of  family  prayers,  from 
which  I  derive  great  comfort. 

Truly  yours,  THURLOW  WEED. 


CHAPTER  XLII. 

1872-1882. 

OLD  AGE  AND  ITS  SURROUNDINGS. — AN  UNDEVIATING  ROUTINE. — 
HOURS  FOR  MEALS.  —  READING  THE  NEWSPAPERS.  —  ATTENDING  TO 
BUSINESS.  —  How  MR.  WEED'S  TIME  WAS  DIVIDED.  —  THE  CLUB.  — 
WHIST.  —  THEATRES.  —  RAILWAY  MEETINGS.  —  READING  DICKENS.  — 
THE  STUDY.  —  No  ONE  TURNED  AWAY  WITHOUT  A  HEARING.  —  AF 
TERNOONS  WITH  CHILDREN. 

ALTHOUGH  absorbed  in  party  questions,  even  until  the  end, 
there  was  not  imparted  to  the  last  scenes  in  Mr.  Weed's  life 
an  aspect  of  controversy.  He  never  ceased  to  have  positive  po 
litical  convictions,  it  is  true,  nor  to  express  them  as  positively ; 
but,  toward  the  last,  when  he  took  part  in  the  discussion  of 
political  issues  he  could  secure  a  respectful  hearing  and  a  cer 
tain  immunity  from  attack,  such  as  after  a  lifetime  like  his  he 
had  a  right  to  claim.  Politics  was  his  "  ruling  passion,"  and 
to  follow  his  career  has  been,  necessarily,  to  a  large  degree,  to 
trace  the  history  of  state  and  national  party  contests.  And 
yet  so  large  a  portion  of  his  time,  when  he  came  to  be  an  old 
man,  was  engrossed  by  other  things,  that  some  account  of  the 
more  strictly  personal  aspects  of  his  later  life  is  here  appro 
priate.  There  was  great  strength  and  beauty  in  his  old  age. 

A  courageous  and  inflexible  nature,  through  the  long,  hard 
years  when  his  life  was  like  one  unending  gladiatorial  combat, 
he  was,  then  and  ever,  to  a  very  great  extent,  dependent  upon  a 
woman.  But  for  Mrs.  Weed,  as  he  says,  he  "  must  have  been 
shipwrecked  during  the  first  fifteen  years  of  trial."  Feeling 
her  loss  most  keenly,  he  could  not  have  survived  her,  as  he  did, 
a  full  quarter  century,  had  it  not  been  for  the  devotion  of  his 
eldest  daughter,  Harriet,  who  so  loyally  took  her  mother's  place. 
"  Even  in  its  decline,"  once  wrote  Mr.  Raymond,  "  life  is  not  all 
dark,  when,  as  in  Mr.  Weed's  case,  it  is  sustained  by  the  good 
wishes  of  a  thousand  friends,  and  brightened  by  the  radiance  of 
the  most  pious  affection  that  ever  animated  a  woman's  heart." 


1832.]  MR.    WEED'S   OLD  AGE.  5G9 

Soon  after  making  New  York  his  permanent  residence  in 
18G5,  he  fell  into  habits  of  great  uniformity.  Though  his 
mental  life  took  a  wide  range,  physically  he  held  with  tenacity 
to  a  certain  established  routine,  lie  rose  shortly  after  seven  in 
the  morning  and  had  breakfast  at  eight  o'clock.  This  meal  he 
took  alone,  in  his  study.  Before  breakfast  he  invariably  shaved, 
for  he  never  wore  any  whiskers,  except  under  the  chin,  when  no 
longer  able  to  cut  those  off  with  safety.  The  morning  meal 
consisted  of  fruit,  as  in  season,  peaches,  berries,  oranges,  or  mel 
ons,  followed  by  oat-meal,  with  cream  and  sugar ;  two  soft-boiled 
eggs,  of  which  the  white  was  not  eaten,  hot  crisp  corn-beef  hash, 
a  slice  or  two  of  dry  toast,  and  a  cup  of  tea.  Sometimes  a 
bit  of  fish  was  added  to  this  list,  which  was  adhered  to  with 
undeviating  precision. 

After  breakfast  the  morning  papers  were  read  by  some  mem 
ber  of  the  family,  or  by  Mr.  Frederick  W.  Seward,  when  he 
was  at  the  house.  The  reading  over,  unless  interrupted  by  some 
caller,  Mr.  Weed  started  out  promptly  upon  whatever  matter 
he  regarded  as  most  urgent.  ;i  Although  I  have  been  an  invalid 
for  twelve  years,"  he  says  in  a  letter  to  a  friend,  "  I  am  still 
able  to  attend  not  so  much  to  my  own,  but  to  other  people's 
business."  Those  who  never  knew  the  man  might  not  suspect 
how  exactly  that  sentence  contained  the  truth.  He  suffered  his 
own  affairs  to  shift  for  themselves,  day  after  day,  month  after 
month,  finding  no  time  to  give  to  them  when  demands  were 
made  for  his  assistance  or  protection.  And  such  were  his  ways 
that  he  was  able  often  to  aid  the  afflicted  when  the  assistance  of 
others  would  have  been  a  burden. 

At  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  lunch  was  served,  at  which 
he  was  always  present,  with  the  family,  in  the  dining-room.  At 
this  meal  there  were  a  variety  of  light  dishes,  with  preserves, 
cake,  tea,  and  chocolate.  It  was  a  brief,  cheery  repast,  at  which 
guests  were  almost  always  present,  informally.  I  le  never  took 
a  seat  at  the  table  in  his  own  house  without  sitting  at  the  head  ; 
and,  although  toward  the  last  too  feeble  and  blind  to  carve  or 
direct  the  courses,  never  failed  to  be  a  charming  host,  for  his  in 
firmities  brought  no  loss  of  tact,  animation,  or  appetite. 

From  two  until  five  or  six  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  he  received 
visitors,  dictated  letters,  or  listened  while  some  one  read  aloud. 


570  MEMOIR.  [1882. 

The  evening  papers  were  usually  read  before  six  o'clock,  —  the 
hour  for  dinner.  At  this  meal  he  ate  heartily,  though  he  left 
the  table  before  the  rest,  after  saying  he  would  have  nothing 
further ;  but  changing  his  mind  when  the  servant  carried  dessert 
to  the  library.  He  never  took  coffee  after  dinner,  but  during 
the  meal  drank  ice-water,  in  which  there  was  a  dash  of  rum. 
This  liquor  he  purchased  himself  while  in  the  West  Indies,  and 
the  supply  seemed  as  inexhaustible  as  the  quality  virtuous  and 
aromatic.  He  gave  away  innumerable  bottles,  but  Miss  Weed 
always  knew  some  place  in  the  attic  or  cellar  where  there  was 
stored  another  demijohn. 

After  dining  he  often  went  out  to  the  Manhattan  Club,  where 
he  chatted  with  old  friends.  Whist  was  the  only  game  in  which 
he  felt  at  all  interested.  Until  his  eyes  began  to  fail  he  went 
frequently  to  the  theatre.  When  any  board  or  committee  of 
which  he  was  a  member  held  a  meeting  he  was  careful  to  attend 
promptly.  He  was  often  at  the  sittings  of  street  railway  direc 
tors.  Accompanying  him  once  a  long  distance  across  the  city, 
on  a  bleak  winter  evening,  I  thought  he  took  serious  chances  in 
venturing  out  against  such  weather.  When  the  meeting  was 
over,  as  we  rode  home,  he  remarked  that  the  corporation  had  oil 
hand  a  large  surplus,  of  which  it  was  to  make  disposition.  It 
had  been  intimated  on  one  side  that  there  ought  to  be  an  extra 
dividend  ;  on  the  other  that  the  money  might  be  applied  in  rais 
ing  the  wages  of  drivers  and  conductors.  His  influence  and 
vote  had  carried  through  the  latter  proposition. 

He  returned  home  early  in  the  evening,  as  a  rule,  and  almost 
immediately  went  to  his  bed-chamber,  where,  if  in  season,  there 
was  a  blazing  fire  on  the  hearth.  He  liked  to  be  seated  in  his 
comfortable  arm-chair  not  later  than  ten  o'clock,  and  then,  as  a 
look  of  mingled  contentment  and  attention  spread  over  his  face, 
reading  began  again.  For  an  hour  and  a  half,  sometimes  longer, 
he  would  listen  eagerly,  never  interjecting  a  single  word  of  dis 
approval  or  appreciation.  His  favorite  author  was  Charles 
Dickens,  whose  best  works,  "  Dombey  and  Son,"  "  The  Pickwick 
Papers,"  "David  Copperfielcl,"  " Bleak  House,"  and  the  rest, 
he  knew  almost  by  heart,  having  read  and  re-read  them  with  un 
abated  enjoyment  an  innumerable  number  of  times.  When  the 
clock  struck  half  past  eleven  the  book  was  closed.  Then  Miss 


1882.]  MR.    WEED'S   OLD  AGE.  571 

Weed,  if  not  already  present,  glided  into  the  room,  and,  after  a 
few  moments,  read  slowly  and  softly  from  a  little  book  of  prayer, 
her  father  reverentially  absorbing  each  syllable.  After  she  had 
finished  he  repeated  the  Lord's  prayer.  Under  no  circum 
stances,  unless  sickness  forbade,  were  these  exercises  omitted. 

The  house  in  which  Mr.  Weed  lived  was  never  without  visi 
tors  besides  those  who  were  there  for  a  part  of  the  day  only. 
It  was  like  another  home  for  his  two  married  daughters,  Maria 
and  Emily,  "'his  sons-in-law,  Mr.  Alden  and  Mr.  Barnes,  and  all 
the  grandchildren.  One  of  the  rooms  was  recognized  as  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  F.  W.  Seward's,  without  whose  presence  the  family 
circle  never  seemed  quite  complete.  Thus,  though  he  could  not 
himself  read  or  write,  and  though  his  correspondence  and  busi 
ness  interests  were  varied  and  important,  he  found  in  his  own 
house  abundant  clerical  assistance,  and  in  Mr.  Barnes  and  Mr. 
Seward  competent  legal  advisers.  There  was  always  some  one 
to  alternate  with  Miss  Weed  in  reading  aloud,  or  to  accompany 
Mr.  Weed  about  the  city,  when,  on  account  of  impaired  vision, 
it  was  no  longer  prudent  for  him  to  go  out  alone.  The  gradual 
approach  of  blindness,  certain  to  become  complete,  if  he  re 
mained  long  enough  on  earth,  was  the  most  grievous  burden  of 
these  years. 

On  the  walls  of  the  study  in  which  Mr.  Weed  passed  many 
pleasant  hours  hung  the  portraits  of  thirty  or  forty  old  friends. 
A  book-case  and  writing-table  occupied  one  corner ;  there  was  a 
comfortable  lounge,  an  open  fire-place,  and  a  square  table  in  the 
centre,  besides  that  on  which  breakfast  was  served.  Nearly 
every  object  was  valuable  on  account  of  its  associations.  An  in 
vitation  to  dine  with  Governor  De  Witt  Clinton,  framed  in  gilt, 
hung  near  the  door.  Across,  near  the  sofa,  similarly  framed, 
was  a  warrant  authorizing  Mr.  Weed,  as  a  volunteer  in  the  War 
of  1812,  to  locate  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  —  a  war 
rant  never  presented  to  the  government.  A  life-size  portrait 
represented  William  H.  Seward  in  the  prime  of  life ;  another, 
Archbishop  Hughes.  Among  smaller  portraits  were  engravings 
or  photographs  of  Lord  Thurlow,  De  Witt  Clinton,  William  L. 
Marcy,  Henry  Clay,  Horace  Greeley,  Zachary  Taylor,  Daniel 
Webster,  Winfield  Scott,  Hamilton  Fish,  George  W.  Patterson, 
R.  M.  Blatchford,  George  Peabody,  Robert  II.  Pruyn,  E.  D. 


572  MEMOIR.  [1882. 

Morgan,  Anson  Burlingame,  Preston  King,  Abraham  Lincoln, 
Sir  Henry  Holland,  Edward  Ellice,  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  William 
M.  Evarts,  Horatio  Seymour,  James  A.  Garfield,  Winfield 
Scott  Hancock,  and  Chester  A.  Arthur. 

Near  the  writing-table  hung  a  picture  of  the  Chateau  Cha- 
vaniac,  in  Auvergne,  which  Mr.  Weed  prized  highly,  as  it  was 
a  gift  to  him  from  the  granddaughter  of  Lafayette. 

[THE  COUXTESS  DE  REMUSAT  TO  MR.  WEED.] 

R.  DE  LUXEMBOURG,  PARIS. 

Monsieur  Weed  permettra  a  la  petite-fille  du  general  Lafayette  de 
lui  adresser  une  vue  de  Chavaniac,  lieu  de  naissance  de  son  grand- 
pere. 

Elle  saisit  ainsi  une  occasion  d'exprimer  a  Monsieur  Weed  sa  vive 
reconnaissance  pour  1'  interessant  et  bienveillant  recit  qu'il  a  ecrit  sur 
le  voyage  en  Amerique  du  general  Lafayette,  et  qui  lui  a  fait,  ainsi 
qu'a  toute  sa  famille,  le  plus  vif  plaisir. 

Elle  prie  Monsieur  Weed  d'agreer  ses  remerciements  et  ses  hom- 
mages.  LASTEYRIE  DE  REMUSAT. 

24  Novembre,  1873. 

Certain  usages  and  peculiarities  distinguish  every  man's  home 
when  he  has  risen  though  but  a  little  in  the  social  scale.  It  was 
a  rule  at  Mr.  Weed's  that  no  one  should  be  turned  away  from 
the  door  with  incivility.  No  matter  who  rang  the  bell,  he  or 
she  was  entitled,  by  the  unwritten  code  of  the  house,  to  cour 
teous  treatment.  When  Mr.  Weed's  eyesight  failed,  this  law 
led  not  only  to  vast  inconvenience  but  to  many  impositions. 
"  Never  mind,"  he  said,  "  turn  no  one  away.  And  if  they  want 
food,  they  shall  have  it."  Of  this  edict  the  neighborhood's  poor 
took  full  advantage.  "  A  black  man  held  the  door  ajar," 
writes  W.  A.  CrofTut,  describing  a  visit  to  the  house,  "  and 
three  poorly-clad  women,  wrapped  in  their  shawls,  with  tippets 
on  their  heads  and  laden  baskets  on  their  arms,  were  making 
their  way  out."  Such  visitors  formed  almost  a  procession.  An 
incredible  quantity  of  provisions  was  provided  in  order  that 
their  wants  might  be  supplied. 

Each  Saturday  afternoon  in  the  year  the  children  of  the 
neighborhood  partook  of  Mr.  Weed's  hospitality.  During  the 
week  he  bought  fruit,  candies,  nuts,  and  trinkets,  which,  as  his 


1882.]  MR.   WEED'S   OLD  AGE.  573 

young  friends  thronged  into  the  study,  he  distributed.  They 
began  to  gather  on  the  sidewalk  long  before  it  was  time  for  the 
colored  man  to  open  the  door  and  let  them  in  by  platoons. 
Their  ages  and  home  conditions  varied  widely.  Most  were 
about  eight  or  ten  years  old,  and  of  poor  parentage.  Often 
young  girls  carried  babies  in  their  arms. 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

1882. 

THE  FINAL  ILLNESS.  —  THOUGHTS  FIXED  ON  THE  WORLD  TO  COME.  — 
KINDNESS  OF  FRIENDS.  —  MR.  WEED'S  EIGHTY-FIFTH  BIRTHDAY.  — 
His  DEATH. 

ONE  day  in  August,  1882,  Mr.  Weed  fell  asleep  on  the  lounge 
in  his  library. 

It  was  a  close,  sultry  afternoon,  and  the  window  next  the 
churchyard  had  been  opened,  for  fresh  air.  Striking  him  in 
his  sleep,  the  draught  gave  him  a  chill.  Physicians  were  has 
tily  summoned,  and  after  the  usual  restoratives  had  been  ap 
plied,  a  reaction  was  produced. 

He  recovered  sufficiently  to  visit  his  daughter  in  Albany  dur 
ing  the  first  week  in  September,  and  was  himself  in  no  wise 
alarmed  about  his  condition,  until,  on  returning  to  New  York, 
he  was  prostrated  by  another  chill. 

It  was  a  great  trial  when  he  was  obliged  to  give  up  his  favor 
ite  lounge  on  the  lower  floor,  and  remain  on  the  bed  which  was 
arranged  for  him  in  the  dining-room.  He  yielded  to  this  con 
finement  only  when  no  longer  able  to  walk,  and  then  decided 
not  to  go  up  to  his  own  bed-chamber,  as  that  room  was  some 
what  inaccessible  to  visitors. 

"  So  long  as  any  strength  remains,"  he  said,  "  it  is  a  duty  to 
see  friends,  when  they  take  the  trouble  to  call." 

"  He  has  no  disease,"  said  the  physicians,  when  we  questioned 
them.  "There  is  no  giving  out  at  any  particular  spot.  But 
on  account  of  his  advanced  age,  any  sickness  which  he  has  must 
be  regarded  as  serious." 

"  I  am  deeply  sensible  of  the  great  kindness  and  sympathy  of 
friends,"  he  wrote  one  afternoon,  when  he  rallied  a  little,  "  kind 
ness  and  sympathy  manifested  in  various  ways.  I  am  oppressed 
by  inability  to  make  adequate  acknowledgment.  The  members 
of  my  family  have  'endeavored  to  do  this  in  many  cases,  but 
there  is  very  much  that  can  be  acknowledged  only  by  grateful 


1882.]  MR.    WEED'S  LAST   ILLNESS.  575 

remembrance,  such  as  calls  of  anxious  inquiry  and  the  sending 
of  delicious  fruits  and  delicacies  from  every  direction,  even  from 
the  hot-house  of  Alexander  Mitchell,  of  Milwaukee.  George 
Bancroft  is  only  one  of  hundreds  who  have  called  and  whom  I 
was  unable  to  see.  I  wish  I  could  express  my  appreciation  of 
the  kindly  interest  which  so  many  seem  to  feel. 

"  While  I  am  not  without  hope  of  improved  health,  I  am  far 
from  sharing  the  confidence  felt  by  those  about  me  in  my  ulti 
mate  recovery.  My  thoughts  necessarily  dwell  a  good  deal  more 
upon  the  future  than  upon  the  present.  A  man  who  has  lived 
more  than  fourscore  years  has  little  reason  to  hope  for  length 
of  days,  and  in  that  aspect  of  the  case  my  thoughts  are  now 
much  more  fixed  on  the  world  to  come  than  the  world  where  for 
so  many  years  I  have  enjoyed  so  much  good  and  mercy  and 
blessing.  I  am  very  thankful  alike  to  my  God,  my  Saviour,  and 
my  fellow-creatures  for  a  world  of  kindness  extending  through 
a  long  life." 

His  eighty-fifth  birthday  fell  on  the  15th  of  November,  and 
he  was  well  enough  to  take  note  of  that  event.  Knowing  of  his 
illness,  friends  were  particularly  thoughtful.  Many  flowers  and 
other  gifts  were  received.  When  brought  to  his  bedside  with 
the  messages  of  the  givers,  he  passed  his  hand  over  them  —  for 
he  could  no  longer  distinguish  even  light  from  darkness  —  and 
sent  back  some  cheering  response.  It  had  been  decided  by  the 
doctors  that  no  visitors  should  be  permitted  to  see  Mr.  Weed, 
and  Mr.  Charles  O'Conor,  when  he  called,  did  not  anticipate 
that  privilege.  But  Mr.  Weed  insisted  that  this  should  be  an 
exception.  "Tell  Mr.  O'Conor,"  he  said,  "that  I  am  too  blind 
to  see  him,  but  I  want  to  take  him  by  the  hancl."  Then  the  dis 
tinguished  jurist,  with  whom  the  invalid  had  never  once  agreed 
in  politics,  went  to  the  bedside,  and  spoke  a  few  kindly  words. 
At  Mr.  Weed's  request,  several  other  old  friends  were  admitted 
to  the  sick  room,  and  the  excitement  seemed  to  do  him  good. 
He  was  calm  and  suffered  no  pain. 

On  Sunday  night,  the  19th  of  November,  he  sank  into  a  con 
dition  of  insensibility  which  was  at  first  thought  to  be  natural 
sleep.  The  next  morning,  about  the  usual  time  for  him  to 
awake,  it  was  discovered  that  he  lay  in  a  sort  of  stupor.  His 
eyes  were  closed,  and  on  his  face  there  was  a  look  of  perfect 
composure.  He  breathed  regularly  and  naturally;  but  it  was 


576  MEMOIR.  [1882. 

only  too  plain  that  the  interval  between  each  respiration  gradu 
ally  increased. 

When  no  effort  to  restore  consciousness  availed,  it  was  thought 
that  he  coidd  live  only  a  few  hours.  Such  was  his  great  vitality, 
however,  that,  while  each  breath  grew  fainter  and  fainter,  two 
whole  days  were  survived. 

About  midnight  on  the  20th  of  November,  while  his  mind 
was  wandering,  he  seemed  to  be  carrying  on  a  conversation  with 
President  Lincoln  and  General  Scott,  in  regard  to  the  late  war. 
At  the  conclusion,  he  ordered  a  carriage,  and  then,  after  a  mo 
ment's  pause,  said  :  — 

"  I  want  to  go  home !  " 

Those  were  his  last  words. 

On  the  morning  of  Wednesday,  the  22d  of  November,  at  five 
minutes  past  nine  o'clock,  he  died. 


MR.   WEED'S   WILL. 


I,  THURLOW  WEED,  of  the  city  of  New  York,  revoking  all  former 
wills,  make  and  declare  my  last  will  and  testament  to  be  as  fol 
lows  :  — 

First.  To  my  daughter,  Harriet  A.  Weed,  whose  life  has  been  reg 
ulated  by  duty  and  affection,  and  who  since  the  death  of  my  wife  has 
kept  my  home  in  order,  seeking  constantly  to  promote  my  health  and 
happiness,  I  give,  devise,  and  bequeath  my  dwelling-house  and  lot, 
No.  12  West  Twelfth  Street,  New  York,  in  fee  simple  absolute,  to- 
•  gether  with  my  furniture,  silver,  paintings,  books,  papers,  and  wines. 

Second.  I  give  and  bequeath  to  Agnes,  widow  of  my  deceased 
brother  Osburn  Weed,  and  to  Thurlow,  Harriet,  and  Valentine,  chil 
dren  of  my  late  brother  aforesaid,  the  sum  of  $1,000  to  each  respec 
tively. 

Third.  I  give  and  bequeath  $100  each  to  the  following  named  per 
sons,  viz.  :  James  Weed  Davis,  James  Weed  Naphew,  Thurlow  Weed 
Hillson,  Thurlow  Weed  Garrison,  all  of  Albany,  N.  Y. ;  Thurlow  Weed 
Folts,  of  Oswego  County,  N.  Y.  ;  Thurlow  Weed  Seward,  formerly  of 
Florida,  N.  Y. ;  Thurlow  Weed  Meeks,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. ;  Thur 
low  Weed  Abell,  of  Genesee,  N.  Y.  ;  Thurlow  Weed  Cunningham,  of 
Staten  Island  ;  Thurlow  Weed  Barry,  Thurlow  Weed  Lounsberry, 
Thurlow  Weed  Hastings,  Thurlow  Weed  Smith,  and  Louisa  Weed 
Shook,  all  of  the  city  of  New  York  ;  Catherine  Weed  Riddle  and  Mary 
Weed  Riddle,  daughters  of  H.  R.  Riddle,  of  Baltimore,  Md. ;  Thur 
low  Weed  Bergen,  and  Thurlow  Weed  Campbell,  and  Thurlow  Weed 
Whittlesey. 

Fourth.  To  Emma  Brown,  of  Atkinson,  Wis.,  the  sister  of  the  late 
Thurlow  Weed  Brown,  of  the  State  of  Wisconsin,  $200. 

Fifth.  To  Charles  Van  Bentlmysen,  printer,  of  Albany,  N.  Y.,  whose 
warm  and  life-long  friendship  has  been  a  pleasure  and  a  solace  to  me, 
I  give  and  bequeath  my  pearl  pin,  a  present  to  me  from  our  mutual 
friend,  the  late  Gilbert  C.  Davidson. 

Sixth.  To  Addison  Gardiner,  of  Rochester,  Benjamin  D.  Silliman, 
of  Brooklyn,  and  James  Bo  wen,  of  New  York,  old  and  cherished 

37 


578  MR.  WEED'S  WILL. 

friends,  each  a  copy  of  my  printed  volume  of  "  Letters  from  Europe 
and  the  West  Indies." 

Seventh.  To  my  esteemed  friend,  Hamilton  Fish,  for  whose  per 
sonal  character  and  public  services  I  entertain  a  high  regard,  I  give 
and  bequeath  the  massive  link  of  the  iron  chain  his  father  aided  in 
stretching  across  the  Hudson  River  near  West  Point  during  the  War 
of  the  Revolution. 

Eighth.  In  affectionate  remembrance  of  a  warm  friendship  which 
commenced  over  half  a  century  ago  with  the  late  William  H.  Seward, 
lasting  uninterruptedly  to  his  death,  I  give  and  bequeath  to  his  son, 
Frederick  W.  Seward,  to  whom  I  am  as  affectionately  attached,  the 
cane  presented  to  me  by  our  mutual  and  valued  friend,  the  late  Trum- 
bull  Gary. 

Ninth.  To  the  Home  of  the  Friendless,  an  institution  in  Albany  for 
the  support  of  aged,  indigent,  and  respectable  females,  I  give  and 
bequeath  $500  ;  to  the  kindred  institution  for  the  support  of  old  and 
indigent  men,  situated  on  the  Troy  road,  $500. 

Tenth.  I  give  and  bequeath  the  sum  of  $200  to  Jeremiah  McCau- 
ley,  who,  with  his  devoted  and  estimable  wife,  is  doing  good  work  in 
their  Water  Street  Mission  House. 

Eleventh.  I  give  and  bequeath  the  sum  of  $200  to  the  support  and 
relief  of  the  Newsboys'  Lodging-House  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

Twelfth.  I  give  and  bequeath  $250  to  the  Home  for  the  Friendless, 
in  East  Twenty-ninth  Street,  with  which  my  kinswoman,  Mrs.  Bennett, 
has  been  associated  for  over  forty  years. 

Thirteenth.  I  give  and  bequeath  $250  to  the  institution  in  New 
York  for  the  support  and  relief  of  the  ruptured  and  crippled  poor. 

Fourteenth.  I  give  and  bequeath  $1,000  in  trust  to  Samuel  Willetts, 
Morris  K.  Jesup,  and  James  Talcott,  of  New  York,  to  be  by  them  be 
stowed  and  dispensed  among  such  charitable  institutions  or  enterprises 
as  in  their  judgment  shall  appear  meritorious. 

Fifteenth.  All  the  rest  and  residue  of  my  property  and  estate,  real, 
personal,  and  mixed,  wherever  situated,  I  hereby  give,  devise,  and  be 
queath  to  my  daughters,  Harriet  A.  Weed,  Maria  W.  Alden,  and  Emily 
W.  Barnes,  and  to  my  grandchildren,  Catherine  W.  Barnes,  Thuiiow 
W.  Barnes,  Emily  W.  Barnes,  Harriet  I.  Barnes,  William  Barnes,  Jr., 
and  Maria  W.  Alden,  their  heirs  and  assigns  forever,  in  fee  simple 
absolute,  to  be  apportioned  and  divided  among  them  respectively  by 
my  executors  in  nine  equal  parts,  share  and  share  alike. 

Sixteenth.  It  is  my  desire  and  request  that  my  said  descendants  and 
devisees  annually  during  her  lifetime  pay  to  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Goewey, 
of  Albany,  $100,  in  lieu  of  the  $96  of  my  pension  money  which  she 
now  receives. 


MR.  WEED'S  WILL.  579 

Seventeenth.  In  case  of  the  death  of  any  of  the  aforesaid  nine  resid 
uary  devisees  before  the  death  of  the  testator,  his  or  her  share  is  to  be 
divided  equally  among  the  survivors,  share  and  share  alike. 

Eighteenth.  I  constitute  and  appoint  my  daughter,  Harriet  A.  Weed, 
executrix,  and  James  Bowen,  of  New  York,  and  William  Barnes,  of 
Albany,  executors  of  this  will,  requesting  them  to  construe  and  execute 
it  benignly,  according  to  its  spirit  and  intent. 

THURLOW  WEED. 
Dated  April  9,  1881. 


INDEX. 


ABBOTSFORD,  visited,  ii.  108. 

Abolition  societies,  formed,  i.  426. 

Abolitionists,  fatuity  of,  ii.  120;  influence 
of,  in  1860,  ii.  3013;  their  course  opposed 
by  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  304. 

Above  the  horizon  of  party,  ii.  307. 

Abuses  practiced  upon  emigrants,  ii.  140. 

Acton,  Thomas  C.,  letter  from  Mr.  Weed, 
ii.  488  ;  mentioned,  ii.  458. 

Adams,  Ananias,  a  printer's  apprentice, 
i.  23. 

Adams,  Charles  Francis,  mentioned  for 
Secretary  of  Treasury,  i.  622;  minister 
to  England,  i.  539:  ii.  350;  interviews 
with  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  350 :  letter  from  Mr. 
Seward,  ii.  351 ;  Mr.  Weed's  candidate 
for  President  in  1872,  ii.  487. 

Adams,  Elisha,  arrest  of,  for  implication 
in  Morgan  affair,  i.  259;  trial  of,  i.  262, 
285  ;  explains  his  testimony  to  Mr. 
Weed,  i.  266. 

Adams,  John,  editor  of  Portland  "Adver 
tiser,"  ii.  54. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  aspirant  for  the 
presidency,  i.  103;  supported  by  Thur 
low  Weed  for  President,  i.  105;  nomi 
nated  for  President  by  the  "  Telegraph," 
i.  105;  nominating  for  President,  i.  107; 
his  supporters  in  legislature  of  1824, 
i.  107;  political  friends  of,  i.  117;  his 
prospects  as  presidential  candidate,  i. 
118,  119;  political  supporters  of,  i.  122; 
supporters  of,  in  the  Assembh'  of  1825, 
i.  165 ;  elected  President  by  vote  of  Con 
gress,  i.  172;  letter  of  A.  H.  Tracy  on 
election  of,  as  President,!.  173;  to  what 
he  was  indebted  for  his  election,  i.  178; 
concerning  his  appointments,  i.  178;  his 
morning  baths,  i.  179;  concerning  his 
administration,  i.  189  ;  mentioned,  i. 
197.  351,  626;  not  a  Mason,  i.  302;  re 
mark  of  John  Randolph  concerning,  i. 
381;  condemns  masonry,  i.  423;  peti 
tion  concerning  slavery,  i.  427;  prosper 
ity- of  administration,  i'  450;  Mr.  Seward 
vfsits  him  in  1831,  ii.  41;  visited  by  Mr. 
Weed  in  1839,  ii.  79;  death  of,  ii.*  166, 
167;  dinners  given  him,  ii.  484. 

Adams,  William  H.,  on  prosecution  of 
Morgan  affair,  i.  233;  member  of  As 
sembly  of  1825,  i.  165. 

Adgate,"  Matthew,  a  veteran  legislator,  i. 
200. 

Adriance,  John  F.,  Mr.  Weed's  drive  with, 
i.  387. 


I  Adulterated  drinks,  ii.  155. 

I  Agricultural    districts    of    England    and 

America,  ii.  201. 
;  Agricultural  societies,  formation  of,  i.  78 

79. 

I  "Agriculturist,"  the,  started  by  Thurlow 
Weed,  i.  76,  77;  ii.  8. 

Aid  to  Lancashire  laborers,  ii.  423. 
j  Aiken,  S.  C.,  Thurlow  Weed  at,  i.  45;  ii. 

461. 

I  Aire,  Jonathan,  a  Mason,  challenged  a* 
juror,  i.  274. 

Albany,  a  political  centre  in  1830,  i.  8;  the 
cholera  at,  i.  417;  its  distinguished  citi 
zens,  i.  447;  Mr.  Weed  declines  to  be 
mayor  of,  ii.  182. 

''Albany  Argus,"  newspaper,  i.  43;  ii. 
36. 

"  Albany  beauty,"  the,  i.  147. 

Albany  "Daily  Advertiser,"  antagonistic 
to  the  "  Evening  Journal,"  i.  412;  sold, 
i.  412. 

Albanv  "  Evening  Journal,"  first  issued, 
1830,  i.  8;  ii.  39;  its  supporters,  i.  361; 
success  of  the,  i.  411;  establishment  of, 
by  Mr.  Weed,  i.  360,  362;  anti-Masons 
contribute  towards,  i.  361;  original  pro 
prietors  of,  i.  362 ;  General  Tavlor  sug 
gested  for  the  presidency  by,  i.  572  ; 
editorial  foreshadowing  of  the  civil  war, 
i.  603  ;  again  edited  by  Mr.  Weed  for  one 
day,  ii.  546. 

"Albanv  Gazette,"  a  newspaper,  i.  31. 

"Albany  Regency,"  of  whom  it  consisted, 
i.  8;  supported  Mr.  Crawford  for  Presi 
dent,  i.  118;  members  of  the,  i.  103;  in 
fluence  and  power  of  its  members,  i.  103  ; 
mentioned,  i.  342,  376,  383,  431 ;  and 
anti-Masonic  party,  i.  366  ;  defeat  of 
the,  i.  408  :  action  on  small  bill  ijiics- 
tion,  i.  444  ;  denounced,  i.  445;  so  named 
bv  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  36;  names  of  the  mem 
bers,  ii.  548. 

"Albany  Register,"  Republican  newspa 
per,  i.'  43 ;  in  favor  of  a  certain  canal, 
i.  73;  Mr.  Weed  associate  editor  of, 
ii.  6. 

Albert,  Prince  Consort,  memorandum  on 
the  affair  of  the  Trent,  ii.  377. 

Aldrich,  Joshua,  ii.  16. 

Alexander,  Dr.,  principal  of  an  Academy, 
i.  21. 

Alexander,  Joseph,  mentioned,  i.  112;  at 
opening  of  first  railroad,  i.  386. 

Alexander  II.,  Emperor  of  Russia,  gives 


582 


INDEX. 


sealed  orders  to  the  fleet  regarding  the 
blockade,  ii.  347. 

Allen,  Avery,  statement  concerning  Rich 
ard  Howard,  i.  248. 

Allen,  Mr.,  at  the  sending  of  the  Michigan 
over  Niagara  Falls,  i.  356. 

Allen,  Nathaniel,  his  choice  for  governor, 
i.  83 ;  reflected  to  Congress,  i.  83. 

Allen,  Peter,  elected  as  Speaker  in  legisla 
ture  in  1815,  i.  40-48. 

Allen,  S.  P.,  letter  to  Press  Club  dinner, 
ii.  556. 

Allen,  Stephen,  social  life  of,  i.  400;  legis 
lator  in  1826,  i.  400 ;  and  wife,  death  of, 
i.  401. 

Allen,  William  F.,  Comptroller  of  New 
York,  i.  348 ;  ii.  488. 

Alley,  Samuel,  in  legislature  1828,  i.  402. 

Allyn,  Captain,  of  ship  Cadmus,  i.  184. 

Alsop,  Mrs.,  death  of,  i.  87. 

Amended  Constitution,  takes  effect  with 
legislature  of  1823,  i.  397. 

"American,"  a  newspaper,  i.  33  ;  sup 
ported  Mr.  Adams  for  president,  i.  118. 

American  Anti-Slavery  Society  formed, 
i.  430. 

American  people,  their  normal  proclivities 
democratic,  ii.  309. 

Aniorv,  Jonathan,  member  of  Governor 
Seward's  staff,  i.  457. 

Anderson,  Robert  (Major),  at  Fort  Sumter, 
ii.  316. 

AndnS  Major,  mentioned,  i.  186;  his  re 
mains  in  Westminster  Abbev,  ii.  17. 

Andrew,  Henry,  legislator  of  1837,  i.  407. 

Andrew,  John  A.,  on  Mr.  Seward,  ii.  266; 
speech  at  Chicago  convention,  ii.  267. 

Andrews,  George,  concerning  the  bank  at 
Rochester,  i.  104. 

Andrews,  Samuel  G.,  mayor  of  Rochester, 
i.  100;  an  Adams  man,  i.  158;  change 
in  politics,  i.  203;  recommendation  of 
Thurl<5w  Weed  for  postmaster,  i.  203; 
prominent  anti-Mason,  i.  336  ;  sustained 
the  Still  well  bill,  i.  379. 

An  old  story  retold,  ii.  101. 

Another  mission  in  prospect,  ii.  427. 

Anecdote  of  Herman  Knickerbocker,  i.  48; 
of  Judge  Jacob  Weaver,  i.  150;  of  Al 
derman  Phil.  Brasher,  i.  401;  of  Samuel 
B.  Ruggles  in  legislature  of  1838,  i.  408; 
concerning  Aaron  Clarke,  i.  397;  of 
Elem  F.  Norten  in  Assembly  of  1823,  i. 
399;  of  Chancellor  Kent,  i.  463. 

Anthony,  General,  meeting  with  Lafayette, 
i.  185" 

Anti-Masonic  convention  at  Le  Roy,  i.  256; 
candidates  elected  to  legislature,  i.  302 ; 
state  convention  at  Utica,  i.  304,  305; 
party  strengthened,  i.  309;  its  promi 
nent  men,  i.  336;  successes  in  elections, 
i.  339;  versus  the  Democratic  party,  i. 
350;  and  National  Republican  parties,  a 
union  desired  between,  i.  351;  merged 
into  Whig  organization,  i.  363:  state 
convention  at  Utica,  delegates  at,  i.  366; 
convention  at  Baltimore,  delegates  to,  i. 
389;  members  of  legislature  of  1832,  i. 
391;  meeting  at  Utica,  its  candidates, 


i.  413;  party  dissolved,  i.  425;  leaders, 
defection  of,  i.  421;  national  convention, 
ii.  39. 

"Anti-Masonic  Enquirer,"  newspaper  ed 
ited  by  Mr.  Weed,  i.  306;  growth  of,  i. 
309. 

"Anti-Masonic  Review,"  paper  edited  by 
Henry  Dana  Ward,  i.  310. 

Anti-Masonry  inaugurated,  i.  242;  consul 
tation  of  prominent  men  concerning  po 
litical  action  against,  i.  299;  mentioned, 
ii.  47. 

Anti-Masons,  convention  of  for  nomination 
of  members  of  Assembly,  i.  301;  sup 
port  Adams'  administration,  i.  301,  302; 
number  of  elected  to  legislature,  i.  309; 
Mr.  Clay  as  a  candidate,  i.  350;  con 
tribute  towards  establishing  the  "Even 
ing  Journal,"  i.  361. 

A  peep  into  the  bag,  ii.  377. 

Appointments  made  through  Mr.  Weed's 
influence,  ii.  474. 

A  precipitate  advance,  ii.  337. 

Arbitrary  opposition  to  silver,  ii.  531. 

"Argus,"  the,  newspaper,  i.  8,  85;  and 
"  Daily  Advertiser  "  versus  the  "Even 
ing  Journal,"  i.  362;  and  "Evening 
Journal,"  rivalry  for  the  earliest  news, 
i.  369;  paper,  hoodwinked  concerning  the 
steamboat  Columbia,  i.  477;  editorial, 
explaining  the  mystery  of  the  steamboat 
Columbia,  i.  479. 

Armstrong,  General,  Secretary  of  War, 
mentioned,  i.  40. 

Armstrong,  John,  Jr.,  member  of  Assem 
bly  of  1825,  i.  164  ;  at  Lafayette  recep 
tion,  i.  189. 

Arnold,  Mrs.,  wife  of  Benedict  Arnold,  i. 
188. 

Arnold,  Nathan  T.,  legislator  of  1829,  i. 
402. 

Arthur,  Chester  A.,  collector  of  New  York, 
nominated  for  Vice-President,  ii.  464; 
letter  from  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  566. 

Arthur,  Rev.  William,  i.  633. 

Ashburton,  Lord,  i.  512. 

Ashes,  the  value  of,  i.  11. 

Ashmun,  George,  ii.  168,  189. 

Ash  worth,  Mr.,  mayor  of  Manchester,  i. 
538. 

"  A  slimy  intrigue,"  ii.  446. 

Aspinwall,  William  H.,  i.  625. 

Assembly  of  1825  organized,!.  163;  dele- 
gation"of  1814,  i.  393;  of  1816,  organiz 
ation  of,  i.  384. 

Astor,  John  Jacob,  i.  626 ;  ii.  389. 

Astor,    Mrs.   William    B.,   mentioned,    i. 

164. 

I  Atherton,  Mr.,  resolution  in  Congress  con 
cerning  right  of  petition,  i.  427. 

Atwater,  Judge,  of  Canandaigua,  incident 
of,  i.  140;  mentioned,  i.  232. 

Auburn,  N.  Y.,  prominent  citizens  of,  i- 
44;  leading  men  of,  i.  143. 

"Auburn  Gazette,"  a  Federal  paper,  i. 
22. 

Autobiographv,  how  and  why  written,  ii. 
128. 

Avignon,  ii.  206. 


INDEX. 


583 


A  word  with  capitalists,  ii.  535. 
Aymar  &  Co.,  i.  502. 

Backus  (Rev.)  Azel,  president  of  Clinton 
College,  i.  35. 

Backus)  Dr.  F.  F.,  political  views  of,  i.  98  ; 
of  Rochester,  established   school  for  idi 
ots,   i.  98;  mentioned,  i.  158,  215,  33!); 
member  of  base-ball  club,    i.  203;   ap-  , 
pointed  to  investigate  the  "  Morgan  af 
fair,"   i.   230;  at  anti-Masonic   conven-  I 
tion,  i.    257;    concerning  political  and-  | 
Masonry,  i.  299;  concerning  the  election  | 
of  treasurer  at   Rochester,    i.   299 ;    on  | 
Morgan  inquest  committee,  i.  316;  mem-  ' 
bcr  anti-Masonic  party,  i.  336;  of  Roch 
ester,  wife  of  mentioned,  i.  346. 

Backus,  Miss  Wealthy,  married  Gerrit 
Smith,  i.  35. 

Backus,  Mrs.,  daughter  of  Colonel  Fitz- 
hugh,  i.  98. 

Bacon,  Ezekiel,  delegate  to  convention,  i. 
89. 

Badger,  Deacon,  a  shoemaker  at  Cincin- 
natus,  i.  18. 

Badger,  George  E.,  Secretary  of  Navy,  i. 
506. 

Badger,  Luther,  at  convention,  i.  452. 

Barley,  Joseph,  mentioned,  i.  394. 

Bailey,  Calvin  P.,  elected  to  Assembly,  i.  j 
309'. 

Bailey,  Theodoras,  postmaster  of  New 
York,  i.  183. 

Baird,  William,  concerning  removal  of 
Governor  Clinton,  i.  113. 

Baker,  Captain,  a  tavern-keeper,  i.  2. 

Baker,  Ellis,  hotel-keeper  at  Albany,  i.  43. 

Baker,  George  E.,  letter  from  Horace 
Greeley,  ii.  232,  255;  ii.  288. 

Baker,  Oran  E.,  editor  of  "  The  Pilot,"  i. 
41. 

Baldwin,  Ebenezer,  mentioned,  i.  112; 
private  secretary  of  Governor  Clinton,  i. 
165. 

Baldwin,  Grant  B.,  leader  in  Clay  party 
of  1824,  i.  407 ;  on  committee  of'  county  ' 
meeting,  i.  158. 

Baldwin,  Samuel  S.,  mentioned,  i.  147. 

"  Bally,"  a  livery  stable  man,  i.  370. 

Baltimore,  Whig  convention  of  1844,  ii. 
119  :  convention  (Whig)  in  1852,  ii.  215; 
convention  nominates  Lincoln  and  An 
drew  Johnson,  ii.  446. 

Bank  Coffee-House,  the,  in  New  York,  i. 
53. 

Bank  of  Rochester,  a  charter  given  to  the,  , 
i.  104,  106. 

Bank  of  United  States,  branch  of  estab-  j 
lished  at  Buffalo,  i.  340;  a  re-charter  for  j 
the,  i.  371 :  Mr.  Webster's  speech  on,  i.  | 
372;  politically  dead,  i.  372;  supporters 
of  the,  i.  372  ;  'Mr.  Weed  reveals  a  secret  ; 
concerning,  i.  374. 

Banks,  N.  P.,  ii.  245. 

Banks,  applications  to  legislature  for,  i. 
106. 

Baollman,  Dr.,  concerning  General  Lafa 
yette's  imprisonment  at  Olmutz,  i.  192. 
Barber,  E.  D.f  libel    suit  of  J.  Fenimore 


Cooper  against,  i.  520;  editor  of  "Otsego 

Republican,"  i.  520. 
Barbour,    M.,   member  of  Congress   from 

Virginia,  i.  25G:  quoted,  i.  382. 
Baring  Brothers  &  Co.,  Mr.  Weed  visits, 

ii.  351. 
Barker,  George  P.,    legislator  of   1835,  i. 

407. 
Barker,  Jacob,  mentioned,  i.  54;  bank  of, 

i.  55. 
Barker,   Mr.,  custom-house  parody  bv,  i. 

499. 
Barker,   Pierre  E.,  presidential  elector  of 

1824,  i.  138;  collector  of  port  of  Bullalo, 

i.  138. 
Barker,   Samuel,    a  veteran   legislator,    i. 

200. 
Barstow,  Dr.,  member  of  Clinton  party,  i. 

109. 
Barnard,    Daniel   D.,   counsel  in    Morgan 

trial,  i.  274;  concerning  a  mission  abroad, 

i.  594;  appointed  to  Prus.-ia,  i.  595. 
Barnard,  Rev.  David,  renounced  Freema 

sonry,   i.  241;    at  anti-Masonic-   conven 

tion,'  i.  256. 

Barnard,  Elder,  renounces  masonry,  i.  310. 
Barnes,  William,  Mr.  Weed's  son-in-law, 

ii.  571,  579. 
Barney,  Hiram,  mentioned  for  collector,  i. 

612;    appointed  Collector  of  New  York, 


Barstow,  Dr..  of  Tioga,  Senator,  i  47. 
Barstow,  G.  II.,  leader  of  Adams  party  in 

1824,  i.  107:  at  Baltimore  convention,  i. 

389;  nominated  for  lieutenant-governor, 

i.  443. 
Barton,   Lawyer,  advice  of  to  a  client,  i. 

609. 
Barton,   Major  Samuel,  action  of.   in   the 

abduction  of  Morgan,  i.  229;  witness  in 

libel  suit,  i.  332;  death  of,  i.  :j:J5. 
Base  Ball  Club,  formation  of,  at  Rochester, 

i.  203. 

"Batavia  Advocate,"  a  newspaper,  i.  22. 
Bates,   Edward,    mentioned    for    Mr.    Lin 

coln's  cabinet,  i.  608;  appointed  Attor 

ney-General,  ii.  325. 

Bay,'  Dr.  William,  eminent  physician,  1.  63. 
Beach,   Ebene/er  S.,  of  Auburn,  i.  41;  at 

Rochester,  mentioned,  i.  98;  mentioned, 

i.  158:  an  anti-Mason,  i.  336. 
Beach,  John  II.,  of  Auburn,  i.  41;  Senator, 

i.  47;  at  convention,  i.  452. 
Beach.  Mr.,  meeting  with  Mr.  Weed,  i.  567. 
Beardsley,  Hon.  Samuel,  quoted,  i.  426. 
Beck,    D'r.   T.    Roinevn.    statements     con 

cerning  action  of  the  Grand  Chapter,  i. 

247;  principal   of  Albany  Academy,   i. 

384. 
Bel  knap,  Captain  Isaac,  at  Lafayette  re 

ception,  i.  188;  mentioned,  i.  199. 
Bell,  Isaac,  mentioned,  i.  G2G  ;  ii.  145;  on 

Board  of  Charity,  i.  628. 
Bell,  John,  leading  Whig,  i.  442;  at  gath 

ering  of  Whig  members  of  Congress,  i. 

508;  Secretary  of  War.  i.  506;  a  candi 

date  for  President,  ii.  297. 
Bellinger,  Christopher  P.,  in  Fortieth  Reg: 

inent  Militia,  i.  38  j  incident  of,  i.  149; 


584 


INDEX. 


mentioned,  i.  150;  in  Assembly  1824,  i. 
400. 

Bellows,  Ira,  lawyer  of  Pittsford,  i.  34. 

Belmont,  August,  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii. 
310;  mentioned,  ii.  408;  letter  to  Mr. 
Weed,  ii.  420;  on  the  mode  of  prose 
cuting  the  war,  ii.  421. 

Bemis,  James  D.,  of  the  Ontario  "Depos 
itory,"  i.  22. 

Benedict,  General  James,  a  legislator  of 
1824,  i.  399  ;  a  legislator  of  1825.  i.  400. 

Benedict,  Lewis,  concerning  bank  charter, 
i.  106 ;  concerning  money  borrowed  of, 
i.  137 ;  at  opening  of  iirstVailroad,  i.  386 ; 
dissolves  anti-Masonic  party,  i.  425;  as 
a  merchant,  i.  447;  a  zealous  Whig,  i. 
448;  mentioned,  ii.  187,  547. 

Benjamin,  Judah  P.,  suggests  that  the  South 
will  »eturn  to  its  allegiance  to  Great 
Britain,  ii.  314. 

Bennett,  Henry,  admitted  as  lawyer,  i. 
392. 

Bennett,  James  G.,  correspondent  of  "  New 
York  Courier,"  i.  352;  letter  challenging 
Mr.  Weed  concerning  certain  political 
movements,  i.  352;  declines  a  mission  to 
France,  i.  619;  Mr.  Weed's  interview 
with,  concerning  his  war  sentiments,  i. 
616-618;  mentioned,  ii.  228. 

Benton,  Colonel  Thomas  H.,  quoted,  i.  180; 
a  hard  money  advocate,  i.  443;  ii.  42. 

Betts,  Samuel  Ii.,  member  of  Congress, 
mentioned,  i.  152;  at  Lafayette  recep 
tion,  i.  188. 

Biddle,  Mr.,  concerning  Mr.  Tracy  for 
bank  president,  i.  341;  interview  with 
Mr.  McLane  concerning  charter  for  Uni 
ted  States  Bank,  i.  373. 

Bierell,  Louis,  rescues  the  bodv  of  Colonel 
Baker  at  Ball's  Bluff,  ii.  346" 

Bigelow,  John,  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  366; 
an  interview  with,  ii.  399;  mentioned, 
349,  391. 

Binghams,  the,  mentioned,  i.  159. 

Birdsall,  James,  buys  a  printing  establish 
ment,  i.  76;  member  of  Congress,  i.  77; 
friendly  relations  with  Thurlow  Weed, 
i.  77;  concerning  a  political  intrigue,  i. 
124;  letter  introducing  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  12. 

Birdsall,  Judge  John,  lawyer,  at  Lockport, 
biographical  sketch,  i.  81  ;  prominent 
anti-Mason,  i.  336 ;  resignation  of,  i. 
337 ;  appointed  Judge  at  request  of  Mr. 
Weed,  i.  338;  declines  anti-Masonic 
nomination  to  Congress,  i.  338;  elected 
to  Assembly,  i.  339;  accepts  national 
Republican  nomination,  i.  339. 

Birdsall,  Major  Ben,  shot  by  a  soldier,  i. 
63. 

Birdseye,  Victory,  delegate  to  convention, 
i.  89 ;  lawyer,  mentioned,  i.  147 ;  ap 
pointed  to  investigate  Morgan  affair,  i. 
274;  converted  to  anti-masonry,  i.  284; 
legislator  of  1823,5.399;  at  convention, 
i.  452;  ii.  4,  501. 

Birney,  James  G.,  married  daughter  of 
Colonel  Fitzhugh,  i.  98;  nominated  for 
the  presidency  in  1840,  by  the  anti- 
slavery  men,  ii.  80. 


Birthday  anniversary  in  1880,  ii.  552. 

Bishop,  Kitchell,  a  veteran  legislator,  i. 
200. 

Bissell,  Josiah,  Jr.,  organized  a  six-day 
line  from  Rochester  to  Albany,  i.  99. 

Black  cockades  worn  by  the  Republicans, 
i.  4. 

"Black  salts,"  the  making  of,  i.  11. 

Blaine,  James  G.,  letter  from  Mr.  Weed 
to,  ii.  522. 

Blair,  Montgomery,  mentioned  for  Mr. 
Lincoln's  cabinet,  i.  607,  608;  appointed 
Postmaster  General,  ii.  325;  attacks  the 
loyalty  of  Seward  and  Stanton,  ii.  330. 

Blatchford,  Richard  M.,  merchant  of  New 
York,  i.  55;  mentioned,  i.  375,  457, 
625;  supported  United  States  Bunk,  i. 
372  ;  on  election  committee,  i.  476  ;  letter 
to  Mr.  Weed,  i.  480;  concerning  illegal 
voters,  i.  493;  friendship  for  Mr1.  Web 
ster,  i.  576;  member  of  the  Taylor  com 
mittee,  i.  577 ;  concerning  Mr.  Weed's 
mission  to  Europe,  i.  638;  ii.  88,  461. 

Blatchford,  Samuel,  appointed  private  sec 
retary,  i.  457. 

Bliss,  'Colonel,  son-in-law  of  President 
Taylor,  i.  592. 

Bloodgood,  Francis  A.,  lawyer,  i.  31. 

Bloodgood,  Mr.,  editor  of  "Albany Adver 
tiser,"  i.  412. 

"Blossoms,"  dinners  at,  i.  140. 

Blunt,  Joseph,  concerning  Mr.  Webster's 
speech,  i.  372. 

Board  of  Charities  and  Correction,  ii.  145. 

Bogardus  (Captain).  Jacobus,  of  sloop  Jef 
ferson,  i.  3;  mentioned,  i.  8. 

Bogart,  James,  publisher  of  "Geneva Ga 
zette,"  i.  22. 

Bogart,  William  II.,  veteran  senate  re 
porter,  etc.,  i.  142. 

Bonaparte,  Napoleon,  mentioned,  i.  40; 
demanded  release  from  prison  of  General 
Lafayette,  i.  193. 

Bond,  Colonel,  in  Congress,  i.  490. 

Booth,  Rev.  Dr.,  reminiscences  of  Mr. 
Weed,  ii.  160,  163. 

Bostwick.  Mr.,  political  call  upon  Chief 
Justice  Spencer,  i.  167. 

Botts,  John  M.,  leading  Whig,  i.  442;  con 
cerning  the  Bank  bill,  i.  507;  of  Mary 
land,  i.  606. 
I  Bottsford's  hotel  at  Catskill,  i.  6. 

Bouck,  William  C.,  Governor  of  New  York, 
mentioned,  i.  48;  Democratic  candidate 
for  governor,  i.  491;  succeeds  Governor 
Seward,  1842,  ii.  98. 

Boughton,  George  H.,  of  Canandaigua,  i. 
140;  at  anti-Masonic  convention,  i.  257; 
concerning  political  anti-masonry,  i.  299  ; 
elected  to  Assembly,  i.  309;  prominent 
anti-Mason,  i.  336;  at  Baltimore  conven 
tion,  i.  389  ;  concerning  a  senator  for  the 
Eighth  District,  i.  337';'  delegate  to  sen 
atorial  convention,  i.  339. 

Boutwell,  George  S.,  urges  division  of 
rebel  estates,  ii.  457. 

Bowen,  Henry  C.,  letter  to  Press  Club  din 
ner,  ii.  557. 

Bowen,  General  James,  mentioned,  i.  450, 


INDEX. 


585 


626;  ii.  145;  member  of  Governor  Sew-  : 
ard's  stuff,  i.  457,  458;   on  election  com-  ! 
mittee,  i.  476;  concerning  illegal  voters,  j 
i.  493;  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  i.  504:  con-  j 
cerning  the  Dorr  rebellion,    i.  530;    on 
Board  of  Charity,  i.  628 ;  ii.  143,  145;  one 
of  Mr.  Weed's  executors,  ii.  579. 

Bowery,  the,  in  New  York,  i.  52. 

Bowles,  Samuel,  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii. 
260. 

Bowman,  John,  elected  canal  commissioner, 
i.  108;  concerning  the  removal  of  Gov 
ernor  Clinton  as  canal  commissioner,  i. 
109. 

Boyd,  John  J.,  at  opening  of  first  railroad, 
f.  386. 

Bradford,  Mrs  John  M.,  authoress,  i.  364. 

Bradish,  Alvah,  anecdote  of  Mr.  Weed,  ii. 
182. 

Bradish,  Luther,  of  New  York,  i.  55 ;  prom 
inent  anti-Mason,  i.  336;  mentioned,  i. 
402;  ii.  474;  in  legislature  of  1835,  i. 
407;  nominated  for  lieutenant-governor, 
i.  453;  ii.  58-60;  election  as  lieutenant- 
governor,  i.  456. 

Brandywine,    frigate,    at   Lafayette's   ser-  , 
vice,  i.  194. 

Eraser,  Abraham,  a  veteran  legislator,  i. 
200. 

Eraser,  Philip  (the  turtle-eating  alderman), 
mentioned,  i.  200,  394,  401. 

Braytons,  the,  of  Home,  i.  31. 

Bread,  in  Austria,  ii.  212. 

Breckenridge,  John  C.,  nominated  for  Pres 
ident,  ii.  298. 

Brennan,  Owen  W.,  on  Board  of  Charity, 
i,  6-28 ;ii.  145,  458. 

Brig  Somers,  the,  mutiny  on  board  of,  i.  i 
516. 

Bright,  David  G.,  mentioned,  i.  76;  bio 
graphical  sketch  of,  i.  79. 

Bright,  Jesse  D.,  Senator  to  Congress,  i. 
79. 

Bright,  John,  of  England,  i.  633;  a  pun  on 
his  name,  ii.  407. 

Brinkerhoff,  General,  of  Ohio,  in  Congress, 
i.  472. 

British  Consul,  letter  from  Judah  P.  Ben 
jamin,  ii.  313. 

British  troops,  ordered  to  Canada  in  1861,  I 
ii.  308. 

Broad  Street,  in  New  York.  i.  2. 

Broadway,  New  York,  in  1815,  i.  52. 

Bronson,  Alvin,  United  States  Senator,  i. 
108;  member  of  Senate  1825,  i.  197;  a 
legislator,  i.  410. 

Bronson,  Greene  C.,  Attorney-General,  i. 
31  ;  mentioned,  i.  418;  ii.  219. 

Brooklyn,  in  1815,  i.  52;  mentioned,  ii.  3. 

Brooks",  Mr.,  concerning  Mr.  Webster's 
speech,  i.  372. 

Brown,  George,  ii.  57. 

Brown,  General  Jacob,  commanding  gen 
eral  in  war  of  1812,  i.  29;  incident  of, 
i.  30;  at  Sackett's  Harbor,  i.  39. 

Brown,  Jeremiah,  action  of  in  abduction 
of  William  Morgan,  i.  228 ;_  trial  of  for 
participation  in  Morgan  affair,  i.  284. 

Brown,  Jesse,  ii.  16. 


Brown,  John,  at  Harper's  Ferry,  ii.  258. 

Brown,  Dr.  Matthew,  citi/en  <>f  Rochester, 
mentioned,  i.  U8;  at  anti- Masonic  con 
vention,  i.  256. 

Brown,  Mrs.,  wife  of  Samuel  K.  Brown, 
i.41. 

Brown,  Robert  M.,  coroner,  inquest  of,  i. 
313,  315. 

Brown,  Samuel  R.,  editor  at  Auburn,  i. 
40;  his  home  life,  i.  40. 

"Brown's  smuggling  roads,"  incident  of, 
i.  39. 

Brown ville,  regiment  quartered  at,  i.  29. 

Bruce,  Eli,  sheriff,  action  of  in  the  abduc 
tion  of  Morgan,  i.  22!);  arrest  of,  i.  231 ; 
trial  of,  concerning  Morgan,  i.  259,  2*>2, 
265;  sentenced  to  prison,  i.  270;  testi 
mony  of,  in  Morgan  trial,  i.  271,  272,  288. 

Brush,"  General,  at  Lafayette  reception, 
i.  189. 

Bryant,  William  C.,  opposed  to  a  second 
term  for  Lincoln,  ii.  296. 

Buchanan,  James,  elected  President  in 
1856,  ii.  248;  mentioned,  ii.  245,  248, 
250,  251,  257.  306,  331,  332,  414. 

Bucklin,  Mr.,  concerning  the  Morgan  re 
wards,  i.  254. 

"Bucktail"  organization,  the,  i.  76;  ii.22. 

Bucktail  party,  success  of,  i.  90. 

Buckwheat  cakes,  a  favorite  lunch,  i.  54. 

Buel,  Jesse,  manager  of  Albany  "Argus," 
i.  43;  industry  of,  i.  46:  editor  of  "Ar 
gus,"  i.  67;  legislator  of  1823,  i.  399;  be 
comes  a  Whig,  i.  430;  nominated  by 
Whigs  for  Governor,  i.  443. 

Ball's  Bluff,  defeat  at,  ii.  345. 

Bull  Run,  battle  of,  ii.  344. 

Burgess,  Tristram,  opposition  to  a  certain 
appropriation,  i.  382. 

Burke,  Jo,  actor,  i.  385. 

Burlingame,  Anson,  minister  to  China,  ii. 
320/572. 

Burnham,  Ebenezer,  of  Aurora,  i.  142. 

Burr,  Colonel  Aaron,  duel  of,  with  Alex 
ander  Hamilton,  i.  5;  in  New  York,  i. 
55;  legislative  service  of,  i.  200;  presi 
dent  of  constitutional  convention,  i.  200; 
meeting  with  Governor  Lewis  on  board 
steamboat,  i.  370;  correspondence  of, 
i.  415,  416;  duel  with  Hamilton,  i.  415. 

Burroughs.  L.  A.,  leader  of  Adams  party 
in  1824,  i.  107;  supports  Mr.  Adnms  for 
President,  i.  122;  mentioned,  i.  138. 

Burrows,  Captain,  of  packet  ship  George 
Washington,  i.  541. 

Burt,  David,  elected  to  Assembly,  i.  309. 

Burt,  James,  senator,  i.  47  ;  supported 
Adams  party  in  1824,  i.  107:  supports 
Mr.  Adams  for  President,  i.  122  ;  at  La 
fayette  reception,  i.  189;  at  Baltimore 
convention,  i.  389;  a  Whig  elector,  i. 
491. 

Burtis,  Mr.,  in  legislature  1828,  i.  402. 

Bush,  John  F.,  mentioned,  i.  159;  con 
cerning  the  purchase  of  the  "Evening 
Journal,"  i.  597. 

Bushe,  Dr..  treatment  of  Mr.  Vv  ced,  i.  41 

Butler,  Benjamin,  and  C.,  on  prosecution 
of  Morgan  affair,  i.  233. 


586 


INDEX. 


Butler,  Benjamin  F.,  of  Albany,  mentioned, 
i.  402  ;  counselor  in  a  libel  suit,  i.  527. 

Butler,  Benjamin  F.,  of  Massachusetts,  the 
most  influential  and  the  worst  man  in 
Congress,  ii.  501;  mentioned,  ii.  341,  383. 

Butler,  Governor  of  Vermont,  i.  259. 

Butler,  Dr.  Samuel  S.,  concerning  the 
"Morgan  affair,"  i.  219;  quoted,  i.  247. 

Butteriickl,  John,  concerning  the  "Mor 
gan  affair,"  i.  219;  indicted  on  Morgan 
affair,  i.  248. 

Cady,  Daniel,  eminent  lawyer,  i.  42;  law 
yer  of  Johnstown,  i.  154. 

Cady,  Miss  Elizabeth,  marriage  of,  i.  159. 

Cairo,  Greene  County,  N.  Y.,  birthplace  of 
Thurlow  Weed,  i.  1;  ii.  2. 

Calhoun,  John  C.,  aspirant  for  the  presi 
dency,  i.  103;  concerning  state  rights, 
i.  388;  champion  of  nullification,  i.  422. 

California,  concerning  admission  of,  into 
the  Union,  i.  592,  590 ;  asks  admission 
(1850),  ii.  176;  admission  of,  ii.  183. 

Call  for  75,000  volunteers,  ii.  327. 

Cameron,  General  Simon,  mentioned  for 
place  in  President  Lincoln's  cabinet,  i. 
607-611;  ii.  25G  ;  appointed  Secretary  of 
War,  ii.  325;  dispensed  with  as  Secre 
tary  of  War,  ii.  330;  appointed  Minister 
to  Russia,  ii.  330;  mentioned,  ii.  256,  261, 
263,  264. 

Camp,  Major  J.  C.,  of  Buffalo,  i.  141. 

Campaign  of  1840,  preparations  for,  ii.  53. 

Campbell,  Archibald,  i.  561. 

Campbell,  Rev.  John  W.,  called  to  settle 
at  Albany,  i.  365- 

Canada,  British  troops  sent  to,  in  1861, 
ii.  368;  visited  in  1870,  ii.  477. 

Canandaigua,  village  of,  i.  140. 

Cannon,  Le  Grand,  member  of  Governor 
Seward's  staff,  i.  457. 

Cantine,  John,  legislative  service  of,  i. 
200. 

Canvas-back  ducks,  ii.  202. 

Canvass  of  1840,  spirit  of,  ii.  81;  progress 
of,  ii.  83. 

Canvassers  state,  of  1840,  a  dead-lock  in 
board  of,  i.  494. 

"Captain  Tyler"  (John)  goes  over  to  the 
Locos,  ii.  95. 

Carew,  Isaac,  i.  502. 

Cargill,  Abraham,  a  legislator  of  1827, 
i.  401 ;  in  legislature,  1828,  i.  402. 

Carley,  Captain,  farmer  at  Cincinnatus, 
i.  15;  at  regimental  review,  i.  18. 

Carman,  Stephen,  legislative  service  of, 
i.  200. 

Carow,  Isaac,  mentioned,  i.  54. 

Carpet-bag  dishonesty  and  oppression,  ii. 
513. 

Carr,  Thomas  N.,  legislator  of  1835,  i.  407. 

Carrigan,  Andrew,  ii.  141. 

Carroll,  Charles,  of  Carrollton,  mentioned, 
ii.  28. 

Carroll,  Charles  H.,  the  wife  of,  i.  30;  men 
tioned,  i.  390;  wife  of  mentioned,  i.  346; 
political  offices  held  by,  i.  346. 

Carroll  Hall,  meeting  at,  concerning  the 
free  school  law,  i.  500. 


i  Carroll,  Major,  early  settler  of  Rochester, 
i.  202;  tribute  to,'i.  346. 

Gary,  Miss,  reminiscences  of  Norwich, 
ii.  15. 

Gary,  Mrs.,  kept  hotel  at  Vernon,  i.  148. 

Gary,  Trumbull,  concerning  Morgan's  ab 
duction,  i.  213  ;  concerning  political 
anti-Masonry,  i.  299 ;  prominent  anti- 
Mason,  i.  336  ;  supports  "Evening  Jour 
nal,"  i.  361;  mentioned,  i.402;  dissolves 
anti-Masonic  party,  i.  425;  mentioned,  ii. 
40,  549;  in  Mr.  Weed's  will,  ii.  578. 

Cass,  Governor,  minister  to  France,  i.  512. 

Cassidy,  John,  mentioned,  i.  42. 

Castle  Garden,  union  meeting,  ii.  187. 

Catskill,  town  of  New  York,  i.  1 ;  in  1807, 
i.  5;  prominent  inhabitants  of,  i.  6. 

"Catskill  Recorder,"  a  newspaper,  i.  10. 

Caucus  system  of  presidential  nominations, 
ii.  24.  " 

Causes  of  Republican  disaster,  1875,  ii. 
507. 

Cayuga  Bridge,  the,  view  from,  i.  141. 

"Cease  rude  Boreas,"  a  nautical  song,  i.  3. 

Central  Park  Commission,  ii.  144. 

Chamberlain,  Nathan,  mentioned,  i.  76. 

Chamberlain,  Royal  T.,  editor  of  the  "  Toc 
sin,"  i.  24. 

Champion,  Aristarchus,  of  Rochester,  i.  99. 

Chandler,  Adoniram,  member  of  Typo 
graphical  Societv,  i.  70;  legislator  of 
1838,  i.  408. 

"Chandler's,"  a  house  at  Catskill,  i.  5. 

Chandler,  Zachariah,  ii.  305. 

Changes  in  Lincoln's  Cabinet,  ii.  330. 

Chapman,  Benjamin,  friendship  with  Mr. 
Weed,  i.  434. 

Chapman,  Mary,  adoption  of,  by  Mr. 
Weed,  i.  564; 'death  of,  i.  567. 

Charleston,  convention  in  1860,  ii.  259; 
foreign  feeling  as  to  the  blockade  oi, 
ii.  392 ;  debate  on  the  blockade  in  par 
liament,  ii.  407. 

Chase,  Salmon  P.,  appointed  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  ii.  325,  326  ;  letter  to  a 
friend,  ii.  329;  intrigues  in  Lincoln's 
Cabinet,  ii.  330 ;  presidential  aspirations 
of,  ii.  445. 

Chauncey  (Commodore),  mentioned,  i.  39. 

Cheap  living  in  Florence,  ii.  208. 

Chemical  Bank,  the,  concerning  a  charter, 
i.  106. 

Chesebro,  Nicholas  G.,  concerning  the 
"Morgan  Affair,"  i.  219;  indictment 
found  against,  i.  231;  sentenced  to  pris 
on,  i.  236. 

Chicago,  ii.  148. 

Chicago  convention,  of  1860,  ii.  260,  262; 
the'tirst  ballot,  ii.  263;  inside  history  of, 
ii.  273  ;  providentially  guided,  ii.  296; 
incongruous  elements,  ii.  321. 

Childs,  David  W.,  lawyer,  i.  31. 

Childs,  George  W.,  letter  to  Press  Club 
dinner,  ii.  558. 

Childs,  Timothy,  signs  a  petition,  i.  204; 
the  anti-Masonic  candidate  to  legisla 
ture,  i.  301;  elected  to  Congress,  i.  302; 
prominent  anti-Mason,  i.  336 ;  supports 
"Evening  Journal,"  i.  361;  at  Balti- 


INDEX. 


587 


more  convention,  i.  389;  dissolves  anti- 
Masonic  party,  i.  425. 

Chipman,  Justice,  of  Canandaigua,   i.  220. 

Cholera,  the,  at  Albany,  i.  417;  at  Roches 
ter,  i.  419. 

Church,  Sanford  E.,  Comptroller  of  New 
York,  i.  348;  elected  Lieutenant-Gover- 
nor,  ii.  189  ;  mentioned,  ii.  550. 

Churches  in  New  York  City,  in  1817,  i.  60. 

Cincinnati  convention,  187(3,  letter  from 
Mr.  Weed  to  Mr.  Elaine,  ii.  522. 

Cincinnatus,  town  in  New  York,  i.  10;  ex 
perience  of  a  young  farmer  at,  i.  13; 
Thurlow  Weed's  recollections  of.  i.  15- 
19. 

City  Hotel,  New  York,  in  1815,  i.  53;  ii.  3. 

Civil  rights  bill,  ii.  515. 

Civil  service  reform,  ii.  462. 

Clapp,  James,  lawyer,  i.  81. 

Clark,  Aaron,  an  annoying  joke  concern 
ing,  i.  397. 

Clark,  Charles  E.,  at  convention,  i.  452. 

Clark,  Gustavus,  nominated  to  the  Assem 
bly,  i.  160;  sketch  of,  i.  162;  member 
of  Assembly,  1825,  i.  196;  mentioned,  i. 
319. 

Clark,  Israel  W.,  editor,  of  Cooperstown, 
i.  36;  editor  of  the  "Watch  Tower," 
i.  62;  mentioned,  ii.  9. 

Clark,  Governor  James,  letter  to  Mr.  Weed 
concerning  Mr.  Clay,  i.  351. 

Clark,  Jeremiah,  legislative  service  of, 
i.  200. 

Clark,  Jesse,  leader  in  Clay  party  of  1824, 
i.  107 ;  supports  Mr.  Clay,  i.  122. 

Clark,  John  C  ,  lawyer  and  member  of 
Congress,  i.  80. 

Clark,  Joseph  T.,  i.  561. 

Clark,  Lot,  ii.  15. 

Clark.  Mvron  H.,  elected  Governor  of 
New  York,  ii.  228;  mentioned,  ii.  144, 
247. 

Clark,  Sarah  E.,  i.  561. 

Clarke,  Matthew  St.  Clair,  a  dinner  with, 
i.  537;  ii.  484. 

Clay,  Cassius  M.,  ii.  123,  464. 

Clay,  Henry,  aspirant  for  the  presidency, 
i."  103  ;  as  candidate  for  President  in 
1824,  i.  107;  leading  friends  of,  in  cam 
paign  of  1824,  i.  107;  prospects  of,  weak 
ened,  i.  108,  109;  Secretary  of  State, 
i.  178 ;  political  supporters  of,  i.  122 ; 
mentioned,  i.  197,  402;  ii.  31;  and  the 
anti-Masons,  i.  350  ;  as  a  presidential 
candidate  in  1830,  i.  350;  repudiates  po 
litical  anti-masonry,  i.  353  ;  his  two 
chances  of  being  President,  5.  354;  sup 
ported  the  United  States  Bank,  i.  372, 
374  ;  nominated  for  President,  i.  391, 
413;  ii.  40,  119;  compromise  of  the  tar 
iff,  i.  422;  concerning  election  to  pres 
idency,  i.  480;  a  dinner  with,  i.  536  ; 
Alabama  letter  of,  i.  572;  presidency, 
urged  for  the,  i.  575;  Mr.  Weed,  rela 
tions  with,  i.  576;  movement  in  his  fa 
vor,  i.  576;  his  claims,  i.  576;  delegates 
to  the  Whig  convention  instructed  to 
vote  for  him,  i.  577 ;  candidate  for  the 
presidential  nomination  at  Whig  na 


tional  convention,  i.  578;  Mr.  Weed 
urged  to  support  him  for  the  presidency, 
i.  578  ;  letters  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  42,  98, 
119  ;  deceived  as  to  his  prospects,  ii. 

Clayton,  John  M.,  mentioned  for  vice- 
president,  i.  482;  Whig  national  con 
vention  ;  candidate  for  the  presidential 
nomination,  i.  578;  Secretary  of  State,  i. 
590  ;  concerning  a  mission  for  Mr.  Bar 
nard,  i.  595;  ii.  167. 

Clinch,  Charles  P.,  legislator  of  1835,  po 
etic  humor  of,  i.  407;  deputy  of  customs 
of  New  York,  parody  by /i.  498;  men 
tioned,  ii.  465,  550. 

Clingman,  Senator  from  Georgia,  concern 
ing  admission  of  California,  i.  617;  men 
tioned,  ii.  176,  364. 

Clinton  (Governor),  De  Witt,  mentioned, 
i.  31,  53;  concerning  political  letter  to 
the  "Columbian,"  i.  67;  heads  one  fac 
tion  of  Republican  party,  i.  67;  at  Rome 
concerning  Erie  canal,  i.  70;  commis 
sioner  of  Erie  canal,  i.  72;  measures  con 
cerning  Erie  and  Champlain  canal,  i.  73, 
74;  his  canal  policy,  ii.  10,  13;  recom 
mends  agricultural  societies,  i.  78;  can 
didate  for  President  against  Mr.  Mad 
ison,  i.  82;  elected  Governor  of  New 
York,  i.  82;  votes  received  for  Governor, 
i.  84  ;  declines  renomination,  i.  102  ;  con 
cerning  presidential  candidate,  i.  107; 
removed  from  ollice  of  canal  commis 
sioner,  i.  109;  indignation  concerning 
his  removal,  i.  112,  113:  concerning  nom 
ination  for  governor,  i.  118;  nominated 
and  elected  governor,  i.  120,  121;  sup 
ports  Chief  Justice  Spencer  for  senator, 
i.  107  ;  appointed  minister  to  England 
and  declines,  i.  177,  178;  the  breach  be 
tween  Lieutenant-Governor  Tallmadge 
and,  i.  178:  charge  concerning  the  Presi 
dent  of  United  States,  i.  205;  letter  con 
cerning  the  abduction  of  Morgan,  i.  226; 
offers  rewards  for  discovery  of  Morgan, 
i.  231;  letter  to  Samuel  A.'Talcott,  con 
cerning  Morgan,  i.  232;  letter  to  the  Ba- 
tavia  committee,  concerning  Morgan,  i. 
238;  letter  to  governors  of  Canada,  con 
cerning  the  Morgan  affair,  i.  240;  letter 
to  Theodore  F.  Talbot,  concerning  Mor 
gan  affair,  i.  249;  information  of,  con 
cerning  the  Morgan  affair,  i.  251;  at  a 
meeting  of  the  Grand  Chapter,  i.  251; 
death  of,  i.  257  :  referred  to  in  letter  by 
Silas  Wright,  i.  376;  his  administration, 
ii.  23;  obituary  of,  by  Mr.  Weed,  ii. 
29. 

Clowes,  Thomas,  at  convention,  i.  366;  dis 
solves  anti-Masonic  party,  i.  425;  men 
tioned,  ii.  91,  234,  549. 

Cobbett,  William,  member  of  Parliament, 
i.  51;  ii.  193. 

Cobden,  Richard,  England,  i.  633;  ii.  405. 

Coddington,  Jonathan  I.,  legislator  of 
1827,  i.  401. 

Coe,  Chauncey  II.,  indicted  on  Morgan  af 
fair,  i.  248. 

Coeiities  Slip,  in  New  York,  i.  2;  ii.  417. 


588 


INDEX. 


Coffin,  Alexander,  vice-president  of  a  con 
vention,  i.  120;  at  Lafayette  reception, 
i.  189. 

Coit,  Mr.,  of  Buffalo,  i.  141. 

Colden,  Cadwallader  D.,  concerning  remo 
val  of  Governor  Clinton,  i.  113 ;  re 
nounces  masonry,  i.  310;  a  legislator  of 
1818.  i.  395;  mentioned,  ii.  14. 

Cole,  Benjamin,  legislative  service  of,  i. 
200. 

Cole,  John  O.,  a  printer,  i.  44;  ii.  40. 

Oolfax,  Schuyler,  nominated  for  vice- 
president,  1868,  ii.  459. 

Colonization  society,  plan  of,  i.  429. 

Collamer,  Jacob,  Postmaster- General,  i. 
590;  ii.  176. 

Collier,  John  A.,  political  career  of,  i.  342, 
343;  Comptroller  of  New  York,  i.  348; 
nominates  Millard  Fillmore,  for  vice- 
president,  i.  578;  mentioned,  ii.  44,  172. 

Collision,  expected  at  Charleston,  ii.  327. 

Colt,  Koswell  L.,  supported  United  States 
Bank,  i.  372;  merchant  of  New  York,  i. 
502,  625  ;  mentioned,  ii.  483. 

Columbia  College,  i.  393. 

"  Columbian  Gazette,"  a  Republican  news 
paper,  i.  26. 

Colvin,  Dr.,  bet  with  Mr.  Weed  on  Harri 
son  election,  i.  492. 

Commerce  in  New  York,  in  1817,  ii.  194. 

"Commercial  Advertiser,"  a  newspaper,  i. 
33  ;  edited  by  Colonel  W.  L.  Stone,  i.  366 ; 
mentioned,  'ii.  4;  Mr.  Weed  editor  of,  ii. 
454.  462. 

Commissioners,  appointment  of,  ii.  143. 

Commissioners  Mason  and  Slidell,  released, 
ii.  379, 

Competitive  examinations  for  the  civil 
service,  ii.  466. 

Complicated  canvass,  ii.  227. 

Compromise,  of  1820,  ii.  13;  of  1850,  ii. 
183. 

Comptroller  of  New  York,  list  of  the  men 
who  liave  filled  this  office,  i.  348;  faith 
fulness  of  the  men  appointed  to  this  of 
fice,  i.  348;  mentioned,  ii.  63,  187,  474, 
488,  549. 

Comstock,  Adam,  legislative  service  of,  i. 
200. 

Comstock,  Joseph  J.,  ii.  339. 

Conflicting  relations  with  old  friends,  ii. 
229. 

Congress,  elected  J.  Q.  Adams,  President, 
i.  172;  petitions  to  concerning  slavery, 
i.  427  ;  ii.  54. 

Conine,  Mr.,  keeper  of  a  tavern,  incident 
of,  i.  32;  at  a  Whig  convention,  i.  32. 

Conkling,  Hon.  Alfred,  resolutions  con 
cerning  removal  of  Governor  Clinton,  i. 
112;  member  of  Congress,  mentioned, 
i.  152. 

Connery,  Thomas  B.,  letter  to  Press  Club 
dinner,  ii.  556. 

Connor,  Ezra  S.,  legislator  of  1835,  i.  407. 

Constitution  of  New  York  as  amended,  i. 
89;  ii.  135,  561. 

Constitutional  conventions  of  New  York, 
i.  200  ;  ii.  496. 

Convention,  to  amend  New  Yrork  state  con 


stitution,  i.  88;  at  Utica  in  August,  1824, 
concerning  the,  i.  117;  at  Utica  to  nomi 
nate  a  governor,  etc.,  i.  120 ;  National 
Republican  state  convention  at  Utica, 
i.  304;  anti-Masonic  state  convention 
at  Utica,  i.  305,  366,  413 ;  of  seceding 
Masons  at  Le  Roy,  i.  310;  workingman's 
convention  at  Syracuse,  i.  367;  Demo 
cratic  convention  at  Hcrkimer.  i.  367, 
453;  anti-Masonic  at  Baltimore,  i.  389; 
national  Republican  state  convention,  i. 
413;  New  York  state,  at  Utica,  i.  452; 
Whig  state  convention  (New  Yrork)  of 
1854,  ii.  226;  Democratic  convention  at 
Chicago,  ii.  260;  Republican  conven 
tion  at  Chicago,  ii.  262,  263,  273,  296, 
321. 

Cook,  Bates,  his  investigation  into  the  ab 
duction  of  William  Morgan,  i.  228 ;  at 
anti-Masonic  convention,  i.  257;  con 
cerning  political  anti-masonry,  i.  299; 
an  anti-Mason,  i.  336;  Comptroller  of 
New  York,  i.  348;  supports  "Evening 
Journal,"  i.  361;  dissolves  anti-Masonic 
party,  i.  425 ;  appointed  comptroller,  i. 
459;"  ii.  64,  67. 

Cook,  James  M.,  Comptroller  of  New  Yrork, 
i.  348;  ii.  187,  251. 

Cook,  Richard,  concerning  bank  charter, 
i.  106. 

Cook,  Thomas  B.,  at  dinner  with  Lafay 
ette,  i.  190. 

Cookes,  the,  familv  of  Catskill,  New  York, 
i.  6. 

Cooper,  Mr.,  actor,  i.  59.' 

Cooper,  Francis,  elected  in  1815,  i.  393;  in 
legislature,  i.  401. 

Cooper,  J.  Fenimore,  appearance  of  his 
novel,  i.  99;  the  libel  suits  of,  i.  520. 

Cooper,  John  Tayler,  sent  as  messenger 
to  Washington*  i.  137;  in  Lafayette 
party,  i.  186. 

Cooper,  Paul,  Mr.  Weed's  acquaintance 
with,  i.  527. 

Cooper,  Peter,  ii.  470. 

Cooperstown,  Thurlow  Weed's  residence 
in,  i.  36. 

Copperhead,  element  in  the  Democratic 
party,  ii.  447. 

Corcoran,  Colonel  Michael,  ii.  340,  341. 

Cork,  misery  and  wretchedness  in,  ii.  104. 

Corning,  Erastus,  as  a  merchant,  i.  447; 
libel  suit  of,  against  Mr.  Weed,  i.  528; 
mentioned,  ii.  189,  198,  550. 

Cortlandt  Street,  New  York,  in  1815,  i.  53. 

Corwin,  Thomas,  ii.  148,  167. 

Cossett's  tavern,  at  Syracuse,  i.  144. 

Cotton,  the  danger  to^  ii.  404. 

Couch,  Mr.,  kept  stage-house,  i.  152. 

Council  of  appointment,  the,  of  1815,  i.  47. 

County  meeting  held  in  Monroe  County,  i. 
158." 

•''Courier"  newspaper,  i.  56. 

"Courier  and  Enquirer,"  edited  by  Colo 
nel  J.  W.  Webb,  i.  369;  ii.  48. 

Court  of  Common  Pleas,  i.  255. 

Court  of  Over  and  Terminer,  held  in  Gen- 
esee  County,  i.  255. 

Courtmacsherry,  Ireland,  ii.  103. 


INDEX. 


589 


Contant,  Gilbert,  a  legislator  of  1826,  i.  400; 
a  legislator  of  1827,  i.  4(JJ . 

Cowdry,  Peter  A.,  legislator  of  1835,  i.  407. 

Crafts,  Governor  of  Vermont,  i.  208. 

Craig,  Hector,  at  Lafayette  reception,  i. 
188. 

Cramer,  John,  delegate  to  convention,  i. 
89;  leader  in  Clay  party  of  1824,  i.  107 ; 
supports  Mr.  Clay,  i.  122  ;  mentioned,  i. 
152;  member  of  Senate,  1825;  ii.  1(J7. 

Crary,  John,  in  legislature,  i.  110 ;  nom 
inated  for  lieutenant-governor,  i.  305. 

Crawford  or  Van  Buren  section,  the,  in 
legislature,  i.  107. 

Crawford,  William  H.,  aspirant  for  the 
presidency,  i.  103 ;  as  presidential  can 
didate,  i.  107,  108 ;  presidential  prospect 
spoiled,  i.  109 ;  concerning  presidential 
prospects,  i.  117;  the  Democratic  nomi 
nee  for  President,  i.  118;  an  intrigue 
concerning  the  election  of,  as  President, 
i.  123-5;  nominee  for  President,  i.  197; 
Secretary  of  War,  i.  590;  ii.  24. 

Cassell,  John,  a  staunch  friend  of  the 
Union,  ii.  380. 

Critical  position  of  national  affairs,  ii.  420. 

Crittenden  Compromise,  ii.  312. 

Crittenden,  General,  at  gathering  of  Whig 
members  of  Congress,  i.  508. 

Crittenden,  John  J.,  Attorney-General,  i. 
506. 

Crolius,  Clarkson,  elected  speaker  of  As 
sembly,  i.  163 ;  legislative  service  of,  i. 
200;  a  legislator  of  1817,  i.  395,  396;  a 
legislator  of  1825,  i.  400. 

Crooker,  George  A.  S.,  elected  to  legisla 
ture,  i.  337 ;  concerning  his  nomination 
for  senator,  i.  337. 

Croswell,  Dr.,  citizen  of  Catskill,  i.  9. 

Croswell,  Edwin,  editor  of  the  "Argus," 
i.  8;  editor  of  the  "Argus,"  relations 
with  Thurlow  Weed,  i.  104 ;  editor  of 
the  "  Argus  "  in  1823,  ii.  36;  member  of 
the  Albany  Regency,  i.  103;  mentioned, 
ii.  4,  44;  letter  from  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  37; 
letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  38. 

Croswell,  Mackay,  editor  of  Catskill  "Re- 
corder,"  i.  8;  'ii.  4,  191. 

Croton  Water- Works  celebration,  i.  185. 

Crowns  for  martyrs  in  politics,  ii.  528. 

Cruger,  Daniel,  elected  speaker  of  legisla 
ture,  i.  48. 

Cruttenden,  Mr.,  a  genial  host,  anecdote 
of,  i.  401 ;  ii.  484. 

Cummings,  Rev.  F.  H.,  of  Rochester,  men-  i 
tioned,  i.  99 ;  indicted  for  participation 
in  Morgan  affair,  i.  270;  sentiment  con-  ; 
cerning  enemies  to  masonry,  i.  296 ;  au-  i 
thor  of  an  article  against  Mr.  Weed,  i.  ( 
811. 

Cunningham,  Henry,  extract  from  speech 
concerning  removal  of  Governor  Clinton 
as  canal  commissioner,  i.  110;  supports 
Mr.  Adams,  i.  123. 

Cunningham,  General  Walter,  concerning 
money  borrowed  of,  i.  137;  "Nature's 
nobleman,"  i.  189. 

Curtis,  Edward,  mentioned,  i.  404,  4-58; 
625  ;  Mr.  Webster,  friendship  for,  i.  576; 


Taylor  committee,  member  of  the,  i.  577; 
ii.  481. 

Curtis,  George  William,  ii.  473,  481 ;  letter 
to,  i.  034;  letter  to  the  Press  Club  din 
ner,  ii.  558. 

dishing,  Caleb,  i.  619. 

Cutting,  Francis  13.,  legislator  1835,  i.  107. 

"Daily  Advertiser,"  a  newspaper,  i.  33; 
an  anti-Regency  paper,  i.  123. 

"  Daily  News,"  newspaper  in  England,  i. 
644. 

Dalhousie,  Earl  of,  concerning  the  Morgan 
affair,  i.  241. 

Daly,  George  W.,  sketched,  i.  449. 

Daly,  General,  letter  from  Mr.  Weed,  ii. 
565. 

Dana,  Charles  A.,  at  Albany  in  the  inter 
est  of  Greeley,  ii.  323;  quoted,  ii.  159. 

Danas.  the,  citizens  of  Utica,  i.  30. 

Danesj  the,  mentioned,  i.  159. 

Dan  forth.  Judge  Asa,  lirst  white  settler  in 
Onondaga  County,  i.  145. 

Danforth,  George  F.,  judge,  ii.  524. 

Daniels,  William  P.,  testimony  of,  i.  282. 

Darley,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  actors,  i.  59. 

DarroV,  Jared,  trial  of,  on  Morgan  affair, 
i.  259,  262,  265. 

Dartmoor  prison,  England,  i.  4;  concern 
ing  Americans  at,  i.  118. 

Dauby,  Augustus  G-,  friendship  with  Mr. 
Weed,  i.  434. 

Davies,  Henry  E.,  at  anti-Masonic  conven 
tion,  i.  257. 

Davis,  Captain,  of  ship  Emily,  i.  562. 

Davis,  David,  Judge,  mentioned,  i.  334; 
concerning  Mr.  Lincoln's  nomination,  i. 
602;  concerning  Mr.  Lincoln's  cabinet, 
i.  611;  an  early  supporter  of  Lincoln,  ii. 
291;  letters  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  299,  300, 
323,  444. 

Davis,  Eliza,  i.  561. 

Davis,  George  Ii.,  legislator  of  1831,  i. 
405. 

Davis,  Henry  Winter,  of  Maryland,  i.  606. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  letter  from  General  Tay 
lor,  ii.  179;  letter  from  Franklin  Pierce, 
ii.  334. 

Davis,  John,  i.  626. 

Davis,  L.,  i.  561. 

Davis,  Matthew  L.,  at  county  conventions, 
i.  413;  devoted  friend  of  Aaron  Burr,  i. 
414;  life  of  Aaron  P»urr  by,  i.  416. 

Davis,  William  A.,  a  legislator  of  1821,  i. 
397. 

Dawson,  George,  his  recollections  of  Mr. 
Weed,  ii.  29:  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  l-'>4. 

Days,  the,  family  of  Catskill,  New  York, 

Davton,  Aaron  0.,  legislator  of  1829,  i.  403. 

Davton,    Hon.   William    L.,    minister    to 

France,  i.  629  ;  dinner  at  the  legation,  11. 

399 

Dead 'body  discovered  at  Oak  Orchard 
Creek,  supposed  to  be  William  Morgan 
[see  Morgan,  William],  i.  313. 

Dean,   Amos,  admitted  to  practice  law,  i. 

Dean,' William  E.,  successful  printer,  i.  56. 


590 


INDEX. 


Debtor's  prison,  the,  at  Catskill,  i.  6. 

Defeat  of  Seward  at  Chicago,  ii.  271. 

De  Graff,  John  I.,  at  opening  of  first  rail 
road,  i.  386. 

De  Kay,  Dr.,  concerning  the  cholera,  i.  417. 

Delano,  Columbus,  his  incapacity,  ii.  521. 

Delaware  and  Hudson  canal,  construction 
of  the,  i.  171. 

Delevan,  E.  C.,  ii.  153,  306. 

Delmonico,  the,  of  New  York  in  1815,  i.  54.  , 

De  Mott,  James,  member  of  Assembly, 
1825,  i.  196. 

Democratic  and  Whig  party,  antagonism 
of,  i.  443. 

Democratic  party,  the,  in  1830,  i.  8;  ii.  36; 
vote  concerning  small  bill  question,  i. 
444;  called  the  Jackson  party,  i.  301 ; 
overwhelmed  in  1838,  i.  408;  ii.  61-64. 

Democrats,  alarm  of,  concerning  the  anti- 
Masonic  action,  i.  258  ;  clamor  for  peace 
in  1864,  ii.  440. 

Denison,  John  E.,  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  prediction  of  Daniel  Web 
ster,  ii.  388. 

Denniston,  Robert,  at  Lafayette  reception, 
i.  189  ;  Comptroller  of  New  York,  i.  348  ; 
ii.  474. 

Denny,  Fanny,  actress,  i.  31. 

Deposits,  the 'removal  of,  in  1833,  ii.  48. 

De  Smet,  Father,  missionary  adventure  of, 
i.  547 ;  accompanies  Mr.  Weed  to  Europe, 
ii.  102. 

Devereux,  John  C.,  merchant  of  Utica, 
i.  30. 

Devereux,  Nicholas,  merchant  of  Utica, 
i.  30;  prominent  anti-Mason,  i.  336;  re 
veals  facts  concerning  the  bank  contro 
versy,  i.  374;  at  Baltimore  convention, 
i.  389;  dissolves  anti-Masonic  party,  i. 
425. 

Devin,  Thomas  C.,  ii.  341. 

De  Witt,  Mrs.  W.  II.,  at  Vienna,  i.  598. 

De  Witt,  Simeon,  commissioner  of  Erie 
canal,  i.  72;  in  Lafayette  party,  i.  186. 

Dexter,  Chauncey,  i.  449. 

Dickens,  Charles',  mentioned,  i.  40,  380  ;  ii. 
570. 

Dickinson,  Andrew  B.,  a  legislator  of  1830, 
incidents  of,  i.  440;  appointed  minister 
to  Nicaragua,  i.  442;  his  meeting  with 
Greeley  at  Chicago,  ii.  273. 

Dickinson,  Daniel  S.,  Democratic  candi 
date  for  lieutenant-governor,  i.  491;  a 
presidential  candidate,  ii.  198- 

Discouraging  aspect  in  1803,  ii.  437. 

Disloyal  surroundings  of  General  McClel- 
lan,  ii.  446. 

District  of  Columbia,  petition  to  abolish 
slavery  in,  i.  427. 

District  School  Library,  the,  i.  11;  ii.  551. 

Disunion  is  treason,  ii.  178,  180;  and  trea 
son  in  1849,  ii.  380. 

Dix,  John  A.,  member  of  "Albany  Re 
gency,"  i.  8;  ii.  548;  pleasant  relations 
with  Thurlow  Weed,  i.  9;  ii.  486;  ad 
mitted  to  practice  law,  i.  392 ;  ii.  172  ; 
appointed  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  ii. 
319;  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  423;  men 
tioned,  i.  397  ;  his  famous  order,  ii.  487 ; 


nominated  for  Governor  of  New  York, 
ii.  485 ;  letters  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  505,  507 ; 
letter  from  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  506. 

Dodd,  Edward,  i.  336,  425,  435 ;  ii.  550. 

Doddridge,  Mr.,  opinion  concerning  sla 
very,  i.  427. 

Dodge,  J.  C.,  i.  561. 

Donelson  Fort,  capture  of,  ii.  407. 

Donnelly,  Colonel,  mentioned,  i.  6. 

Donnybrook  Green,  meeting  on,  ii.  104. 

Dorr,  Elisha,  presidential  elector  of  1824, 
i.  137;  concerning  sending  Mr.  Weed  as 
messenger  to  Washington,  i.  137. 

Dorr  rebellion,  the,  in  Rhode  Island,  i. 
530,  533. 

Dorr,  Thomas  W.,  rebellion  of,  concerning 
the  charter,  i.  530. 

"  Dough-faces,"  i.  427;  ii.  125. 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  ii.  297. 

Douglass,  Frederic,  nominated  by  Mr. 
Weed  at  Utica,  as  elector  at  large,  ii. 
486,  487. 

Dow,  Neal,  school  of  temperance  reformers, 
ii.  153. 

Downs,  Captain,  mentioned,  i.  39. 

Drake,  Jacob,  elected  in  1815,  i.  394. 

Draper,  Simeon,  on  election  committee, 
i.  476;  concerning  illegal  voters,  i.  493; 
mentioned,  i.  502,  625;  ii.  145;  for  Gov 
ernor,  ii.  251;  Mr.  Webster,  friendship 
for,  i.  576;  Taylor  committee,  member  of 
the,  i.  577:  his  dinner  parties,  ii.  483. 

Dred  Scott  case,  Judge  Taney's  decis 
ion,  ii.  251. 

Duane,  William  J.,  Secretary  of  Treasury, 
removed  from  office,  i.  424. 

Dublin,  visit  to,  ii.  104. 

Dudley,  Charles  E.,  member  of  "Albany 
Regency,"  i.  8,  103;  concerning  a  po 
litical  attack  on  Governor  Clinton,  i.  67; 
elected  United  States  senator,  i.  108. 

Dudlev,  Governor  of  North  Carolina,  ii. 
77.  " 

Duer,  John,  delegate  to  convention,  i.  89; 
at  Lafayette  reception,  i.  189. 

Duer,  William  A.,  .mentioned,  i.  45;  Fed 
eralist  member  of  legislature,  i.  47;  at 
the  electors'  dinner,  i.  138;  in  Assembly 
in  1818,  i.  396;  as  a  supporter  of  Fill- 
more,  ii.  186. 

Duke  of  Argyle,  i.  633;  receives  Mr. 
Weed,  i.  639: 

Duke  of  Wellington,  how  Mr.  Weed  missed 
dining  with,  i.  538;  his  appearance  at 
a  review,  ii.  105. 

Duncombe,  E.  G.,  in  Lafayette  party,  i. 
186. 

"  Dutchman's  Fireside,"  novel,  by  Mr. 
Panlding,  i.  383. 

Dv.'ight,  Henry,  banker,  mentioned,  i.  141. 

Dyckman,  Isaac,  in  legislature  1828,  i.402. 

Dyer,  Russell,  communication  of,  to  Mr. 
Weed,  concerning  Morgan,  i.  212;  tes 
timony  concerning  Morgan,  i.  313. 

Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  i.  633. 

Earles,   the,   an   ofd   family  of  Onondaga 

County,  i.  90. 
Earll,  Jonas,  i.  108,  397. 


INDEX. 


591 


Easter  in  Rome,  ii.  209. 

Eaton,  Mrs.,  cause  of  a  rupture  in  Gen 
eral  Jackson's  Cabinet,  i.  305. 

Eckford,  Henry,  a  ship-builder,  i.  1,  124, 
395. 

Eddy,  Thomas,  commissioner  of  Erie  ca 
nal,  i.  72. 

Eden,  Misses,  the,  i.  415. 

Edinboro'  libraries,  ii.  108 

Editorial,  introductory  of  the  il  Repub 
lican,"  i.  87;  on  Fourth  of  July  celebra 
tions,  i.  93;  ii.  28;  by  Mr.  Weed  con 
cerning  nomination  of  Mr.  Southwick 
for  Governor,  i.  30G ;  on  taking  Albany 
"Journal"  in  1880,  ii.  540. 

Election  of  Clinton  and  Tallmadge  in  New 
York,  120;  of  1839  in  New  York,  i.  47G; 
of  1839,  preparations  for.  i.  477;  ii.  71; 
in  Maine,  the  first  gun  for  Whig  victory, 
1840,  i.  490;  ii.  85;  in  Paris  hi  1851,  'ii. 
203;  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  ii.  301;  of 
1872,  results  of  the,  ii.  497. 

Electoral  question,  the,  in  legislature,  i. 
105;  vote  of  the  "seventeen"  senators, 
i.  108;  law,  concerning  the,  in  legisla 
ture,  i.  110 ;  vote  of  1824,  result  of  the, 
i.  137;  ticket  of  Whig  convention,  i. 
491;  ticket  in  1840,  ii.  84. 

Ellice,  Edward,  Englishman,  landholder 
in  New  York.  i.  151;  notice  of,  ii.  380; 
letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  380. 

Ellicott,  Joseph,  at  Rome,  New  York,  i. 
71;  of  Batavia,  i.  141. 

Ellmaker,  Amos,  nomination  of,  for  Vice- 
president,  i.  391,  413. 

Ells,  Mary,  mother  of  Thurlow  Weed,  i.  1; 
ii.  2,  6. 

Elwood,  Dr.  J.  B.,  of  Rochester,  men 
tioned,  i.  99;  signs  a  petition,  i.  204; 
elected  treasurer  of  Rochester,  i.  300;  ii. 
58. 

Ely,  Harvey,  of  Rochester,  mentioned,  i. 
98,  215,  230,  257,  299,  330,  339. 

Emancipation  project,  of  Timothy  Pit.kin, 
i.  428;  must  follow  Union  success,  ii. 
303;  proclamation  issued  January  1, 
1803,  ii.  430. 

Emigrant  aid  societies  formed,  ii.  139. 

Emigrants,  swindling  of,  ii.  138. 

Emigration  commissioners,  ii.  139,  142. 

Emmet,  Thomas  Addis,  eminent  lawyer,  i. 
42;  member  of  a  committee,!.  113;  men 
tioned,  i.  59,  402;  ii.  14. 

Emrnett,  James,  in  Lafayette  party,  i.  180, 
189. 

Emmett,  Robert,  legislator  of  1828,  i.  402. 

Emperor  of  Austria,  reception  of  the  Em 
peror  of  Russia,  i.  598. 

Emperor  of  Russia  in  Austria,  i.  598 ;  his 
position  in  1801,  ii.  340. 

England,  war  declared  against,  i.  23;  ii. 
352;  attitude  concerning  the  Trent  af 
fair,  i.  042  ;  ii.  348;  offer  of  allegiance  to, 
by  Benjamin,  ii.  314;  war  with,  averted, 
ii".  133;  changed  for  the  better  in  eif^ht 
years,  ii.  200;  revisited  in  1851,  ii.  201. 

English  comment  on  the  Trent  affair,  ii. 
361. 

Epidemic,  the,  at  Rochester,  i.  203. 


Erie  canal,  ground  broken  at  Rome  for,  i. 
70;  legislative  action  concerning,  i.  71  ; 
commissioners  of,  i.  71;  suggested  by 
Joshua  Forman,  i.  71  ;  estimates  of,  i.  72; 
cost  of,  i.  72;  section  of,  completed,  i. 
90;  enlargement,  i.  458;  opened,  ii.  13. 

Erie  and  Champlain  canal,  laws  concern 
ing,  i.  72,  73;  completion  of,  celebrated, 
i.  204. 

Europe,  causes  of  the  lack  of  sympathy  in, 
ii.  414. 

European  travel,  features  of,  ii.  211. 

Eustis,  Dr.,  Secretary  of  Navy,  letter  writ 
ten  by,  i.  144. 

Evans,  David  E.,  prominent  anti-Mason,  i. 
141,  213,  299,  330. 

Evarts,  William  M.,  counsel  in  a  libel  suit, 
i.  529,  626 ;  on  Mr.  Seward,  ii.  266 ;  his 
conduct  of  the  Lemmon  case,  ii.  323; 
letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  410. 

Evarts-Greeley  canvass,  ii.  323. 

"  Evening  Post,"  edited  by  Mr.  Leggctt, 
i.  383;  comments  on  "  Seward,  Weed  & 
Greeley,"  ii.282. 

Everingham,  Gilbert,  mentioned,  i.  159, 
204. 

Everingham,  Joseph,  of  Canandaigua,  i. 
140. 

Everett,  Edward,  condemns  masonry,  i. 
423  ;  concerning  his  mission  to  England, 
i.  509;  nomination  to  England  con  tinned, 
i.  510;  mentioned,  i.  626;  ii.  140;  a  can 
didate  for  vice-president,  ii.  297. 

Ewing,  Thomas,  Secretary  of  Treasury, 
i.  500;  Secretary  of  Interior,  i.  590. 

Executive  mansion  of  the  Governor  of  New 
York,  ii.  02. 

Fairlee,  Major,  meeting  with  Lafayette,  i. 
185. 

Fanshaw,  Daniel,  printer,  i.  56. 

Farewell  to  journalism,  ii.  431. 

Farragut,  David,  Admiral,  ii.  346;  notice 
of,  ii.  476. 

Farwell,  Isaac,  testimony  of,  in  Morgan 
trial,  i.  288. 

Farwell,  Samuel,  friendship  with  Mr. 
Weed,  i.  434. 

Faxton,  Theodore  S..  a  stage-driver,  i.  32; 
old  friend  of  Mr.  Weed,  i.  434;  ii.  467. 

Fay,  Thomas  Chittenden,  editor  of  the 
"Lynx,"  i.  22;  concerning  "Six  Mil 
lion  Bank,"  i.  23. 

Federal  party,  collapse  of  the,  i.  76. 

Federalist  struggle  for  Speaker  in  New 
York  legislature,  1815,  i.  46. 

Federalists,  the.  concerning  Mr.  Clinton 
for  Governor,  i.  84. 

Fellows,  Henry,  concerning  the  Speaker- 
ship  in  legislature  of  1815,  i.  46;  nomi 
nated  and  elected  to  the  Assembly,  i. 
160,  162. 

1  Fellow^,  Joseph,  mentioned,  i.  141. 
i  Fenton.  Reuben  E.,  nominated  for  Gover 
nor  of  New  York,  ii.  444;  for  Vice-Pres- 
ident,  ii.  450. 

Fessenden,  William  Pitt,  resignation  of  the 
Treasury,  i.  020. 

Field,  Cyrus  W.,  ii.  389,  410. 


592 


INDEX. 


Field,  David  Dudley,  mentioned,  i.  472, 
528;  ii.  321. 

Fifty  years'  retrospect,  ii.  549. 

Fillinore,  Millard,  at  anti-Masonic  conven 
tion,  i.  257;  elected  to  Assembly,  i.  309; 
ii.  170;  an  anti-Mason,  i.  336  ;'  ii.  233  ; 
comptroller  of  New  York,  i.  348,  585; 
ii.  63,  64;  elected  Comptroller,  1847,  ii. 
145;  anti-bank  man,  i.  372;  sustained 
the  "Stihvell  Bill,"  i.  379;  dissolves 
anti-Masonic  party,  i.  425;  concerning 
right  of  petition,  i.  200,  428;  at  conven 
tion,  i.  452 ;  elected  to  Congress,  i.  585  ; 
political  career  'of,  i.  585-588  :  Mr. 
Weed's  first  meeting  with,  i.  585  ;  signing 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  i.  588;  ii.  184; 
suggested  as  Lieutenant-Governor,  ii.  59  ; 
letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  61,  74,  75,  83,  85 ; 
suggested  for  the  vice-presidency,  ii. 
96,  111  ;  nominated  for  Governor,  ii. 
122 ;  nominated  for  Vice-President,  ii. 
169;  in  active  cooperation  with  Mr. 
Weed,  ii.  170  ;  dreams  of  the  White 
House,  ii.  174;  hostile  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii. 
184;  his  cogitations,  ii.  235;  letter  to 
Collector  Maxwell,  ii.  233 ;  nominated 
by  the  Know  Nothings,  1856,  ii.  245; 
reconciliation  with  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  462, 
470. 

Financial  crisis  of  1837,  i.  450;  ii.  48. 

Fish,  Hamilton,  mentioned,  i.  55  :  ap 
pointed  Secretary  of  Treasury  by  Presi 
dent  Taylor,  i.  591;  elected  Governor, 
ii.  172;  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  190,  196; 
in  Mr.  Weed's  will,  ii.  578. 

Fish,  Colonel  Nicholas,  officer  of  the  Revo 
lution,  i.  55;  in  Lafayette  party,  i.  186. 

Fitch,  Timothy,  action  of,  in  the  "Morgan 
affair,"  i.  223,  257,  314. 

Fitzhugh,  Henry,  mentioned,  i.  346,  452. 

Fitzhugh  (Colonel),  William,  of  Geneseo, 
mentioned,  i.  35;  Revolutionary  officer, 
i.  98;  early  settler  of  Rochester,  i.  202; 
tribute  to/i.  346. 

Fitzhugh  Street,  Rochester,  ii.  22. 

Fitzpatrick,  General,  concerning  imprison 
ment  of  Lafayette,  i.  193. 

Five  Points  in  the  city  of  New  York,  ii. 
162. 

Flagg,  Azariah  C.,  member  of  "Albany 
Regency,"  i.  8,  103;  ii.  550;  friendship 
of  Tlmrlow  Weed  for,  i.  9;  member  of 
Van  Buren  party  in  1824,  i.  107;  resolu 
tion  concerning  electoral  law,  i.  116 ;  on 
committee  of  county  meeting,  i.  158; 
surviving  member  of  legislature,  1823,  i. 
199;  Comptroller  of  New  York,  i.  348; 
editor  of  the  "Republican,"  i.  399;  ii. 
4;  legislature  of  1823,  i.  399;  in  Assem 
bly,  1824,  5.  400  ;  starts  paper  at  Pitts 
burgh,  ii.  4,  470. 

Flamet,  M.,  invention  of,  for  varicose 
veins,  i.  532. 

Flemming,  George  W.,  elected  to  Assem 
bly,  i.  309. 

Fleming,  Colonel  Robert,  at  anti-Masonic 
convention,  i.  256 ;  delegate  to  senatorial 
convention,  i.  339. 
Florence,  cheap  living  at,  ii.  207. 


Folger,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  converts  to  the 
prophet  Matthias,  i.  358. 

Follett,  Frederick,  letter  to  Tlmrlow  Weed, 
i.  320. 

Follett,  Oran,  surviving  member  of  legisla 
ture,  1824,  i.  199 ;  in  Assembly,  1824,  i. 
400. 

Foote,  Elial  P.,  surviving  member  of  leg 
islature,  1820,  i.  198. 

Foote,  Samuel  A.,  at  Baltimore  conven 
tion,  i.  389  ;  counsel  in  case  of  Miss 
Knowlson,  i.  488. 

Forbes,  John  G-,  at  convention,  i.  452. 

Force,  Peter,  president  of  Typographical 
Society,  i.  58. 

Ford,  Ebenezer,  legislator  of  1830,  i.  404. 

Ford,  Lauren,  lawyer  of  Herkimer,  i.  35. 

Foreign  sympathy'sought  by  the  Southern 
Confederacy,  if.  405. 

Forman,  Joshua,  concerning  casting  can 
non  balls,  i.  25  ;  founder  of  city  of  Syra 
cuse,  i.  90;  ii.  4;  suggests  Erie  canal,  i. 
71  ;  mentioned,  i.  145  ;  ii.  4. 

Forney,  John  W.,  on  Chase's  aspirations, 
ii.  330. 

Forrest,  Edwin,  popularity  of,  i.  385. 

Forster,  Kinnaird,  Torrens,  Stansfeld,  Baz- 
lev,  Baxter,  Potter,  White,  Smith, 
Messrs.,  Englishmen,  friends  to  the 
North  during  the  Rebellion,  i.  633;  ii. 
407. 

"Forty  million  debt,"  i.  458;  ii.  121. 

Fourier,  his  doctrines  on  association,  ii.  92. 

"Fourierism,"  Mr.  Greeley's  espousal  of, 
i.  468. 

Fourth  of  July  celebrations,  editorial  con 
cerning,  i.  "93;  how  observed  by  Mr. 
Weed,  ii.  28. 

Fourth  ward  of  Albany,  scene  of  political 
struggle  with  the  Regency,  i.  448:  a 
Whig  gain  in  the,  i.  449;  a  political  ba 
rometer,  i.  449;  ii.  45. 

Fowler,  Gilbert  O.,  at  Lafayette  reception, 
i.  189. 

Fox,  Corydon,  action  of,  in  abduction  of 
Morgan,  i.  229 ;  testimony  of,  at  Morgan 
trial,  i.  235;  testimony  of,  i.  202. 

Fox,  Jabez,  lawyer  at  Herkimer,  i   34. 

Fox,  Mr.,  concerning  imprisonment  of  La 
fayette,  i.  193. 

Fox*  Mr.,  consul  at  Falmouth,  i.  641. 

France,  her  attitude  towards  us  during  the 
Rebellion,  i.  642;  ii.  349;  makes  two 
overtures  to  England,  to  join  with  Con 
federate  States  against  the  North,  i.  646; 
reasons  of,  for  favoring  the  Confederate 
States,  i.  649;  ii.  392. 

Francis  Joseph,  Emperor  of  Austria,  i. 
599. 

Francis,  Sir  Philip,  author  of  "  Letters  of 
Junius,"  i.  207  ;  ii.  387. 

I  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  its  beauty  and 
prosperity,  ii.  212. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  mentioned,  i.  210;  ii. 

105,  195,  470. 

Franklin's  golden  rule,  as  to  offices,  ii.  129. 
Frazer,  James,  mentioned,  i.  159. 
Freedom  worth  all  it  ever  costs,  ii.   320. 
Free  soil  party  of  1848,  ii.  223. 


INDEX. 


593 


Free  states  not  united  against  disunion,  ii. 
303. 

Frelinghuysen,  Theodore,  ii.  119,  120. 

Freeman,  J.  E.,  caricature  by  him,  ii.  69. 

Freemasonry,  Governor  Clinton's  ideas  of, 
i.  239  ;  denounced,  i.  241;  versus  justice, 
i.  247;  crusade  against,  i.  249:  opinion 
of  Richard  Rush  concerning,  i.  378. 

Freemasons,  how  they  regarded  the  Mor 
gan  abduction,  i.  227;  meeting  of  the 
Grand  Chapter  at  Albany,  i.  227;  money 
raised  bv,  for  protection  of,  i.  228;  the 
division  "of,  i.  245;  their  action  to  sup 
press  Morgan's  book,  i.  296. 

Fremont,  J.  C.,  nominated  in  1856,  ii.  245. 

Fruits,  the,  unknown  in  New  York  in  1815, 
i.  53. 

Fugitive  slave  bill,  President  Fillraore's 
signing  of,  i.  588. 

Fugitive  slave  law,  i.  426;  ii.  183;  Preston 
King,  opposition  to,  i.  472 ;  E.  U.  Mor 
gan,  opposed  to,  ii.  252. 

Fuller,  Philo  C.,  elected  to  Assembly,  i. 
309;  at  convention,  i.  366;  prominent 
anti-Mason,  i.  336  ;  letter  concerning  Mr. 
Wadsworth's  nomination,  i.  344;  elect 
ed  to  legislature  and  Congress,  i.  347; 
elected  to  other  offices,  i.  347;  Comp 
troller  of  New  York,  i.  348;  friendship 
of,  with  Mr.  Weed,  i.  348 ;  legislator  of 
1830,  i.  405 ;  dissolves  anti-Masonic  par 
ty,  i.  425 ;  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  174. 

Fulton  Bank,  concerning  a  charter  for,  i. 
106. 

Fulton,  Robert,  appearance  of  his  steam 
boat  on  the  Hudson,  i.  4;  commissioner 
of  Erie  canal,  i.  72. 

Fulton's  first  steamboat,  in  1807,  ii.  380. 

Furman,  Gabriel,  mentioned,  i.  393. 

Furman,  William,  supports  Mr.  Adams,  i. 
122. 

"Gadsby"  House,  the,  at  Washington,  i. 
537. 

Gag  resolve  in  1837,  denounced  by  Mr. 
Weed,  ii.  54. 

Gales,  Joseph,  editor  of  "  National  Intelli 
gencer,"  i.  536;  a  dinner  with,  i.  536; 
ii.  484. 

Gales  &  Seaton,  Messrs.,  publishers  of 
'National  Intelligencer,"  i.  180. 


"Galphin  Claim,"  the  payment  of,  i.  589. 

Gambling  in  gold  and  gram,  ii.  499. 

'oort,  Midshipman,  concerning  mu- 
on  board  brig  Somers,  i.  516. 
i,  (Major)  James,  a  knight  templar, 
erninff  the  "Morgan  affair,"  i.  215, 


Gansevoort,  Midshipman,  concerning  mu 
tiny  on  board  brig  Somers,  i.  516. 

Ganson, 
concernin 
217,  220,  -j.'JO,  248,  255. 

Gardenier,  Barent,  incident  of,  i.  56;  in 
Congress,  i.  56;  publisher  and  federal 
lawyer,  i.  56. 

Gardiner,  Addison,  friendship  for  Thurlow 
Weed,  i.  91;  member  of  base  ball  club, 
i.  203;  proposed  for  circuit  judge,  i.  339; 
elected  jiulire,  i.  340;  settler  in  Rochester, 
ii.  19 ;  'letter  from  Mr.  Weed,  n.  505, 
567,  577. 

Gardiner,  David,  supports  Mr.  Adams  for 
President,  i.  122;  mentioned,  i.  397. 
38 


Gardiner,  Samuel  $.,  i.  897. 

Garlield,  James  A.,  President,  ii.  472. 

Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  editor  of  anti- 
slavery  paper,  i.  430,  617;  his  position 
concerning  disunion,  ii.  305. 

Garrow,  Nathaniel,  a  dinner  with,  i.  537. 

Geddes,  James,  engineer  of  Erie  canal,  i. 
71,  90;  at  convention,  i.  ;jOO,  389;  ii.  4. 

"Geneva  Ga/etie."  a  newspaper,  i.  22. 

Gentry,  Meredith  P.,  leading  Whig,  i.  442. 

German,  (Jbadiah,  mentioned,  i.  76; 
Speaker  of  the  Assembly,  i.  77  ;  United 
States  Senator,  i.  77;  at  anti-Masonic 
convention,  i.  306. 

Gibson,  Milner,  i.  633. 

Giddings,  Edward,  testimony  of,  concern 
ing  Morgan  affair,  i.  262,  :26.'>,  292,  617. 

Giddings,  Joshua  R.,  letter  from  Mr. 
Weed,  ii.  133;  at  convention,  ii.  263. 

Gilbert,  Abijah,  legislative  service  of,  i. 
200. 

Gillis,  Enos  and  James,  interested  in  ab 
duction  of  Morgan,  i.  231. 

Gilmer,  John  A. /of  North  Carolina,  i.  606; 
ii.  329;  mentioned  for  Mr.  Lincoln's  cab 
inet,  i.  Oil:  ii.  294. 

Gladstone,  Lord,  successor  to  Lord  Palmer- 
ston,  i.  64o. 

Glentworth  excitement,  the,  during  Harri 
son  campaign,  i  493. 

Gloomy  period  of  the  war,  ii.  443. 

Gold  and  grain,  gambling  in,  ii.  499. 

Gold,  Thomas  R.,  lawyer,  i.  31. 

Goodhue,  Jonathan,  i.  502. 

Goodman,  Titus,  elected  to  Assembly,  i. 
309. 

Goodwell,  Johnson,  arrest  of  Morgan  by, 
i.  217. 

Goodwin,  II.  C.,  letter  of  Mr.  Weed  to,  i.  15. 

Gortschakoff,  Prince,  shows  the  Emperor's 
orders  to  the  Russian  fleet  in  case  of  war 
with  England,  ii.  347. 

Gospel  methods  of  converting  drunkards, 

ii.  155. 

!  Gosport,  capture  of,  ii.  338. 
;  Gossip  of  politics,  ii.  217. 

Gould,  General  Jacob,  mentioned,   i.   159, 

160,  332. 
!  Gould,  Thomas  R.,  mentioned,  i.  418. 

Gouverneur,  Samuel  L.,  member  of  Assem 
bly  of  1825,  i.  104,  196,  400;  death  of, 
i.  400. 

Gove,  George  B.  R.,  supports  Mr.  Adams, 
i.  122. 

Grandin,  E.  B.,  printed  the  Mormon  Bible, 
i.  359. 

Granger,  Amos  P.,  as  a  stage-coach  com 
panion,  i.  155;  mentioned,  i.  27;  ii.  4; 

Grander,  Francis,  the  wife  of,  i.  30;  at  the 
electors'  dinner,  i.  137:  citi/en  of  Canan- 
daigua,  i.  140;  chairman  of  committee 
to  investigate  Morgan  affair,  i.  254,  255; 
concerning  masonry  in  politics,  i.  299; 
identified  with  the  anti-Masons,  i.  302: 
nominated  for  Lieutenant-Governor  at 
national  Republican  convention,  i.  304: 
nominated  for  Governor  by  anti-Masonic 
state  convention,  i.  305  ;  prominent  anti- 
Mason,  i.  336  ;  wife  of,  mentioned,  i.  346  ; 


594 


INDEX. 


supports  "Evening  Journal."  i.  361; 
nominated  for  Governor,  i.  366;  ii.  39; 
letters  to  Mr.  Weed  concerning  elec 
tion,  i.  367,  308;  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii. 
40,46,  57,  317;  anti-bank  man,  i.  372; 
his  political  career,  i.  391,  401;  in  legis 
lature,  i.  401,  402,  405;  nominated  for 
Governor,  i.  413  ;  dissolves  anti-Masonic 
party,  i.  425  ;  concerning  right  of  peti 
tion,"  i.  428;  a  candidate  for  vice- presi 
dency,  i.  443;  Postmaster-General,  i.  506; 
letters  from  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  45,  50,  86-88; 
an  ally  of  Mr.  Fillmore,  1850,  ii.  186; 
and  Mr.  Weed,  separate,  ii.  229;  letter 
to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  230. 

Granger,  Gideon,  Postmaster-General, 
mentioned,  i.  140;  political  offices  held 
by,  i.  392. 

Granger,  H.  L.,  sheriff  at  Manlius,  i.  90; 
letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  17. 

Graham,  David,  Jr.,  at  convention,  i.  366. 

Grant,  Captain,  of  sloop  Hanger,  i.  2;  men 
tioned,  i.  8. 

Grant,  General  Ulysses,  incapacity  of  his 
Cabinet,  ii.  521?  a  third  term  opposed 
by  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  540-546;  his  second 
term  a  failure,  ii.  522;  nominated  for 
President.  1868,  ii.  469. 

Gray,  Heniy  1).,  brother  of  Mary,  the 
adopted  daughter  of  Mr.  Weed,  'i.  568, 
569. 

Great  abuses  and  follies,  ii.  509. 

Greeley,  Horace,  edited  the  "New  York 
er,"'!.  466;  edits  the  "Tribune,"  i.  467; 
edits  the  "  Jefferson ian  "  and  "Log- 
Cabin,"  i.  467;  first  meeting  with  Mr. 
Weed,  i.  466;  letters  to  Mr.  Weed,  i. 
468,  469:  libel  suit  of  J.  Fenimore 
Cooper  against,  i.  521,  525;  letter  to  Mr. 
Weed,  \\.  53,  71,  84,  91,  94,  95,  97,  131, 
197,  216,  220;  his  "isms,"  ii.  96;  de 
clines  to  be  "controlled,"  ii.96;  at  River 
and  Harbor  convention,  ii.  148;  letters 
to  George  E.  Baker,  ii.  232,  255;  his  re 
lations  with  Mr.  Weed  in  1860,  ii.  268 ; 
his  course  reviewed,  ii.  273;  letter  to 
W.  II.  Seward  dissolving  the  firm,  ii. 
277;  Mr.  Weed's  reply  to,  ii.  282;  his 
passion  for  oflice,  ii.  286;  his  character, 
ii.  286;  a  dupe  of  political  adventurers, 
ii.  288  ;  defeated  in  the  election  for  United 
States  Senator,  ii.  325;  assumes  com 
mand  of  the  army,  ii.  .336;  an  avowed  se 
cessionist  in  I860,  ii.  489;  his  war  record 
reviewed,  ii.  4!)0,  496 ;  his  death  in  1872, 
ii.  497. 

Green  Street  Theatre,  the,  at  Albany,  i.  45. 

Gregory,  Mr.,  M.  P.  for  Gal  way,  intro 
duces  resolutions  against  the  Charleston 
blockade,  ii.  407. 

Greig,  John,  of  Canandaigua,  i.  140;  a 
dinner  with,  i.  536  ;  ii.  484. 

Gridley,  Judge,  charge  in  case  of  Cooper 
libel  suits,  i.  523. 

Grier,  George  M.,  at  convention,  i.  452. 

Griffin,  Ebenezer,  mentioned,  i.  274,  319. 

Grinnell,  Moses  H.,  mentioned,  i.  142; 
supported  United  States  Bank,  i.  372; 
on  election  committee,  i.  476 ;  nominated 


to  Congress,  i.  493 ;  Mr.  Webster,  friend 
ship  for,  i.  576;  member  of  the  Taylor 
committee,  i.  577  ;  tribute  to  character 
of,  i.  625;  political  principles,  i.626;  de 
clines  nomination  for  Governor,  i.  626 ; 
in  Congress,  i.  626;  concerning  appoint 
ment  of  Washington  Irving,  i.  626;  char 
ity  of,  i.  628;  ii.  145,  484. 

Griswold,  George  and  Nathaniel,  i.  502. 

Grosvenor,  Thomas  P.,  a  leading  Feder 
alist,  i.  5  ;  citizen  of  Catskill,  New  York, 
i.  6. 

Guernsey,   John,  elected  to  Assembly,  i. 


Hackley,  Aaron,  elected  to  Congress,  i.  33  ; 
death  of,  i.  45 ;  a  legislator  of  1818,  i.  395. 

Haight,  Jacob,  State  Treasurer,  i.  5;  cit 
izen  of  Catskill,  N.  Y.,  i.  6,  9;  leader 
of  Adams  party  in  1824,  i.  107;  supports 
Mr.  Adams  for  President,  i.  122 ;  at  the 
electors'  dinner,  i.  138 ;  at  dinner  with 
Lafayette,  i.  190;  appointed  Treasurer, 
i.  459;  mentioned,  ii.  67. 

Haines,  Charles  G.,  political  supporter  of 
Governor  Clinton,  i.  118. 

Hale,  John  P.,  of  New  Hampshire,  i.  588; 
ii.  305. 

Hale,  Major,  funeral  of,  i.  7. 

Half-century  in  retrospect,  ii.  547. 

Hall,  Charles  Henry,  legislator  of  1835, 
i.  407. 

Hall,  J.  Prescott,  member  of  the  Taylor 
Committee,  i.  577,  625;  ii.  482. 

Hall,  Mr.,  keeper  of  the  jail,  concerning 
the  "Morgan  affair,"  i.  223. 

Hall,  Mrs.,  testimony  of,  concerning  the 
"Morgan  affair,"  i.  233. 

Hall,  Rev.  Newman,  i.  633. 

Hall,  Willis,  legislator  of  1838,  i.  408;  ap 
pointed  Attorney-General,  i.  459;  men 
tioned,  ii.  67. 

Halpine,  Charles  J.  (Miles  O'Reilly),  ii. 
341. 

Halsev,  Captain,  in  Lafayette  party,  i.  186. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  duel  with*  Colonel 
Burr,  i.  5;  quoted,  ii.  507;  surviving 
member  of  legislature  1819,  i.  198,  397; 
duel  with  Aaron  Burr,  the,  i.  415. 

Hamilton  and  Burr,  the  duelling  ground  of, 
i.  53. 

Hamilton,  Mrs.,  widow  of  Alexander  Ham 
ilton,  mentioned,  i.  186. 

Hamilton,  Private,  a  soldier  executed  for 
shooting  Major  Birdsall,  i.  64. 

Hamilton,  Senator,  of  South  Carolina, 
mentioned,  i.  388;  champion  of  nullifi 
cation,  i.  422. 

Hamlin,  Hannibal,  mentioned  for  Secretary 
of  Treasury  i.  622;  mentioned,  ii.  176. 

Hammond,  J'abez  1).,  author  of  "Political 
History,"  i.  15;  meniioned,  i.  112. 

Hammond,  Jane,  i.  561. 

Hammond,  Judab,  legislator  of  1832,  i. 
405. 

Hammond,  William,  i.  561. 

Hancock,  General,  an  honest  and  enlight 
ened  Democrat,  ii.  372. 
I  Hard  money  policy,  the,  i.  443. 


INDEX. 


595 


Harper,  James,  firm  of  TTarper  &  Brothers, 
i.  57 ;  mayor  of  New  York  citv,  i.  57; 
ii.  7,  34," '2-23;  established  an"  office,  i. 
57;  Mr.  Weed's  reminiscences  of,  ii.G. 

Harper,  Messrs.,  letter  to  Thurlow  Weed, 
i.  489;  donation  of  books  to  public  li 
'brary,  i.  48!). 

Harper's  Ferry,  John  Brown's  raid,  ii. 
258;  attack  on,  ii.  338. 

Harris,  Ira,  elected  United  States  senator, 
ii.  325 ;  mentioned,  ii.  14]. 

Harrison,  General  William  Henry,  men 
tioned,  i.  401;  a  candidate  for  pres 
idency,  i.  443;  nominated  for  President, 
i.  48l,  482;  ii.  56,  76,  77;  President, 
campaign  of,  i.  490-495;  elected  Presi 
dent',  i.  494;  ii.  88;  cabinet  of,  i.  500;  ii. 
80 ;  death  of,  i.  506 ;  ii.  93  ;  a  dinner  with, 
i.  53vj ;  mentioned,  i.  572;  ii.  50;  his  in 
augural,  ii.  90. 

Hartr  Eli.  i.  502. 

Hart,  Kphraim,  the  family,  i.  31. 

Harter,  Mr.,  trading  with  Judge  Weaver, 
i.  150. 

Harvey,  Peter,  mentioned,  i.  438. 

Hasbrouck,  Lewis,  nominated  for  senator, 
and  elected,  i.  414. 

Hasted,  James  \V.,  letter  from  Mr.  Weed, 
ii.  502. 

Hastings,  Hugh,  anecdote  of  Mr.  Weed, 
ii.  232. 

Hatfield,  Richard,  merchant,  i.  59 ;  imita 
tive  powers  of,  i.  393. 

Havemeyer,  Mr.,  m.iyor  of  New  York, 
i.  366." 

Havens  familv,  the.  legislative  service  of, 
i.  201. 

Hawlev,  Gideon,  mentioned,  i.  112. 

Hawley,  Seth  C.,  ii.  147,  244 

Hayes,  Rutherford  B.,  civil  service  reform 
in  his  administration,  ii.  4G4 ;  declared 
elected  President,  March  2,  1877,  ii.  524. 

Hayne,  Senator,  champion  of  nullification, 
i."  422. 

Hay  ward  Holloway,  concerning  the  "Mor 
gan  affair,"  i.  219,  248. 

Haywoods,  the,  mentioned,  i.  159. 

Hazeltine,  Abner,  at  anti-Masonic  conven 
tion,  i.  257  ;  elected  to  Assembly,  i.  309; 
mentioned,  ii.  64. 

Heacock,  R.  B.,  of  Buffalo,  i.  141. 

Heeny,  Cornelius,  an  anecdote  of,  i.  395 ; 
a  legislator  of  1817,  death  of,  i.  395. 

Heintzelman,,  Major,  in  command  at  Gov 
ernor's  Island,  ii.  340. 

Heister,  William,  at  Baltimore  convention, 
i.  389. 

Henry,  John  V.,  lawyer,  mentioned,  i.  48; 
as  a  jurist,  i.  447. 

Henry,  Professor  Joseph,  sketch  of,  i.  384; 
ii.  470. 

"Herald,"  New  York,  sentiments  con 
cerning  the  rebellion,  i.  615. 

Herkimer,  village  of,  i.  149. 

Hickory  canes  and  flag-poles,  the  emblems 
chosen  by  the  Jackson  men,  ii.  60. 

Hillhouse," Thomas,  Comptroller  of  New 
York,  i.  348. 

Hillson,  Thomas,  i.  449. 


"History  of  the  War,"  published  by  Sam 
uel  R.  Brown,  i.  40. 

Hoboken,  duelling-ground  of  Hamilton 
and  Burr,  i.  53. 

Hoffman,  Michael,  biographical  sketch  of, 
i.  34;  concerning  Krie  canal,  i.  443. 

Hoffman,  Josiali  Ogdeii,  at  Lafayette  re 
ception,  i.  189;  delegate  to  constitutional 
convention,;.  200;  colleague  to  Charles 
King,  i.  393;  in  legislature  1828,  i.  402. 
625. 

Holland,  Sir  Henry,  mentioned,  i.  28,  512; 
visit  to  America,  i.  513;  quoted,  i.  514; 
letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  i.  631  ;  svmpathies 
with  the  North  during  the  Rebellion,  i. 
633;  concerning  the  Trent  affair,  i.  645; 
death  of,  i.  631;  ii.  381;  letter  to  Mr. 
Weed,  ii.  382. 

Holley,  John  M.,  at  convention,  i.  452. 

Holley,  Myron,  Federal  member  of  leg 
islature,  1.  47;  at  Rome,  N.  Y.,  i.  71;  of 
Canandaigua,  i.  140;  as  a  stage-coach 
companion,  i.  155;  prominent  anti-Ma 
son,  i.  336  ;  at  Baltimore  convention,  i. 
389;  legislative  "giant,"  i.  397. 

Holley,  Orville  L.,  appointed  Surveyor- 
General,  i.  459;  ii.  67. 

Homestead  law,  repeal  of  urged  bv  Mr. 
Weed,  ii.  442. 

Hone  Club,  its  original  members,  ii.  480. 

Hone,  Philip,  of  New  York,  mentioned,  i. 
53  ;  merchant,  i.  59  ;  in  Lafayette  party, 
i.  186;  supported  United  Sta'tes  Bank,"i. 
372;  legislature  of  1833,  i.  406;  merchant 
of  New  York,  i.  502,  625;  ii.  48,  477. 

Ilopel  ssness  of  Whig  success  in  1802.  ii. 
213. 

Hopkins,  Nelson  K.,  Comptroller  of  New 
York,  i.  348. 

Hopkins,  Samuel  Miles,  concerning  agri 
cultural  societies,  i.  78;  mentioned,  i. 
112;  prominent  anti-Mason,  i.  336;  let- 
ter  to  Mr.  Weed,  i.  363;  professor  at  Au 
burn  Theological  Seminary,  i  364;  mar 
riage  of  his  daughters,  i."  364 ;  member 
of  legislature,  i.  364;  at  Baltimore  con 
vention,  i  389. 

Hopper,  Jasper,  postmaster  at  Onondaga 
Hollow,  i.  23;  ii.  3. 

Hosmer,  George,  leader  in  Clav  partv  of 
1824,  i.  107. 

Houdin,  Captain,  ludicrous  conclusion  of 
an  oration  on  Washington,  i.  48. 

House  of  Commons,  resolution  concerning 
imprisonment  of  Lafayette,  i.  193  ;  de 
bate  on  Charleston  blockade,  ii.  407- 
409. 

Houston,  Samuel,  ii.  42,  316. 

How  Lincoln  was  nominated,  ii.  265. 

How  to  maintain  Republican  ascendency, 
ii.  521. 

Howard,  Richard,  implicated  in  Morgan 
affair,  i.  248. 

Howell,  Hon.  A.  W.,  Judge,  of  Ontario 
County,  i.  232. 

Howell, 'Nathaniel  W.,  of  Canandaigua,  i. 
140. 

Howland,  Humphrey,  of  Aurora,  i.  142. 

Hoyt,  Jesse,  in  Assembly  of  1823,  i.  398. 


596 


INDEX. 


Hoyts,  the,  of  Utica,  i.  30. 

Hubbard,  Hiram,  indicted  on  Morgan  af 
fair,  i.  248  ;  mentioned,  1.  271. 

Hubbard,  John  F.,  printer,  i.  76 ;  estab 
lishes  a  new  paper,  i.  76 ;  surviving 
member  of  legislature  1824,  i.  190 ;  in 
Assembly  1824,  i.  400  ;  editor  of  Nor 
wich  "Journal,"  ii.  9,  15. 

Hubbell,  Walter,  elected  to  Assembly,  i. 
309. 

Hnger,  Colonel,  narrative  of,  concerning 
imprisonment  of  General  Lafayette  at 
Olmutz,  i.  192. 

Hughes,  Archbishop,  mission  to  Europe,  i. 
388,  634;  ii.  349;  concerning  the  school 
question,  i.  484,  500;  reception  in  Kti- 
rope,  i.  G39,  643;  a  fellow  passenger  to 
Europe,  ii.  102;  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii. 
134;  his  portrait,  ii.  233. 

Hulbert,  John  W.,  member  of  Assembly 
of  1825,  i.  163. 

Humphrey,  Friend,  mayor  of  Albany,  i. 
30;  at  convention,  i.  452;  elected  state 
Senator,  i.  479;  ii.  547. 

Hunt,  Alvah,  prominent  anti-Mason,  i. 
336;  at  convention,  i.  452;  state  Treas 
urer,  ii.  145;  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii. 
185. 

Hunt,  Governor,  conversation  with  Mr. 
Weed  concerning  a  mission  abroad,  i. 
596. 

Hunt,  Ward,  mentioned,  i.  472. 

Hunt,  Washington,  Comptroller  of  New 
York,  i.  348;  ii.  173;  concerning  right 
of  petition,  i.  428;  letters  to  Mr.  Weed, 
ii.  112,  130,  173,  253;  rupture  with  Mr. 
Weed,  ii.  252 ;  his  position  denned,  ii. 
253. 

Hunt,  Wilson  G.,  i.  502. 

Hunter,  James,  relations  with  Mr.  Weed, 
i.  413. 

Hunter,  Mr.,  and  the  consulship  at  Fal- 
mouth,  i.  601. 

Hunter,  Mrs.,  at  Vienna,  i.  598. 

Hunter,  Robert  B.,  of  Rochester,  i.  99; 
prominent  anti-Mason,  i.  336 ;  in  legis 
lature,  1818,  i.  395. 

Huntington,  George,  legislative  service  of, 
i.  201. 

Huntington,  Henry,  delegate  to  constitu 
tional  convention,  i.  200. 

Huntingtons,  the,  of  Koine,  New  York,  i. 
31. 

Hurlburt  sentenced,  i.  255. 

llvde,  Captain,  concerning  King's  flight,  i. 
256. 

Idleness  and  demagoguery,  ii.  513. 
Ill-timed  pressure  for  peace,  ii.  493-495. 
Important  interests  neglected,  ii.  533. 
Imprisonment  for  debt,  the  bill  abolishing, 

Inauguration  of  Lincoln,  ii.  337,  449. 
Incapacity  of  Europeans  to  understand  the 

magnitude  of  the  United  States,  ii.  409. 
Incongruous  republican  elements,  ii.  o21. 
Indians,  American,  ii.  6. 
Indians,  Oneida,  tribe  of,  i.  148. 
"Infected  district,"  i.  309;  ii.  81. 


Intemperance,  Mr.  Weed's  opinions  on,  ii. 

154. 

Intervention,  efforts  to  secure,  ii.  403. 
Interview  with  the  Due  de  Morny,  ii.  395. 
Impatient  editors  in  1861,  ii.  3361 
Irish  nationality,  svmpathv  in  America,  ii. 

114. 

Irish  repeal,  Mr.  Weed  on,  ii.  114. 
Irving,    John  F.,    a  legislator  of   1817,  i. 

395,  397. 
Irving,  Washington,  i.  625;  ii.  199. 

Jackson  (General),  Andrew,  i.  8  ;  men 
tioned,  i.  62;  one  vote  for  President,  i. 
137;  movement  to  nominate  for  Presi 
dent,  i.  165;  letter  of  A.  H.  Tracy  on  his 
chances  of  the  presidency,  i.  173";  an  ad 
hering  Mason,  i.  302;  popularity  of,  i. 
350;  concerning  United  States  Bank,  i. 
371  ;  cause  of  a  rupture  in  Cabinet  of,  i. 
365  ;  appoints  Mr.  Van  Btiren  minister 
to  England,  i.  375 ;  concerning  reelec 
tion  of,  i.  413;  reelection  of,  i.  414; 
proclamation  concerning  nullilication, 
i.  422  ;  concerning  deposits  in  United 
States  Bank,  i.  423;  mentioned,  i.  572; 
began  second  term  in  1833,  ii.  48. 

Jackson,  John,  testimony  of,  concerning 
Morgan  affair,  i.  264,  265,  278-282,  288. 

Jaffray,  Robert,  i.  502. 

James  Kent,  a  steamboat,  i.  184. 

James,  William,  political  friend  of  Gover 
nor  Clinton,  i.  67;  mentioned,  i.  112;  as 
a  merchant,  i.  447. 

Jarvis,  Nathaniel,  legislator  of  1830,  i.  405. 

Jaspers,  the,  mentioned,  i.  159. 

Jay  (Governor),  John,  mentioned,  i.  394. 

Jay,  Peter  A.,  Federal  member  of  legisla 
ture,  i.  47:  mentioned,  i.  59;  delegate 
to  convention,  i.  89;  elected  in  1816,  i. 
394. 

Jefferson,  President  Thomas,  mentioned,  i. 
180. 

Jenckes'  civil  service  bill,  ii.  462;  not  fa 
vored  by  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  463. 

Jennings,  Captain,  his  company  of  light 
infantry,  i.  28. 

Jewett  (Colonel),  Simeon  B.,  concerningthe 
"Morgan  affair,"  i.  211;  action  in  the 
abduction  of  Morgan,  i.  228  ;  indicted  on 
Morgan  affair,  i.  248;  witness  in  libel 
suit,  i.  332;  death  of,  i.  335;  recom 
mends  Mr.  Gardiner  for  circuit  judge,  i. 
339. 

Johannes,  Mr.,  legislative  service  of,  i. 
200. 

Johns,  Daniel,  concerning  Morgan's  ar 
rest,  i.  217,  220. 

Johnson,  Andrew,  acting  President,  5.  473  ; 
his  policy  and  administration,  i.  629; 
return  to' the  Senate,  i.  631;  nominated 
for  Vice-Presidcnt,  ii.  446;  President: 
his  first  message,  ii.  450;  his  convictions 
and  policy,  ii.  451;  opposition  of  radical 
leaders  to,  ii.  451  ;  Mr.  Weed's  article 
on,  ii.  454  ;  in  the  beginning,  he  was 
right,  ii.  454  ;  vetoes  the  civil  rights 
bill,  1866,  ii.  451  ;  rupture  with  Con 
gress,  ii.  451,  470. 


INDEX. 


597 


Johnson,  B.  P.,  mentioned,  i.  402. 

Johnson,  Jerome,  member  of  Assembly, 
18-22,  i.  397. 

Johnson,  Richard  M.,  ii.  50. 

Johnson,  Reverdy,  at  Whig  convention, 
i.  482  ;  reception  of  Mr.  Weed,  i.  587; 
mentioned,  ii.  77. 

Johnson,  Sir  William,  and  Guy,  the  resi 
dences  of,  i.  154. 

Johnston,  Governor  of  Louisiana,  in  La 
fayette  party,  i.  18G. 

Jones,  C.  F.,  "early  efforts  to  support  his 
family,  ii.  2:5. 

Jones  (Captain),  Jacob,  mentioned,  i.  39. 

Jones,  Samuel,  Jr.,  Chief  Justice,  men 
tioned,  i.  393. 

Jordan,  Ambrose  L.,  lawyer  at  Coopers- 
town,  i.  36;  counsel  for  'Thurlow  Weed, 
i.  42;  member  of  Assembly  of  1825,  i. 
164,  196 ;  at  dinner  with  "Lafayette,  i. 
190  ;  counselor  in  a  libel  suit,  i.  527. 

Jordan,  Mathew,  letter  from  Mr.  Weed  on 
Irish  repeal,  ii.  115. 

Jordan,  Mrs.,  English  actress,  i.  87. 

Journeymen  printers,  intemperate  habits 
of,  i.'44,  58;  marked  difference  between, 
i.  58;  letter  to,  ii.  191. 

Judson,  David  C.,  survivor  of  legislature 
of  1818,  i.  198,  395,  410. 

Kane,  Archibald,  mentioned,  i.  153. 

Kane,  Charles,  the  store  of,  i.  153. 

Kane,  James,  appointed  agent  to  the  In 
dians,  i.  464. 

Kane,  Oliver,  duel  with  James  Wadsworth, 
i.  153. 

Kansas,  civil  war  in,  ii.  250. 

Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  ii.  220;  contest,  ii. 
239. 

Kean,  Charles,  the  talent  of,  i.  200. 

Kean,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles,  ii.  213. 

Kellogg,  Mr.,  editor  of  tbe  "Manlius 
Times,"  i.  22;  death  of,  i.  87. 

Kellogg,  Mr.,  changes  from  Adams  to 
Crawford  ticket,  i/125. 

Kempshall,  Thomas,  of  Rochester,  men 
tioned,  i.  98;  member  of  base  ball  club. 
i.  203;  member  of  anti-Masonic  party, 
i.  336. 

Kendall,  Amos,  postmaster,  i.  428. 

Kennedy,  John  A.,  mentioned,  i.  212;  ii. 
142,  144,  458. 

Kenned v,  Thomas,  pressman,  i.  57;  ii.  5. 

Kent,  Chancellor,  supported  United  States 
Bank.  i.  372;  as  a  jurist,  i.  447;  anec 
dote  of,  i.  403,  025. 

Kent,  Governor  of  Maine,  i.  626. 

Kent,  James,  delegate  to  convention,  i.  88; 
delegate  to  convention  1821,  i.  199. 

Kent,  William,  son  of  Chancellor  Kent, 
i.  183;  nominated  for  Judge  by  Gov 
ernor  Seward,  i.  485;  an  excursion  with 
Mr.  Weed,  i.  485-487;  humorous  stories 
of,  i.  487:  mentioned,  i.  626;  letters  to 
Mr.  Weed.  ii.  20.  72,  190. 

Kent  Club,  list  of  original  members,  ii. 
479. 

Kernochan,  Joseph,  i.  561. 

Kernochan,  James,  ii.  188. 


Ketcham,  Hiram,  nominated  for  Judge  by 
Governor  Seward,  i.  4S5;  friendship  foV 
Mr.  Webster,  i.  570;  ii.  187. 

Ketcham,  Mr.,  one  of  the  Morgan  conspir 
ators,  i.  221. 

Keyes,  Perley,  member  of  Van  Huron 
party,  in  1824,  i.  107;  at  political  dinner 
with  Governor  Clinton,  i.  165;  promi 
nent  Democrat,  i.  165. 

Kidd,  Captain,  the  buried  treasure  of,  i.  7. 

Kidnapping,  act  of  legislature  concerning, 
i.  255. 

King,  Charles,  leading  Federalist,  i.  84; 
supported  United  States  Bank,  i.  372; 
mentioned,  i.  457,  020;  member  of  Tay 
lor  committee,  i.  577;  concerning  treat 
ment  of  Americans  at  Dartmoor  prison, 
i.  118;  in  Assembly  in  1814,  i.  393. 

King,  Colonel,  interested  in  the  abduc 
tion  of  Morgan,  i.  229 ;  appointment 
from  the  War  Department,  i.  245;  escape 
from  arrest,  and  return,  i.  255  ;  action  in 
Morgan's  fate,  i.  332. 

King,  Klisha  W.,  mentioned,  i.  393  ;  in 
legislature,  i.  401. 

King.  Governor  of  Rhode  Island,  con 
cerning  the  Dorr  rebellion,  i.  53(1. 

King,  James,  author  of  a  political  attack 
on  Governor  Clinton,  i.  68. 

King,  John  A.,  member  of  Thompson  com 
mittee,  i.  304;  prominent  anti-Mason,  i. 
336;  supported  Tinted  States  Bank,  i. 
372;  in  legislature  of  1832,  j.  391;  a 
legislator  of  1819,  i.  397  ;  nominated  for 
Governor,  i.  472;  lirst  Republican  Gov 
ernor  of  New  York,  i.  626  ;  elected  Gov 
ernor  in  1850,  ii.  247. 

King,  Preston,  legislator  of  1835,  i.  407; 
political  career  of,  i.  471;  opposition  to 
Fugitive  Slave  Law,  i.  472;  elected 
United  States  Senator,  i.  473;  appointed 
Collector  of  New  York,  i.  475;  suicide 
of,  i.  475  ;  advice  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  309. 

King.  Rnfus,  delegate  to  convention,  i.  89; 
and  the  senatorship,  i.  108;  appointed 
Minister  to  England,  i.  178;  his  four 
sons,  i.  199  ;  delegate  to  convention  1821, 
i.  199;  prominent  anti-M:ison,  i.  330; 
American  Minister  to  Rome,  i.  393;  as  a 
merchant,  i.  447;  appointed  Adjutant- 
General,  i.  450;  associate  editor  with 
Mr.  Weed,  i.  457;  political  otlices  of, 
i.  457:ii.06;  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  Ill; 
attended  to  Mr.  Weed's  worldly  affairs, 
ii.  547. 

Kinnaird,  lion.  Arthur,  i.  044;  letter  to 
Mr.  Weed,  i.  045. 

Kinnaird,  Lord,  reception  at  his  house,  ii. 
362. 

Kirkland,  Charles  P.,  of  New  York,  i.  42  ; 
mentioned,  i.  199. 

Kirkland  (General),  Joseph,  lawyer,  i.  31; 
District-Attorney,  i.  42;  member  of  As 
sembly  of  1825,  i.  165;  mentioned,  i. 
199,  418. 

Kirkland,  Rev.  Mr.,  devotion  to  the  Oneida 
Indians,  i.  148. 

Kissam,  David,  legislative  service  of,  i. 
201. 


598 


INDEX. 


"Kit"  Morgan,  mentioned,  i.  143. 

Knupp,  Samuel  L.,  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Grand  Chapter  of  Masons,  i.  251. 

Knickerbocker,  Herman,  member  of  Con 
gress,  i.  48  ;  known  as  Prince  of  Schagh- 
ticoke,  i.  48,  342;  anecdote  of,  concern 
ing  oration,  i.  48. 

Knight-Templar,  a,  confession  of,  concern 
ing  fate  of  Morgan,  i.  297. 

Knock  down  for  the  Locos  in  Maine,  ii. 
85. 

Knower,  Benjamin,  member  of  "Albany 
Regency,"  i.  8,  103  ;  concerning  politi 
cal  attack  on  Governor  Clinton,  i.  67. 

Knowlson,  Miss,  concerning  a  pistol  shot, 
i.  487. 

Know  Nothings,  ii.  224. 

Knox,  General,  mentioned,  5.  188. 

Labor,  the  divine  law  of,  ii.  7;  the  gospel 
of,  ii.  407. 

Lackawanna  canal,  bill  for  construction 
of  the,  i.  171. 

Lafayette,  Marquis  de,  visit  to  the  United 
States,  i.  184;  his  welcome  in  New  York 
city,  i.  185 ;  reception  at  Newburg,  i. 
188;  opening  a  ball  with  the  widow  of 
General  Montgomery,  i.  190;  incident  of 
the  Newburg  girls,  i.  190;  incident  of 
Colonel  Harry  Livingston,  i.  192;  narra 
tive  concerning  his  imprisonment  at  01- 
mutz,  i.  192;  offered  the  governorship  of 
Louisiana,  i.  193;  release  demanded  by 
Napoleon,  i.  193;  concerning  the  appro 
priation  for  payment  to,  i.  194;  incidents 
of  his  trip  up  the  Hudson,  i.  186,  194; 
ii.  107. 

Lake  Michigan,  ii.  149. 

Lake  Ontario,  i.  24. 

Lakey,  Dr  James,  indicted  in  Morgan  af 
fair,  i.  248. 

Lamb,  Colonel  Anthony,  officer  of  the 
Revolution,  i.  55;  in  Lafavette  party,  i. 
186. 

Lamb,  Charles,  mentioned,  i.  50. 

Lampson,  Sir  Curtis,  an  American  baro 
net,  ii.  38il. 

Lane,  Charles,  death  of,  i.  87. 

Lane,  Colonel,  mentioned  for  Mr.  Lincoln's 
Cabinet,  i.  610. 

Lang,  George,  book -publisher,  i.  56. 

Lansing,  Christopher,  secretary  to  Gov 
ernor  Yates,  i.  114. 

Lansing  (Chancellor),  John,  mystery  con 
nected  with  his  death  known  to  Mr. 
Weed,  ii.  34,  35. 

"  Latch-string"  of  the  Harrison  campaign, 

Lawrence,  Hon.  Abbott,  minister  to  Eng 
land,  i.  537  ;  vice-presidency  suggested 
for  the,  i.  577;  opposition  to  his  nomina 
tion  for  the  vice-presidency,  i.  578;  sug 
gested  bv  Mr.  Weed  for  vice-president, 
i.  585. 

Lawrence,  James  R.,  concerning  small  bill 
question,  i.  444;  at  convention,  i.  452; 
member  of  Assembly  1825,  i.  164,  196  ;  in 
legislature  1817,  i.  395. 

Lawrence,  Judge,  ii.  4,  246. 


Lawson  Loton,  action  of  in  the  "  Morgan, 
affair,"  i.  223. 

Lay,  George  W.,  at  anti-Masonic  conven 
tion,  i.  -257. 

Leake  £  Cantine,  state  printers,  i.  85. 

Lea ven worth,  Elias  W.,  friendship  with 
Mr.  Weed,  i.  435;  mentioned,  i.  90; 
prominent  anti-Mason,  i.  336. 

Leavenworth,  General,  ii.  4,  425. 

Leavenworth,  Henry,  senator,  i.  47. 

Lecompton  constitution  rejected,  ii.  250. 

Ledyard,  Henry,  charge  d'affaires  at  Paris, 


Lee,  Gideon,  in  Assembly  of  1823,  i.  396; 

a  Whig  elector,  i.  491;  'ii.  60. 
Lee,  Henrv  B.,  death  of,  i.  47;  speech  in 

New  York  legislature  of  1815,  i.  47. 
Lee,  Martin,  at  convention,  i.  452. 
Lee,  Robert  E.,  abandons  the  Union  cause, 

ii.  342;  Mr.  Weed's  letter  on  the  death 

of,  ii.  476. 
Legget t,  Mr.,  editor  of  "  Evening  Post," 

i.383. 

Legislation  in  1825,  i.  197. 
Legislative  degeneracy,  i.  409. 
Legislative  parties  in  Albany,  ii.  191. 
Legislature,  the,  at  Albany 'in  1815,  i.  45; 

of  New  York,  memorable   struggle  for 

Speaker,  i.  46;  of  1824,  proclamation  of 

Governor   Yates   convening,  i.   115:    of 

1824,  concerning  the  electoral  law,  i.  116; 
convened  to  choose  electors,  i.  122:  of 

1825,  members  of,  sketched,  i.  163-165; 
surviving  members   of   the,    i.   196;   of 
1824,    how   divided   politically,    i.    197; 
surviving  members  of,  i.  198,  199;  mem 
orable  for  two  actions,  i.  199;  length  of 
service  of  its  members,  i.  200;  of  1828, 
anti-Masons  elected  to,  i.  309;  of  1832, 
of  what  composed,  i.  391 ;  a  retrospect 
of  from  1814  to  1838,  i.  393-400;  of  1826, 
Democratic  majority  in,  i.  400. 

Leigh  Watkins,  of  Virginia,  ii.  77. 

Lemmon  case,  ii.  323. 

Le  Roy,  village  of,  distinguished  in  Ma 
sonic  annals,  i.  215;  mentioned,  ii.  389. 

Letters,  to  George  W.  Curtis,  i.  534  ;  George 
Ashmtin  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  189;  August 
Belmont  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  310,  420; 
James  G.  Bennett  challenging  Mr.  Weed, 
concerning  certain  political  movements, 
i.  352;  John  Bigelow  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii. 
366;  R.  M.  Blatchford  to  Mr.  Weed,  i. 
480 ;  James  Bowen  to  Mr.  Weed,  i.  504 ; 
Samuel  Bowles  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  260; 
David  G.  Bright  to  Thurlow  Weed,  i. 
80 ;  S.  P.  Chase  to  a  friend,  ii.  329 ;  Gov 
ernor  James  Clark  to  Mr.  \Veed,  con 
cerning  Mr.  Clay,  i.  351;  Henry  Clay  to 
Mr.  Weed,  ii.  42,  98,  119;  Governor 
Clinton  to  the  Batavia  committee,  con 
cerning  the  Morgan  affair,  i.  238;  to  gov 
ernors  of  Canada,  concerning  the  Mor 
gan  affair,  i.  240;  to  Theodore  F.  Talbot, 
concerning  Morgan,  i.  249  ;  committee 
of  Typographical  Societv  to  Thurlow 
Weed,  i.  69 ;  Edwin  Croswell  to  Mr. 
Weed,  ii.  38;  David  Davis  to  Mr.  Weed, 
ii.  299,  300,  302,  323,  444;  George  Daw- 


INDEX. 


599 


son  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  134 ;  General  Dix  to 
Air.  Weed,  ii.  423,  501,  505;  Edward  El- 
lice  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  380;  Mr.  Me  El  rath  to 
Mr.  Weed,  ii.  430  ;  W.  M  Evarts  to  Mr. 
Weed,  ii.  410;  Millard  Fillmore  to  Col 
lector  Maxwell,  ii.  233;  Millard  Fillmore 
to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  Gl,  63,  64,  74,  75,  83, 
85;  Governor  Fish  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  190, 
196;  Frederick  Follett  to  Mr.  Weed,  con 
cerning  Morgan  affair,  i.  320;  Philo  Ful 
ler,  concerning  Mr.  Wadsworth,  i.  344; 
Francis  Granger  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  317 ; 
H.  L.  Granger  to  Mr.  Weed,  i.  367;  ii. 
17,  46,  57;  Horace  Greelev  to  George  E. 
Baker,  ii.  199,  232,  255 ;  to  Mr.  Weed,  i. 
468,  469;  ii.  53,  71,  84,  91,  94,  95,  97, 
131,  216,  220:  Sir  Henrv  Holland  to 
Weed,  ii.  382,  631;  Robert  L.  Hone  to 
Mr.  Weed,  ii.  478;  Messrs.  Harper  to 
Mr.  Weed,  i.  489;  Samuel  M.  Hopkins 
to  Mr.  Weed,  i.  363;  Bishop  Hughes  to 
Mr.  Weed,  i.  637:  ii.  134;  Washington 
Hunt  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  112,  130,  134,  173, 
185,  253;  Thomas  L.  James  to  Mr.  Weed, 
ii.  562;  William  Kent  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii. 
20,  72,  146,  196;  Hon.  A.  Kinnaird  to 
Mr.  Weed,  i.  645;  A.  Lincoln  to  Mr. 
Weed.  ii.  310,  324,  433;  S.  P.  Leyman  to 
Mr.  Weed,  i.  438;  W.  L.  Marcy  to  Mr. 
Weed,  ii.  228;  Father  Mathew  from  Mr. 
Weed,  ii.  150,  151;  Bishop  Mcllvaine  to 
Mr.  Weed,  ii.  419;  General  McClellan  to 
Mr.  Weed,  ii.  429;  John  McLean  declin 
ing  nomination  for  President,  i.  389; 
Robert  B.  Minturn  to  Mr.  Weed,  i.  503; 
Rev.  Dr.  Mitchell,  i-  GO;  E.  D.  Morgan 
to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  252,  43'),  445,  461;  But 
ler  G.  Noble  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  317; 
George  W.  Patterson  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii. 
47.  83,  85,  434,  445;  George  Peabody  to 
Mr.  Weed,  ii.  365;  Everard  Pock  to  Mr. 
Weed,  ii.  22;  Major-General  Pleasanton 
to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  180;  Henry  J.  Ray 
mond  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  451;  Erastus 
Root  to  Mr.  Weed,  i.  553;  General  Scott  j 
to  General  Tavlor,  i.  575 ;  General  Scott  I 
to  Mr  Weed/i.  657;  W.  H.  Seward  to  , 
Mr.  Weed,  concerning  the  Trent  affair,  j 
i.  640 ;  W.  H.  Seward  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii. 
41,  99,  128,  244,  256,  261,  270,  307,  319, 
323,  332,  351,  353,  378,  408,  409,  426, 
428,  460;  Gen-it  Smith  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii. 
453;  Vivns  W.  Smith  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii. 
433 ;  John  C.  Spencer  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii. 
43, 116,  118;  A.  T.  Stewart  to  Mr.  Weed, 
ii.  318,  411  ;  Leonard  Jewett  to  Mr. 
Weed,  ii.  297,  301 ;  Colonel  J.  T.  Taylor 
to  Mr.  Weed,  General  Tavlor  in  Mexico 
and  as  a  candidate  for  the"  presidency,  i. 
573;  Albert  H.  Tracy  to  Mr.  Weed,  i. 
173;  ii.  31,  32,  49;  concerning  Governor 
Clinton,  i.  177:  James  Wadsworth  re 
fusing  nomination,  i.  344;  on  common 
schools,  i.  344 ;  James  Watson  Webb  to 
Mr.  Weed,  ii.  526;  Daniel  Webster  to  R. 
M.  Blatchford,  ii.  183;  Mr.  Webster  to 
Mr.  Weed,  ii.  95,  135;  Thurlow  Weed  to 
editor  of  Catskill  "  Recorder,"  concern 
ing  his  early  life,  i.  5  ;  to  PI  C.  Goodwin 


author  of  "  History  of  Cortland  Coun 
ty,"  i.  15;  to  .John  VVhitnev,  concerning 
Morgan's  fate,  i.  334;  to  Mr.  Bennett's 
challenge,  i.  353;  to  the  "  Evening  Jour 
nal,"  from  the  West  Indies,  i.  506;  to 
the  "Evening  Journal,"  from  Europe,  i. 
540-552;  to  his  son  James,  i  552;  to  a 
friend,  ii.  19,  38;  to  Edwin  Croswell,  ii. 
37;  to  Francis  Granger,  ii.  40,  45,  50,  86- 
88;  to  his  daughter  Harriet,  ii.  107;  to 
Joshua  R.  Giddiugs,  ii.  133;  to  Father 
Mathew,  ii.  150:  James  Birdsall  intro 
ducing  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  12;  Washington 
Irving  to  Charles  R.  Leslie,  ii.  199;  Dan 
iel  Webster  to  Lord  Carlisle,' ii.  199;  to 
A.  Lincoln,  ii.  300,  438,  440;  to  Preston 
King,  ii.  309;  to  Robert  B.  Minturn,  ii. 
423;  to  Governor  Seymour,  ii.  427;  to 
H.  J.  Raymond,  ii.  436;  to  Senator  Mor 
gan,  ii.  441;  to  Joseph  Parkes,  ii.  443; 
to  Thomas  C.  Acton,  ii.  488  ;  to  James 
W.  Hasted,  ii.  502;  to  Governor  Dix, 
ii.  506;  to  Vivus  W.  Smith,  ii.  507;  to 
James  G.  Blaine,  ii.  522;  to  Charles  E. 
Smith,  ii.  524;  to  Benjamin  K.  Pbelps, 
ii.  525;  to  General  Webb,  ii.  527;  to 
Judge  Gardiner,  ii.  565,  567;  to  General 
Daly,  ii.  565;  to  President  Arthur,  ii. 
568;  Frederick  Wlii(tlc«ey  to  Mr.  Weed, 
i  368;  ii.  33:  Silas  Wright  to  Mr.  Van 
Buren,  presenting  his  political  views,  i. 
376. 

Levasseur,  M.,  secretary  of  General  La 
fayette,  i.  186. 

Lewis  (Governor),  Morgan,  at  the  village 
of  Madison,  i.  4;  reviewing  militia,  i. 
18;  in  Lafayette's  party,  i.  186;  meeting 
with  Aaron'  Burr,  i.  370;  oflicer  of  the 
Revolution,  i.  55. 

Lewis,  Mrs.,  granddaughter  of  General 
Washington,  mentioned,  i.  186. 

Libel  suits,  the,  of  J.  Fenimore  Cooper, 
i.  520-529. 

Liberty  party,  Mr.  Weed's  views  of,  ii. 
230. 

Liberty  party  of  1840,  ii.  223. 

"Life'of  the  Prince  Consort,1'  quoted,  i. 
647;  ii.  368. 

Lincoln,  A.,  confers  with  Mr.  Weed  on  ap 
pointments  in  his  first  Cabinet,  i.  605;  ii. 
293;  mentioned,  i.  334,  457;  assassina 
tion  of,  i.  473;  humorous  stories  of,  i. 
607,  608,  612;  nomination  for  president, 
i.6()2;  how  he  was  nominated,  ii.265;  his 
high  estimate  of  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  288;  his 
earliest  supporters,  ii.  291:  his  renotni- 
nation  opposed  bv  Bryant  and  Greelev, 
ii.  296;  his  assassination  plotted  in  Can 
ada,  ii.  296;  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  297; 
letter  from  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  300;  elected, 
ii.  301;  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  310;  his 
position  as  president  elect,  ii.  311;  a 
close  observer  of  popular  feeling,  ii.  311 ; 
appears  in  Washington  February  23, 
1861,  ii.  319;  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  324; 
his  inaugural  address,  ii.  325;  his  Cabi 
net,  ii.  325;  call  for  volunteers,  ii.  327; 
changes  in  his  Cabinet,  ii.  330;  his  Cabi 
net  his  own  selection,  ii.  330;  the  inaug- 


600 


INDEX. 


uration,  ii.  337;  his  election  the  cause 
of  the  warr  ii.  370;  his  object  neither  to 
save  nor  destroy  slavery,  ii  418  ;  hi.s  par 
amount  object  to  save  the  Union,  ii.  418; 
issued  tlic  Emancipation  Proclamation, 
ii.  430;  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  433;  and 
Weed,  ii.  437;  letter  from  Mr.  Weed,  ii. 
438;  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  440;  desires 
a  second  term.  ii.  444;  radical  opposition 
to,  ii.  445;  his  second  canvass,  ii.  44G ; 
his  second  inaugural  address,  ii.  449; 
assassinated  April  14,  1805,  ii.  450;  men 
tioned,  ii.  470. 

Lisle,  town  of,  i.  11. 

Little,  \Veare  C..  an  early  anti-Mason,  i. 
448;  supports  the  ''Evening  Journal,"  i. 
3G2;  ii.  547;  prominent  anti-Mason,  i. 
330. 

Little  Falls,  village  of,  i.  151;  mentioned, 
ii.  485. 

Livingston,  Chancellor,  entertains  General 
Lafayette,  i-  180. 

Livingston,  Charles  L.,  candidate  for  office 
of  Speaker;  i.  31)1;  sustained  the  Stilwell 
Bill,  i.  3!)7;  legislator  of  1839,  incident 
of,  i.  403;  Speaker  of  Assembly  of  1832, 
405,  40(J;  couplet  written  for,  i.  407. 

Livingston,  Edward  P.,  member  of  Van 
Biiren  party  in  1824,  i.  107;  in  Lafayette 
party,  i.  180 ;  nominated  Lieutenant- 
Go  vernor,  i.  307. 

Livingston,  Henry  A.,  at  Lafayette  recep 
tion,  i.  189. 

Livingston,  ,1.  K.,  at  convention,  i.  300; 
mentioned,  i.  158;  of  Newark,  Xew 
Jersey,  i.  100;  at  anti-Masonic  conven 
tion, 'i.  257;  member  of  base  ball  club, 
i.203:  signs  a  petition,  i.  204;  prominent 
anti-Mason,  i.  330;  supports  "Even 
ing  Journal,"  i.  301. 

Livingston  Manor  House,  mentioned,  i.  7. 
.  Livingston,  Peter  II.,  concerning  a  political 
attack  on  Governor  Clinton,  i.  07;  del 
egate  to  convention,  i.  8!);  Speaker  of 
Assembly  of  1823.  i.  399;  at  Whig  con 
vention, "i.  430;  Edward  P..  and  "  Oak 
Hill  John.'1  mentioned,  i.  190. 

Livingston,  Robert  Ii.,  commissioner  of 
Erie  canal,  i.  72. 

Livingstons,  the,  legislative  service  of,  i. 
201. 

Loco-Foco,  first  use  of  this  name  to  desig 
nate  the  Democrats,  ii.  52. 

Lockwood,  Captain  of  brig  Eliza,  i.  502. 

"Log  Cabin,"  edited  by  Horace  Greeley, 
i.  407:  and  hard  cider  the  watchword  of 
the  Whigs  in  1840,  ii.  80;  enthusiasm,  ii. 
81;  campaign  paper  in  1841,  ii.  91. 

London,  visit  to,  ii.  105,  213. 

London  "Times,"  Mr.  Weed's  letter  to,  ii. 
355. 

Longevity  of  eminent  men,  i.  198. 

Loubet,  Alphonse,  Mr.  Weed  visits  him,  ii. 
390;  proposes  to  arrange  an  interview 
with  the  Due  de  Morny,  ii.  391. 

Love,  Thomas  C.,  supports  "  Evening  Jour 
nal,"  i.  3(il;  dissolves  anti-Masonic  party, 
i.  425;  at  anti-Ma*onic  convention,  i. 
257*  concerning  political  anti-masonry, 


i.  299;  prominent  anti-Mason,  i.  336;  at 

convention,  i.  306. 

Low,  Seth,  Mayor  of  Brooklyn,  ii.  472. 
Lowville,  town  of,  i.  40. 
Luckey,  liev.  Dr.,  concerning  the  school 

question,  i.  484. 

Lyman,  Samuel  P.,  his  friendship  for,  and 
"gifts  to  Mr.  Weed,  i.  430  ;  letter  to  Mr. 

Weed,  concerning  the  administration,  i. 

438. 
Lynde,    Tilly,    supports  Mr.   Adams   for 

'President, 'i.  122. 
"  Lynx,"  the,  a  newspaper,  i.  22. 
Lyons,  Lord,  Benjamin's  letter  forwarded 

to,  ii.  315  ;  despatches  to,  ii.  376. 

McAuley,  Jerry,  his  Water  Street  Mission, 
ii.  103. 

McCarty,  Dennis,  in  Legislature  of  1830, 
the  incident  of  the  temperance  meeting, 
i.  404. 

Maclay,  William  B.,  lawyer,  support  of 
school  bill,  i.  502. 

McClellan,  George  B.,  letter  to  Mr.  Weed, 
ii.  429  ;  nominated  for  President,  ii.  440. 

McClure,  A.  K.,  letter  to  the  Press  Club 
dinner,  ii.  555. 

McCulloch,  Hugh,  mentioned  for  Secre 
tary  of  Treasury,  i.  022,  023. 

McDowell.  Irwin,  Major-General,  ii.  343. 

McDullie,  George,  of  South  Carolina,  men 
tioned,  i.  388;  champion  of  nullification, 
i.  422 

Me  El  rath,  Thomas,  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii. 
430. 

McIIarg,  Mistress,  incident  of,  i.  84. 

Mcllvaine,  Rev.  Charles,  made  Bishop,  i. 
388;  mission  to  Europe,  i.  388;  offered  a 
mission  to  Europe,  i.  034  ;  goes  to  Eu 
rope  with  Mr.  Weed  and  Archbishop 
Hughes,  ii.  349;  in  Paris,  1861,  ii.  349; 
letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  419. 

Mclntyre,  Archibald,  concerning  Governor 
Tompkins'  accounts,  i.  82  ;  supports 
Mr.  Adams  for  President,  i.  122;  a  Clin 
ton  man,  i.  197;  legislative  service  of,  i. 
201 ;  Comptroller  of  Xew  York.  i.  348;  a 
Whig  elector,  i.  491 ;  mentioned,  ii.  14. 

Mackenzie,  Captain,  of  brig  Somers,  con 
cerning  mutiny,  i.  510,  519. 

Mclveon,  John,  admitted  to  practice  law,  i. 
392  ;  legislator  of  1832,  i.  406 ;  men 
tioned,  ii.  141,  551. 

McKown,  James,  mentioned,  i.  112  ;  in 
Assembly  of  1820,  i.  397. 

McLane,  Hon.  Louis,  interview  with  Mr. 
Biddle  concerning  a  charter  for  United 
States  Bank,  i.  373. 

McLean,  John,  marriage  of  his  daughter, 
i.  182 ;  letter  declining  nomination  for 
President,  i.  389;  mentioned,  i.  571. 

McLean,  Judge,  ii    245. 

"Mad  Anthony  Wayne,"  mentioned,  i. 
180. 

Madison,  Mrs.,  mentioned,  i.  342. 

Madison  (President).  James,  mentioned,  i. 
180,  379;  ii.  519. 

Maher  (Captain),  James,  concerning  elec 
tions  in  "Fourth  Ward,"  i.  448. 


INDEX. 


601 


Mail,  the,  arrival  of,  at  Onondaga,  i.  22. 
Maine  Law,  the,  i.  98;  ii.  21G. 
Mangum,  Senator,  concerning  nullification, 
i.  422;   concerning  Everett's  mission  to 
England,  i.  509. 
Manlius,  N.  Y.,  i.  14G;  ii.  13. 
Mann,  Abijah,  Jr.,  mentioned,  i.  402. 
Mann,  Horace,  mentioned,  i.  -'545. 
Marry  (Governor),  William  L.,  member  of  ! 
"Albany  Regency,"  i.  8;  funeral  of,  i. 
9;  replies  to  political  letter  of  Governor  j 
Clinton,   i.   67 ;    member  of  the  Albany 
Regency,  i.  103:  supports  Mr.  Crawford 
for  President,  i.  107;  conducts  trial  of  Eze- 
kiel  Jewett,  i.  274,  283;  concerning  the 
obligations  of   masonry,  i.  275  ;  Comp-  ; 
trailer  of  New  York,  i*.  348;  mentioned,  I 
i.  392,    407  ;    bill   concerning   the   hard  J 
money  policy,  i.  443 ;  reflected,  i.  443; 
signing  of  bank  charter  bill,  i.  450  ;  pan-  | 
taloon-;,  story   of,   i.  453;    renominated,  ' 
i.  453  ;  reelected  Governor   in   1834,   ii. 
48;  nominated  t»r  Govei-nor,  ii.  GO;  pas 
quinade  on  the  Whig  victory  in  1838,  ii. 
64;  a  presidential  candidate',  ii.  198;  let 
ter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  228. 
Marcy's  maxim,  ii.  465. 
Marseilles,  ii.  206. 

Marshall,  Chief  Justice,  at  Baltimore  Con 
vention,  i.  390. 
Martin,  Robert,  partner  of  Mr.  Weed  on 

the  "Telegraph."  i.  210.  251.  2.V2,  412. 
Marvin,  Dudley,  of  Canandaigna,  i.  140. 
Marvin,   Dr.   George,    of   Rochester,  men 
tioned,  i.  99,  159;  member  of  base  ball 
club,  i.  203. 

Marvin,  Richard  P.,  concerning  bank  char 
ter,  i.  10G;  legislator  of  18o5,  i.  407. 
Mason.  Rev.  Dr.,  of  New  York,  i.  GO. 
Mason  and  Slidell,  the  capture  of,  i.  639; 

ii.  348. 

Massachusetts   Sixth,   attacked    at    Balti 
more,  ii.  338. 

Mastiff,  the,  mode  of  diplomacy,  ii,  357. 
Mather  and    Donington,    ink   makers,    ii. 

194. 

Mathe.w,  Theobald,  Father,  ii.  103. 
Mathews  (General),  Vincent,  of  Rochester, 
mentioned,  i.  98,  158;  elected  to  the  As 
sembly,  i.  209;  counsel  for  Bruce  in 
Morgan  trial,  i.  2GG  :  counsel  for  defense 
in  trial  of  Ezekiel  Jewett.  i.  274  :  rec 
ommends  Mr.  Gardiner  for  Judge,  i. 
339. 

Matthews  or  Matthias,  the  impostor  proph 
et,  i.  357. 
Maurv  f Lieutenant),  Matthew  F.,  reply  of 

Mr."  Weed  to,  ii.  3G9. 

Maxwell,  Hugh,  at  convention,  i.  452; 
Taylor  committee,  chairman  of  the,  i. 
577;  meeting  with  Mr.  Weed  at  Aiken, 
i.  597;  ii.  461;  mentioned,  i.  020;  ii.  35; 
collector  of  New  York,  ii.  175;  letter 
from  Mr.  Fillmore.  ii.  233. 
Mavnard,  John,  prominent  anti-Mason,  i. 

336;  at  convention,  i.  452. 
Mavnard,  William   II.,  elected  to  Assem 
bly,    i.  309;    prominent    anti-Mason,    i. 
336;    at  convention,  i.   3G6;    anti-bank 


man,  i.  372;  sustained  the  Stilwell  bill 
i.  379;  obituary  in  "Evening  Journal, 
on,  i.  418. 

Memory,  how  Mr.  Weed  attempted  to  im 
prove,  ii.  20. 
Mercien,    William  A.,    printer,    i.   57;    ii. 

194. 
Meredith,  Mr.,  Secretary   of  Treasury,  i. 

590 ;  ii.  175. 

Metallic  and  paper  dollars,  ii.  537. 
Metropolitan  Police  Commission,  ii.  144. 
Mexican  war,  capture  of  Monterey,  i.  573; 
battle  of   Buena  Vista,   i.  575";  ii.  132, 
133,  136. 
Miller,  David  C.,  printed  Morgan's  expose 

of  masonry,  i.  21G. 

Miller,  Judge,  of  Auburn,  i.  41,  143;  lead 
ing  Federalist,  i.  84:  concerning  stage 
coach   accident,  i.  139. 
Miller,  Morris  S.,  lawyer,  i.  31. 
Miller,    Svlvanns,    merchant,    New    York, 
i.  59  ;  concerning  Mr.  Clinton   for   Gov 
ernor,  i.  82. 
Milnes.  Monckton  (Lord  Houghton).  i.  633; 

ii.  3G2. 

Minorities,  the  action  of,  ii.  124. 
Minturn,  Robert  B.,   letter  to  Mr.  Weed, 
i.  503;  a  tribute  to,  i.504;  on  committee 
concerning    state  election,  i.  47G:    men 
tioned,   i.  625:    charity  of,   i.  (527:  con 
cerning  Mr.  Weed's  mission  to  Europe, 
i.  638 ;  interest  in  reform,  ii.  139 ;  letter 
from  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  423. 
Misrule  and  misery,  ii.  125. 
Missouri,  applies  for  admission  as  a  State, 

ii.  12. 
Missouri  Compromise,  the  design  of,  i.  42G; 

ii.  13:  repeal  of,  ii.  221. 
Mitchell.   Charles  F.,  biographical   sketch 

of,  i.  159. 

Mitchell,  Dr.  S.  L.,  mentioned,  i.   54:  pas 
tor  of  church,  i.  GO.  394;  identified  with 
the  anti-Masons,  i.  302. 
Mnemonic     system,    suggested     by    Mrs. 

We,-d,  ii   27. 

Monroe   (President),    James,   reception    m 
New  York,  i.  (52;  mentioned,  i.  ISO,  :}79 ; 
ii.  507,  511,  519;  prosperity  of  adminis 
tration,  i.  450. 
Montgomery,  General,   funeral    procession 

of,'i.  G3.  * 
Montgomery,     Mrs. ,    widow    of     General 

Montgomery,  mentioned,  i.  190. 
Montreal,  concerning  a  descent  upon,  1.39. 
Moodv  and   Sankey,  in   New  York,  i.  70; 

ii.  IrtO. 

Moore,  Thomas,  poet,  quotation  from,  i.  14. 
" Moroni  affair,"  Mr.  Weed's  knowledge 
of  the  i.  211:  committee  appointed  to 
investigate  the,  i.  230;  trials  of  parties 
concerned  in  the,  i.  233:  letter  of  Gov 
ernor  Clinton  to  the  Batavia  committee, 
concerning  the,  i-  238;  Canadian  cm 
zens  involved  in  the,  i.  241:  parties ,  : 
dieted  for  being  concerned  in  the.  i.  248; 
legislative  action  concerning,  i.  2o4; 
Lieutenant-Governor  Pitcher's  message 
concerning,  i.  258;  trials  continued,  i. 
259-295. 


602 


INDEX. 


Morgan,  Christopher,  ii.  187;  prominent 
anti-Mason,  i.  336;  friendship  with  Mr. 
Weed,  i.  435;  at  gathering  of  Whig 
members  of  Congress,  i.  508. 

Morgan,  Governor  E.  D.,  mentioned  for 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  i.  020 ;  ii.  566 ; 
elected  Governor  1858,  ii.  252;  renomi- 
nated  Governor  of  New  York,  ii.  297 ;  let 
ter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  412,  430  ;  letter  from 
Mr.  Weed,  ii.  441 ;  letter  to  Mr.  Weed, 
ii.  455,  461 ;  renominated  for  Governor 
in  1876,  ii.  524. 

Morley,  Frederic,  in  the  "political  firm," 
ii.  289. 

Mormon  Bible,  the  printing  of,  offered  to 
Mr.  Weed,  i.  359. 

Morny,  Due  de,  Mr.  Weed's  interview  with 
thel  ii.  390-399. 

Morse,  Professor,  mentioned,  i.  384;  first 
experiment  with  the  telegraph,  i.  386. 

Morton,  Major-General,  escorted  President 
Monroe,  i.  62;  in  Lafayette  party,  i.  186; 
appointed  to  investigate  the  Morgan  af 
fair,  i.  258. 

Mott,  Dr.,  i.  419. 

Mullett,  James,  Jr.,  leader  in  Clay  party 
of  1824,  i.  107 ;  supports  Mr.  Adams,  i. 
122. 

Mnnroe,  Timothy,  drowned  in  Niagara 
River,  i.  317. 

Names  of  prominent  men  during  fifty 
years,  ii.  549. 

Naples,  ii.  208. 

Napoleon,  Prince,  interview  with,  ii.  399. 

Napoleon  III.,  reasons  of  for  favoring  the 
Confederate    States,    i.    649;    the    coup 
dTe"tat,    ii.   205;    invites   Russia   to   join  ! 
with  England  in  breaking  the  blockade,  j 
ii.    347;     interview     with     Archbishop  ! 
Hughes,  ii.  350  ;  address  on  American  af 
fairs  modified,  ii.  399;  embarrassment  in 
London  caused  by  his  address,  ii.  403. 

National  outlook  in  1867,  ii.  457;  politics 
in  1872,  ii,  487;  politics  reviewed,  ii. 
519;  navy-yards  North  and  South,  ii. 
374. 

Native  American  party,  ii.  134;  movement 
of  1844  revived,  ii.  223. 

Need  of  a  governmental  policy,  ii.  513;  ne 
groes,  free,  kidnapping  of,  ii.  6. 

Nelligan.  David,  i.  449;  ii.  143. 

Nelson,  William,  leader  of  Adams  party  in 
1824,  ii.  107;  member  of  senate  1825,  i. 
197. 

Newcastle,  the  Duke  of,  conversation  with 
Mr.  Seward,  ii.  355. 

New  York,  concerning  commerce  of,  in 
1816,  i.  56;  convention  to  amend  state 
constitution,  i.  88;  concerning  the  school 
question  in,  i.  483;  distinguished  mer 
chants  of,  i.  502;  in  1797,  i.  3;  in  1815, 
i.  52-55;  republican  victory  in,  in  1815, 
i.  393;  Mr.  Weed's  early  recollections 
of,  ii.  3;  manner  of  living  of  prosperous 
citizens  in  1821,  ii.  18;  harbor  obstruc 
tions  prepared,  ii.  412 :  freedom  of  the 
city  presented  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  413 ;  so 
cial  life,  ii.  487. 


New  York  Common  Council,  letter  from 
Mr.  Weed,  ii.  413. 

New  York  Gold  Exchange  Board,  ii.  509. 

New  York  riots  in  1863,  ii.  435. 

New  York  Sixty-ninth  Regiment,  U.  S.  V., 
ii.  340,  341. 

New  York  State,  constitution  of,  as  amend 
ed,  i.  89;  constitution  formed  in  1801,  i. 
200;  convention  at  Utica,  i.  452  ;  the 
State  election  of  1839,  i.  476. 

Niagara  Falls,  sending  the  brig  Michigan 
over  the,  i.  355 ;  Sam  Patch's  leap  over, 
i.  357. 

Nicholas,  R.  C.,  identified  with  the  anti- 
Masons,  i.  302,  309,  336;  at  convention, 
i.  366,  452. 

Nichols,  Asher  P.,  Comptroller  of  New 
York,  i.  348. 

Nicholson,  James  B.,  on  Board  of  Charity, 
i.  628;  ii.  145. 

Nicolev,  John,  telegram  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii. 
434. " 

"Niles  Register,"  edited  by  Hezekiah 
Niles,  i.  467. 

Noah,  Benjamin,  supports  Mr.  Crawford 
for  President,  i.  107. 

Noah,  M.  M.,  merchant,  New  York,  i.  59; 
editor  of  '"New  York  National  Advo 
cate,"  i.  73;  editor  of  "  New  York  Cou 
rier,"  i.  352. 

Noble,  Butler  G.,  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii. 
317. 

North  Carolina  "swindled  into  secession," 
ii.  333. 

Northern  and  Southern  extremists,  ii.  305. 

Norton,  Ebenezer  F.,  elected  to  Congress, 
i.  338,  339. 

Norton,  Human,  elected  to  Assembly,  i. 
309. 

Norwich,  N.  Y.,  ii.  15. 

Nott,  Rev.  Dr.,  sermon  and  lectures  of,  i. 
154;  mentioned,  i.  365;  concerning  the 
school  question,  i.  484. 

Nullification,  i.  422;  ii.  49,  50. 

Nye,  James  W.,  Senator  in  Congress,  i. 
79;  concerning  agricultural  societies,  i. 
79,  199;  ii.  263. 

Oakley,  Thomas  J.,  eminent  lawyer,  i.  42; 
Federalist  member  of  legislature,  i.  47; 
at  Lafayette  reception,  i.  186,  189;  in 
Assembly,  1818,  i.  39(5;  Attorney-Gen 
eral  of  New  York,  ii.  11,  484. 

O'Connell,  Daniel,  ii.  103,  104. 

O'Conor,  Charles,  ii.  141,  188,  479,  575. 

Officers  competent  to  lead  the  armv,  ii. 
342. 

Official  delinquencies,  ii.  521. 

Ogden,  David  B.,  mentioned,  i.  59;  at  the 
electors'  dinner,  i.  138;  supported  United 
States  Bank,  i.  372;  mentioned,  i.  393; 
legislator  of  1838,  i.  408;  appointed  Sur 
rogate,  ii.  73. 

Ogden,  Isaac,  leader  of  Adams  party  in 
1824,  i.  107;  supports  Mr.  Adams  for 
President,  i.  122. 

Ogle,  General  Charles,  in  Congress  con 
cerning  presidential  election,  i.  490;  of 
Pennsylvania,  ii.  84. 


INDEX. 


G03 


Olcott,  T.  W.,  member  of  Albany  Regcn-  | 
oy,   i.  8,  103;   ii.   550  ;    friendship  with 
Thurlow  Weed,  i.  9;  an  old  resident  of 
Albany,   i.  447  ;    an    enlightened    hard 
money  man,  ii.  535. 

Old  age  and  its  surroundings,  ii.  568. 

"Old  Elm  Tree"  establishment,  i.  367;  ii. 
124. 

"  Old  Hayes,"  i.  59. 

Old   line 'Whig,    letter  to   Mr.    Weed,    ii. 

Oli pliant  Richard,  editor  at  Oswego,  i.  41. 

"On  to  Richmond,"  ii.  336. 

One  term  for  the  presidency,  ii.  115. 

Onondaga  Hollow,  the  Weed  familv  at,  i. 
20;  ii.  3. 

"  Onondaga  Republican "  established, 
1821,  ii.  17. 

"Ontario  Freeman,"  a  newspaper  contro 
versy  with  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  24. 

"Ontario  Messenger,"  a  Republican  news 
paper,  i.  22. 

"Ontario  Repository,"  a  newspaper,  i.  22. 

Opdyke,  George,  elected  Mayor  of  New 
York,  ii.  322. 

Ordinance  of  1787.  ii.  146. 

Ostrander,  John  I.,  Federal  member  of 
legislature,  i.  47. 

Ostranders,  the,  of  Cooperstown,  i.  36; 
ii.  8. 

Oswego  canal,  Thurlow  Weed's  resolution  j 
concerning  the,  i.  170. 

Packard,  Benjamin  D.,  proprietor  of 
'•  Evening  Journal,"  i.  362. 

Packard  &  Van  Benthuysen,  printers,  i. 
86. 

Paget,  Lord  Clarence,  i.  643. 

Paine,  General,  mentioned,  i.  141. 

Palmer,  Sir  Roundell,  i.  633;  ii.  362. 

Palmerston,  Lady,  has  a  peep  into  the  bag, 
ii.  377. 

Palmerston  Lord,  death  of,  i.  645;  men 
tioned,  ii.  367. 

Paris,  impressions  of,  ii.  106,  109;  in  1851, 
ii.  203. 

Park  Theatre  in  New  York.  i.  59. 

Parker,  Amasa  J.,  i.  626;  ii.  252. 

Parkes,  Joseph,  Barrister  at.  London,  Mr. 
Weed's  dinner  with,  i.  537;  notice  of,  ii. 
387;  letter  from  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  443. 

Parkhurst,  Orson,  action  in  the  abduction 
of  Morgan,  i.  228;  arrest  of,  for  partici 
pation  in  Morgan  affair,  i.  269;  disap 
pearance  of,  i.  270;  statement  concern 
ing  the  Morgan  affair,  i.  327. 

Parliament,   act  of,   abolishing  slavery,  i.  I 
429;  ii.  307. 

"Partnership"  of  Seward,  Weed  and 
Greeley,  ii.  283. 

Parton,  James,  letter  to  Press  Club  dinner, 
ii.  556. 

Party  obligations,  ii.  175. 

Patch,  Sam,  jumps  over  Niagara  Falls,  i. 
357. 

Patterson,  George  W.,  prominent  anti- 
Mason,  i.  336  ;  legislator  of  1832,  i. 
406;  dissolves  anti-Masonic  party,  1. 
425  ;  mentioned,  i.  435;  speaker  of  As- 


semblv,  i.  450,  483;  a  loyal  friend,  ii. 
47;  letter  to  Mr  Weed,  ii.  47,  83,  85, 
434,  445;  elected  Lieutenant-Governor, 
ii.  172;  mentioned,  ii.  470,  49(i. 

''Patriot  War,"  the,  on  Canadian  frontier, 
i.  471. 

Paulding,  Mr.,  author,  interview  with  Mr. 
Weed,  i.  383. 

Pawnee  legislature  frauds,  ii.  240. 

Peabody.  George,  banker,  i.  537;  Mr. 
Weed  visits,  ii.  351 :  a  Union  man,  ii. 
365;  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  365  ;  men 
tioned,  ii.  470. 

Peace  conference,  ii.  440  ;  convention  at 
Washington,  ii.  316;  Greeley's  ill-timed 
pressure  for,  ii.  493-495. 

Peck,  Everard,  publisher  of  the  "Tele 
graph."  i.  95  ;  a  pleasant  settlement 
With,  i.  101  ;  letter  to  Thurlow  Weed, 
concerning  his  election  to  the  Assembly, 
i.  161;  signs  a  petition,  i.  204;  retires 
from  editorship  of  the  "Telegraph,"  i. 
207;  of  anti-Masonic  party,  i.  3-".6;  pro 
prietor  of  Rochester  "Telegraph,"  ii.  20, 
22;  letter  to  Mr.  Weed, 'ii.  22:  men 
tioned,  ii.  195. 

Pellet,  E   P.,  success  as  a  printer,  i.  81. 

Pelts,  concerning  the  making  of,  for  print 
ers,  i,  22;  ii.  193. 

Pendar,  Mr.,  in  London,  i.  538. 

Pendleton,  George  II  ,  nominated  for  Vice- 
President,  ii.  446. 

Penn,  William,  mentioned,  i.  29. 

"People's  Party,"  organization  of  the,  i. 
157. 

Pepys,  Samuel,  mentioned,  i.  419. 

"Perish  commerce,"  etc.,  i.  425. 

Perry,  Commodore,  i.  626. 

Petrie  (General),  George,  of  Washington, 
I).  C.,  i.  36  ;  quartermaster  in  Fortieth 
Regiment  Militia,  i.  38;  member  of  Con 
gress,  i.  149;  friend  of  .Mr.  Weed,  i.  434; 

Peyton,  Bailey,  of  Tennessee,  i.  606;  ii. 
512. 

Phelps,  Benjamin  K.,  letter  from  Mr. 
Weed,  ii.  525. 

Philadelphia,  Union  convention  called  in 
1865,  ii.  452. 

Phillips,  Colonel,  Elijah,  keeper  of  the 
stage-house,  i.  146. 

Phillips,  Rev.  Dr.,  of  New  York.  i.  59. 

Phillips,  Wendell,  "All  liaii  disunion,"  ii. 
305  ;  favors  confiscation,  ii.  457. 

Phinney,  II.  &  E.,  printers  at  Coopers- 
town,  i  36. 

Pictures  in  Rome,  ii.  211. 

Pierce.  Franklin,  elected  President  in  1853, 
ii.  219;  his  rise  and  fall,  ii.  219  ;  the 
supple  tool  of  slaverv,  ii.  220;  letter  to 
Jefferson  Davis,  ii.  334. 

Pierrepont.  Edwards,  counsel  in  a  libel 
suit,  i.  529;  mentioned,  ii.  462. 

Pierson,  Henry  L.,  i.  561. 

Pierson,  Isaac,  leader  of  Adams  party  in 
1824,  i.  107;  Democratic  supporter  of 
Mr.  Adams,  i.  119;  legislator,  i.  394;  a 
legislator  of  1818,  i.  395. 

"Pioneer,"  the,  a  six-day  line  frem  Roch 
ester  to  Albany,  i.  99;  "ii.  18. 


604 


INDEX. 


Pitcher,  Lieutenant -Governor  Nathaniel, 
message  of,  concerning  Morgan,  i.  258. 

Pitkin,  Timothy,  emancipation  project  of, 
i.  428. 

Pius  IX.,  ii.  207. 

Platt  (Major),  Charles  L.,  meeting  with 
Lafayette,  i.  185,  186. 

Platt,  Ezra,  a  Mason,  action  in  the  abduc 
tion  of  Morgan,  i.  228;  testimony  of,  on 
Morgan  affair,  i.  262. 

Platt,  James,  delegate  to  convention,  i.  89. 

Platt,  Jonas,  lawyer,  i.  30. 

Platt  (Major  L. ),  officer  of  the  Revolution, 
i.  55. 

Pleasanton  (Major-General ).  Alfred,  letter 
to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  180. 

Political  firm  of  Seward,  Weed  £  Greeley 
dissolved,  ii.  277. 

Politics,  the  gossip  of,  in  1852,  ii.  217. 

Polk,  James  K.,  mentioned,  i.  62;  nomi 
nated  for  President,  ii.  Ill);  mentioned, 
ii.  124,  133,  136,  304. 

Pompey.  town  of,  i.  147. 

Pontius  Pilate,  defense  of,  by  Thurlow 
Weed,  i.  70. 

Popluim,  Major,  meeting  with  Lafayette,  i. 
185,  186. 

Porter,  James,  member  of  "  Albany  Re 
gency."  i.  8,  103. 

Porter,  Miss,  authoress,  i.  560. 

Porter,  John  K.,  mentioned,  ii.  496. 

Porter  (General),  Peter  B.,  mentioned,  i. 
37;  in  the  assault  upon  Fort  Erie,  i.  64; 
commissioner  of  Erie  canal,  i.  72;  votes 
cast  for,  as  Governor,  i.  82;  supports  Mr. 
Clay  for  President,  i.  107,  12-2;  at  the 
electors'  dinner,  i.  137;  of  Black  Rock,  i. 
141;  mentioned,  i.  181;  letter  to  Mr. 
Clay  for  political  purposes,  i.  35.0. 

Porter,  Timothy  H.,  elected  Senator,  i. 
337;  elected  to  Assembly,  i.  309. 

Porter-houses,  iu  New  York,  in  1815,  i.  54. 

Potter,  Paraclete,  at  Lafavette  reception, 
i.  189. 

Power,  Tyrone,  actor,  i.  59. 

Powers,  James,  a  leading  federalist,  i.  59; 
federal  member  of  legislature,  i.  47;  at 
dinner  with  Lafayette,  i.  199;  a  legisla 
tor,  i.  410. 

Prague,  ii.  212. 

Prairie  schooners,  ii.  149. 

Prehle  (Commodore),  mentioned,  i.  35. 

Prentice,  Ezra  P.,  old  citizen  of  Albany,  i. 
447. 

Presidential  campaign  of  1848,  Mr.  Weed's 
position,  i.  570:  ii.  172  ;  of  1840,  i.  490; 
ii.  77-87;  of  1823-24,  movements  in  leg 
islature  concerning,  i.  105,  107. 

Presidential  chances,  in  1876,  ii.  518- 

Presidential  contest,  the,  of  1823-24,  i. 
122-138;  of  1832,  preparing  for,  i.  349. 

Presidential  electors,  concerning  the  choos 
ing  of,  i.  105;  concerning  a  bill  for,  i. 
108;  message  of  Governor  Yates,  con 
cerning,  i.  116;  legislature  convened  to 
choose,  i.  122. 

Presidential  question,  in  1844,  ii.  118,  125; 
in  185-2,  ii.  198,  215,  219;  in  1856,  ii.  245; 
in  1860,  ii.  259-302;  in  1864,  ii.  444-448; 


in  1868,  ii.  457-459;  in  1872,  ii.  485-497; 

in  1876,  ii.  518-524  ;  in  1880,  ii.  542-552. 
Press  Club,  dinner  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  552. 
Prince  Albert,  illness  of,  i.  645;  and  the 

Trent  despatch,  i.  647;  ii.  376,  377. 
Prince  Napoleon,  reception  of  Mr.  Weed, 

i.  639;  a  friend  to  our  government,  ii. 

391,  399. 
"  Prince  of  Schaghticoke,"  soubriquet  for 

Herman  Knickerbocker,  i.  48. 
Prince  of  Wales,  reception,  mentioned,  i. 

185;  ii.  356,  358. 

i  Printing  in  New  York,  in  1816,  ii.  194. 
i  Proclamation  of  Governor  Yates,  conven 
ing  the  legislature,  i.  115,  116. 
I  Protective  tariff,  ii.  201,  202,  511. 
I  Prout,  Roger,  ink  maker,  ii.  194. 
Provence,  ii.  206. 
Pruyn,  John  V.   L  ,  admitted  to  practice 

law,  i.  392;  mentioned,  ii.  ^51. 
Pruyn,   Robert   H.,  .member  of  Governor 

Seward's  staff,  i.  457:  minister  to  Japan, 

i.  458;  a  friend  of  Mr.  Weed's,  ii.  550, 

571.     , 
Putnam,    Captain  Minnesota   Volunteers, 

his  commission  procured  bv  Mr.  Weed, 

ii.  345.  436. 
Public  domain,  squandering  of  the,  ii.  441, 

510. 

Quackenboss,  Herman  J.,  of  Assembly 
1825,  i.  1H6;  service  of,  in  legislature,  i. 
400;  legislator  of  1835,  i.  407. 

Queen  of  England,  efforts  for  peace  con 
cerning  the  Trent  affair,  i.  645;  men 
tioned,  ii.  105,  200,  201,  356,  360,  361, 
376-378. 

Queenstown,  battle  of,  i.  24. 

Questions  for  civil  service  examinations, 
ii.  466. 

Quincy,  Josiah,  ii.  80. 

Rachel,  tragic  actress,  mentioned,  i.  206. 
Radcliffe,  Peter  W.,  senator  and  mayor  in 

New  York,  i.  393. 
Radical,  opposition  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  ii.  445, 

450;  intolerance,  ii.  455. 
Railroad,  opening  of  the  first  in  America, 

i.  380.' 

Randall,  Nicholas  P.,  lawj^er,  i.  87;  ii.  18. 
Randall,    Samuel    S.,    Superintendent    of 

Public  Instruction,  i.  81. 
Randolph,    John,    quoted,   i.  381,  382;  ii. 

538;  appointed  to  Russia,  i.  381. 
Rathburn  (General),  Ransom,  forgeries  of, 

at  Buffalo,  i.  11;  the  store  of,  i."  17. 
Raymond,   Henry  J.,    mentioned,   ii.   190; 

his  friendship  with   Mr.   Weed,   ii.  191; 

inside  history  of  the  Chicago  convention, 

ii.  273;  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  401;  letter 

from  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  436. 
Rebellion,  efforts  to  confine  it  to  the  cotton 

states,  ii.  329. 

Rebellion  incidents,  ii.  341,  343,  435. 
Reconciliation  of    President   Fillmore  and 

Mr.  Weed,  ii.  462. 

Reconstruction  problems,  ii.  453,  523. 
Recusancy  of  the  North  in  the  matter  of 

slavery,  ii.  125. 


IN  DFX. 


G05 


Republican   convention  at  Syracuse,  1856, 
' 


Redficld,   Herman  J.,  United  States  Sen-  !  Robinson,    Jonathan    E.,    a  legislator    of 

ator,   i.   108;  Collector  of   port  of    New  \      1825,  i.  400. 

York,   i.   108;  member  of    Senate,  1825,  i  Robinson,  "  Richelieu,"  ii.  132. 

i.  197;  a  legislator,  i.  410.  Rochester,  John  11.,  sou  of  Colonel    Roch- 

Redfield,  Lewis  H.,  ii.  4,  525. 
Reform  efforts,  ii.  139;  civil  service  reform, 

ii.  462-474. 
Reid,  Whitelaw,  speech  at  birthday  dinner 

in  1880,  ii.  554;  in  conference  with  Mr. 

Weed,  ii.  542. 
"Republican  Agriculturist"  founded,  ii.  8. 


ester  named  for,    i.  98  ;  founifer  of  city 

of  Rochester,  i.  202. 
Rochester,    Judge   William    15.,    appointed 

minister  to  Japan,  i.    17H;    in  Assemblv, 

1818,  i.  390;  president  of  bank,  i.  341." 
Rochester,  early  years   of,  i.  US;  lirst  bank 


at,   i.   104;    nominates  J.  (^.   Adams  for 
President,  i.   105:  growth  of,  i.  202;  the 
theatre   of,  i.    206;  as   a   centre  of  anti- 
masonry,  i.  300;   the  cholera  at,  i.  419. 
Rochester"  "Dail 


ii.  245;  of  1865,  ii.451;  at  Utica  in  1872, 

ii.  485. 
Republican   disaster,   causes  of,    1874,    ii. 

507. 
Re 

th 

flicting  opinions  prev 

as  to  the  renomination  of   Mr.  Lincoln,  j      Mr.  Whittlesey,  i.  310. 

ii.  444;  stronger  than  its  administration,     Rochester  "  Telegraph,"  ii.  20;  Mr.  Weed' 

ii.  521;  its  present  and  future  prospects, 

ii.  55L. 


^publican  partv,  organized  1856,  ii.  241;  j  Rochester   "Daily  Advertiser,"  (taper,    i. 

the  outlook  analyzed,  1856,  ii.  245;  con-         319. 

flicting  opinions  "prevail,  ii.  329;  divided     Rochester  "Republican,"'  paper,  edited  by 


surroundings  at,  ii.  22. 
Rogers,    Sherman  S.,  nominated    for  Lieu 


Republican  presidential  candidate,  A.  Lin-  j      tenant-Governor  in  1876,  ii.  524. 


coln,  ii.  297. 


Romanic,    S.    Ii.,    Speaker   of  Assembly, 


"Republican,"  the,  published  by  Thurlow  !       1822,  i.  397. 

Weed,    i.   87;   introductory   editorial,  i.  |  Rome,  village  of  New  York,  in  1813,  i.31; 

87.  ground   broken  at,  for  Erie  canal,  i.  70. 

Republican  ticket  victorious  in  1817,  i.  395.     Rome,  Italy,  ii.  209. 
Republican  victorv  in    New  York   city  in  I  Room  No.  11,  in  the  Astor  House,  ii.  237. 

1815,  i.  393.  !  Roosevelt.    Clinton,  legislator   of     1837,    i. 

Republicans    and    Federalists,    concerning  I      408. 

the,  i.  4;  in  Chenango  County,  i.  76.  Roosevelt,  James   I.,   legislator  of  1835,  i. 

Republicans,  concerning  Governor  Tomp-         407. 

kins'  accounts,  i.82;  concerning  DeWitt  !  Root,  Erastus,  state  Senator,  i.  45;  opposed 

Clinton,  i.  82.  to  a  certain  canal,  i.  72;  delegate  to  con- 

Resolute,  the,  ii.  406.  volition,  i.  8l):  votes  cast  for,  as  Lieuten- 

Resumption   of    specie    payment,    ii.    498,         ant-Governor,    i.   121 ;  legislative  service 

503.  of,   i.    201;  concerning   the    Morgan    re 

wards  i.254:  visit  of  Mr.  Weed  to,  i. 
341  :  his  political  life,  etc.,  i.  342;  in  As 
sembly,  1818,  i.  396;  legislative  "giant," 

_ __ _  i.    :{!)"" ;   reflected    to    legislature,  i.  401 ; 

Rhinelander,  Dr.,  concerning  the  cholera,  j      Speaker    of    legislature,     1828,    i.    402; 

i.  417.  elected  state  Senator,  i.  479. 

Richardson,    William   A.,   his    incapacity,     Rose,    Leonard   B.,  president   of   anti-Ma 


Revenge  of  an  office-seeker,  ii.  275. 
Reynolds,   Marcus  T.,   lawyer  of  Amster 

dam  village,   i.  154;  as  a  jurist,  i.  447; 

counsel  for  Mr.  Weed  in  libel  suit,  i.  521. 


ii.  520. 

Richmond,  Dean,  bet  concerning  Harrison 
election,  i.  492;  mentioned,  ii.  198,  453. 


sonic  convention,  i.  2o6 
Ross.    William,    vote    concerning    certain 
canal,  i.  72;  at  Lafayette  festivities,  i.  188. 


Riggs,  Isaac,  in  legislature,  i.  110;  supports  \  Rotation  in  office,  ii.  4 


Mr.  Adams,  i.  123. 


Rough,  Captain,  at 


Rin"-,  Zebedee,  Survevor  of  New  York,  ii.  i  Routine  of  Mr.  Weed's  daily  life,  ii.  5 
175.  !  Royal  Arch  degree  in  masonry,  an  attempt 

to  expose  the,  i.  'J5L 

1  Roval  \rch  Masons,  the  charity  of,  i.  22 
,Wles,    Samuel    15.,    legislator   of    1838, 
mecdote  of.  i.  408;  on  Ways  and  Means 
.  458;  mentioned,  i.  626;  ii. 


Ringgold,    Benjamin,    legislator    of    1833  I      to  exp< 

and  1835,  i.  406. 
River  and  Harbor  convention  at  Chicago, 

ii.  147. 
Rives,   Mr.,  American  minister  to  France, 

i.  628. 

Roberts,  Marshall  0.,  i.  626;  ii.  188. 
Roberts,  Moses,  concerning  the  "Morgan 

affair,"  i.  219. 


Robertson,  William  H.,  his  gubernatorial 

candidacy,   ii.  485,    528;  mentioned,    ii. 

550. 
Robinson,  Chief  Justice,  survivor  of  Con 

gress,  1815,  i.  198. 
Robinson,  Hugh,  at  opening  of  first  rail 

road,  i.  386. 


ane 
committee, 


Rush,  Richard,  mentioned,  i.  351  ;  concern 
in"-  letters  of.  i.  378;  condemns  masonry, 
i.  423. 

Russell,  Charles  II.,  i.  502,  625;  action  in 


the  Dorr  rebellion,  i.  531. 


Russell,  David,  at  Baltimore  convention, 
i.  389;  presidential  elector,  i.  137- 

Russell,  Earl,  an  interview  with  Thurlow 
Weed,  i.  639;  ii.  352;  letter  from  Mr. 
Seward,  ii.  353. 


606 


INDEX. 


Russell,  Lady,  i.  644;  ii.  353. 

Russian  fleet  at  New  York  in  the  early 
mouths  of  the  war,  ii.  346. 

Rutherford,  John,  at  Baltimore  conven 
tion,  i.  389. 

Ryckman,  Gerrit  W.,  proprietor  of  Al- 
"bany  "Advertiser,"  i.  48;  editor  and 
Freemason,  i.  412. 

Sackett,  William  A.,  ii.  180. 

Sackett's  Harbor,  attack  of  the  British  on, 
i.  26;  Fortieth  Regiment,  militia,  quar 
tered  at,  i.  38. 

Safety  Fund  Banking  System,  mentioned, 
i.  25;  system  of  banking,  the,  of  Mr. 
Van  Buren,  i.  382. 

Sanford,  Henry  S.,  Mr.  Weed's  acquaint 
ance  with,  i.  028;  diplomatic  service 
abroad,  i.  629;  minister  to  Belgium,  ii. 
326. 

Sanford,  Mitchell,  elected  state  Senator,  i. 
479. 

Sanford,  Nathan,  state  Senator,  i.45;  del 
egate  to  convention,  i.  89;  United  States 
Senator,  i.  393. 

Santa  Anna,  General,  Mexican  war,  i. 
573. 

Santa  Cruz,  island  of,  visit  of  Thurlow 
Weed  to,  i.  1;  residence  in,  ii.  127 

Sardinia,  an  asylum  for  political  refugees, 
ii.  206. 

Savage.  John,  Comptroller  of  New  York, 
i.  348. 

Saratoga  convention  of  1876,  the  last  at 
tended  by  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  522. 

Sargent,   John,  for  Vice-President,  i.  391,  I 
413;  ii.  113. 

Sawyer,  Colonel  Edward,  a  Mason,  con 
cerning  the  Morgan  affair,  i.  218;  in 
dictment  found  against,  i.  231;  sen 
tenced  to  prison,  i.  236. 

Scattered  utterances  on  public  themes,  ii. 
559. 

Schell,  Augustus,  ii.  38. 

Schell,  Richard,  concerning  an  interview 
between  Mr.  Weed  and  Mr.  Bennett,  i. 
616. 

Schoolcraft,  John  L.,  ii.  102,  187. 

Schools,  interest  of  James  Wadsworth  in, 
i.  343;  ii.  551;  the  question  concerning, 
in  New  York,  5.  483:  ii.  102;  meeting 
concerning  the  free  school  law,  i.  500. 

Schoonmaker,  C.  C.,  legislative  service  of, 
i.  201. 

Schurz,  Carl,  speech  at  Chicago  conven 
tion,  ii.  267;  mentioned,  ii.  261. 

Schuyler,  George,  sent  abroad  to  buy 
arms,  i.  629. 

Scotland,  visited,  ii.  106. 

Scott,  Thomas  A.,  Assistant  Secretary  of 
War,  ii.  346. 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  mentioned,  ii.  99,  106, 
381. 

Scott  (General),  Winfield,  mentioned,  i. 
28;  ft  stage-coach  incident,  i.  151;  men 
tioned,  i.  416 ;  in  Mexican  war.  i.  573, 
574;  capture  of  Mexico,  i.  575;  letter  to 
General  Taylor,  i.  575;  relations  with 
Mr.  Weed.  i.  576;  candidate  for  the 


presidency,  i.  576,  578;  mentioned,  i. 
626;  ii.  237;  his  relation  of  the  Chip- 
pewa  breakfast,  i.  650;  passage  to  Eu 
rope  with  Mr.  Weed,  i.  650;  concerning 
a  letter  of,  to  the  French  and  English 
journals  on  the  Trent  affair,  i.  654;  ii. 
350;  his  military  career,  i.  656;  letter  to 
Mr.  Weed,  i.  657;  movement  in  favor 
of,  ii.  167;  his  confidence  of  success,  ii. 
219;  nominated  in  1852,  ii  215;  his 
plan  of  operations  commends  itself  to 
Mr.  Weed,  ii.  336;  opinion  of  officers  in 
the  army,  ii.  342;  returns  home,  1861, 
ii  360,  307. 

"  Scott's  Family  Bible  "  printed,  i.  57. 

Sealed  orders  of  the  Russian  fleet  in  1861, 
ii.  347. 

Seaman,  David,  legislator  of  1824,  i.  399. 

Secession,  progress  of ,  ii.  313. 

Secessionists  and  radical  Republicans  act 
in  concert,  ii.  305,  308. 

Secret  political  organizations,  ii.  225. 

Selden  Dudley,  sustained  the  Stilwell  bill, 
i.  379;  legislator  of  1831,  i.  405. 

Selden,  Henry  R.,  Lieutcnant-Governor  of 
New  York,'i.  100;  ii.  474. 

Selden,  Samuel  L.,  Judge,  at  Rochester,  i. 
100. 

Semi-centennial  of  the  "  Evening  Journal," 
March  22,  1880,  ii.  546. 

Senior,  Nassau  William,  account  of  din 
ner  at  William  L.  Dayton's,  ii.  399. 

"  Seventeen  "  electors,  concerning  the,  i. 
108. 

Seward  (Governor),  William  Henry,  con 
cerning  the  Rathbun  forgeries,  i.  11; 
mentioned,  i.  41  ;  first  meeting  with 
Thurlow  Weed,  i.  139;  at  Auburn,  i. 
143;  opposition  to  his  renomination,  i. 
491;  action  concerning  the  Dorr  rebel 
lion,  i.  530;  concerning  masonry  in  pol 
itics,  5.  299;  prominent  anti-Mason,  i. 
336;  mentioned,  i.  345;  supports  "Even 
ing  Journal,"  i.  361;  elected  state  Sena 
tor,  i.  366;  at  anti-Masonic  convention, 
i.  366;  an  anti-bank  man,  i.  372;  sus 
tained  the  Stilwell  bill,  i.  379;  at  Balti 
more  convention,  i.  389;  friendship  with 
Mr.  Weed,  i.  423;  dissolves  anti-Masonic 
party,  i.  425;  nominated  for  Governor, 
i.  430;  letters  of,  quoted,  i.  431;  nomi 
nated  for  Governor,  i.  452;  election  as 
Governor,  i.  456;  staff  members,  i.  457; 
administration  of,  i.  458;  inauguration 
and  message,  i.  458;  attempted  assassi 
nation  of,  i.  473;  quoted  concerning  pub 
lic  schools,  i.  484;  reflected  Governor,  i. 
494;  a  dead-lock  in  board  of  canvassers 
concerning  election  of,  i.  494;  argument 
in  case  of  libel  suit  against  Horace  Gree- 
ley,  i.  525;  Secretary  of  State  in  Mr. 
Lincoln's  Cabinet,  i.  610,  617,  626;  ii. 
172;  concerning  Mr.  Weed's  mission  to 
Europe,  i.  636;' letter  to  Mr.  Weed  con 
cerning  the  Trent  affair,  i.  640;  visits 
New  England  in  1831,  ii.  41;  nominated 
for  the  state  Senate,  ii.  41;  letter  to  Mr. 
Weed,  ii.  41;  on  the  New  York  election 
in  1838,  ii.62;  elected  Governor  in  1838, 


INDEX. 


607 


ii.  64;  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  99,  127; 
anecdote  of,  ii.  99,  100;  elected  United 
States  Senator,  1849,  ii.  173;  his  "high 
er  law  "  speech,  ii.  183  ;  reflected  to 
Congress  in  1855,  ii.  231;  the  "great 
man"  at  Washington,  ii.  244;  letters  to 
Mr.  Weed,  ii.  244,  256,  201,  307,  319,  323, 
332,  378,  408,  409,  427,  428,  457  ;  and 
Greeley  in  1800,  ii.  2G9  ;  Secretary  of 
State,  ii.  325;  letter  to  Charles  Francis 
Adams,  ii.  351;  letter  to  Earl  Russell,  ii. 
353;  conversation  with  the  Duke  of  New 
castle,  ii.  355  ;  absurd  charges  against 
him,  ii.408;  his  confidence  of  success,  ii.  i 
410. 
Seward,  Weed,  &  Greeley,  the  "firm"  of, 

ii.  554. 
Seward,  Frederick  W.,  his  relations  with 

Mr.  Weed,  ii.  128;  mentioned,  ii.  578. 
Seward,  Hector,  death  of,  i.  188. 
Seward  (Captain),  Nathan,  soldier  of  the 

Revolution,  i.  2(5. 
Seward,  Judge  Samuel  S.,  i.  423'. 
Seward  &  Williams,  concerning  the  print 
ing  office  of,  i.  25;  ii.  12. 
Seymour,  Harris,  concerning  the  "Morgan 
affair,"  i.  219;  indicted  on  Morgan  af 
fair,  i.  248. 

Seymour,  Henry,  father  of  ex-Governor 
Horatio  Sevmiour,  i.  147;  mentioned,  5. 
199. 

Seymour,     Horatio,     ex-Governor,     men 
tioned,  i.  199;  admitted  to  practice  law, 
i.  392;  letter  from  Mr.   Weed,  ii.  427; 
loses   an   opportunity,  ii.  428  ;  inaugu 
rated  Governor,  ii.  429. 
Seymour,  Jonathan,  book  printer,  i.  57. 
Sharpe,  Peter,  legislative  career,  i.  394. 
Sheldon,  Alexander,   delegate  to  conven 
tion,  i.  89;  residence  of,  i.  154;  legisla 
tive  service  of,  i.  201 ;  in  legislature,  i. 
401. 
Sheldon,  Milton,  member  of  legislature,  i. 

154. 
Sheldon,    Smith,   of  publishing  house  of 

Sheldon  &  Co.,  i.  154. 
Sheldon,  John,  indictment  found  against, 

i.  231. 

Sherman,  Roger,  ii.  470. 
Shore,  Isabella,  information  concerning,  i. 

56G. 

"  Siamese  Twin  Party,"  the,  i.  413. 
Sibley,   Derick,   published   the    "Republi 
can,"   i.  95,  97  ;   legislator  of  1835,  i. 
407;  mentioned,  ii.  91. 
Sibley,  Mark  II.,  of  Canandaigua,  i.  140; 

on 'Morgan  affair,  i.  233. 
Signal  lights  are  burning,  ii.  539. 
Signs  of 'the  times  full  of  joy,  in  1840,  n. 

77;  in  1804,  ii.  448. 
Silliman,  Benjamin  1).,  ii.  550. 
Silliman,  Benjamin  F.,  i.  020. 
Silver,  arbitrary  opposition  to,  ii.  513;  as 

money  in  the  Bible,  ii.  540. 
Simonton,  James  W.,  speech  at  the  birth 
day  dinner,  in  1880,  ii.  553. 
"Six  Million  Bank,"  the,  i.  23,  43. 
Skinner,  Rotrcr,  member  of  "Albany  Re 
gency,"  i.  8;  concerning  political  attack 


on  Governor  Clinton,  i.  67 ;  supports  Mr. 
Crawford  for  President,  i.  107. 

Slavery,  act  of  Parliament  abolishing,  i. 
429:  ii.  307;  extension,  reopening  of  the 
question,  ii.  220;  petitions  to  Congress, 
concerning,  i.  427;  petitions  for  its  aboli 
tion  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  in  1837, 
ii.  54;  question,  the,  i.  42(» ;  views  of 
radical  Republicans,  in  1802,  ii.  418; 
Sumner's  speech  at  Worcester  on,  ii. 
418;  Weed's  views  of,  ii.  185;  Whig 
party  opposed  to,  ii.  300. 

Small  bill  question,  the,  i.  444. 

Smith,  Azariah,  merchant,  biographical 
sketch  of,  i.  140;  ii.  4. 

Smith,  Barrage,  leaves  Rochester,  5.  245. 

Smith,  Caleb  B.,  mentioned  for  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  Cabinet,  i.  010;  appointed  Secre 
tary  of  the  Interior,  ii.  325. 

Smith,  Charles  E.,  letter  from  Mr.  Weed, 
ii.  524. 

Smith,  Ezra,  supports  Mr.  Adams,  i.  123. 

Smith,  Gerrit,  marriage  of,  i.  35;  married 
daughter  of  Colonel  Fitzhugh,  i.  98; 
prominent  anti-Mason,  i.  330;  wife  of, 
mentioned,  i.  340;  ii.  305;  letter  to  Mr. 
\Veed,  ii.  453. 

Smith.  Joseph,  the  Mormon  prophet,  i. 
359. 

Smith,  Truman,  ii.  183. 

Smith,  Vivus  W.,  friendship  with  Mr. 
Weed,  i.  435;  ii.  4;  letter  to  Mr.  Weed, 
ii.  433;  letter  from  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  507. 

Smith  family,  the,  legislative  service  of, 
i.  201. 

Social  life  in  old  New  York,  ii.  481. 

South  Carolina,  ready  to  form  a  Southern 
Confederacy,  ii.  303;  the  demands  of, 
December,  "1800,  ii.  315. 

Southwick.  Solomon,  editor  of  "Albany 
Register,"  i.  43;  speculation  in  lotteries, 
i.  40;  candidate  for  Governor,  i.  86;  nom 
inated  for  Governor,  i.  300;  ii.  5. 
I  Specie  payment,  suspension  of,  i.  450;  re 
sumption  of,  ii.  498. 

Spencer,  Judge  Ambrose,  concerning  the 
"Six  Million  Bank,"  i.  43;  and  the 
senatorship,  i.  10(5,  107;  becomes  an  anti- 
Mason,  i.  273;  as  a  jurist,  i.  447;  ii.  39. 

Spencer,  John  C.,  of  Canandaigua,  i.  140; 
on  defense  of  Morgan  affair,  i.  233;  bill 
of,  concerning  Morgan,  i.  258;  promi 
nent  anti-Mason,  i.  330;  recommends 
Mr.  Gardiner  for  judge,  i.  339;  sustained 
the  Stilwell  bill,  i.  379;  at  Baltimore 
convention,  i.  389;  legislative  "giant," 
i.  397:  legislator  of  1831,  i.  405;  dis 
solves  anti-Masonic  party,  i.  425;  Secre- 
tarv  of  State,  i.  459;  concerning  the  re 
turns  of  the  Seward  reelection,  i.  493, 
494,  appointed  Secretary  of  War  by 
President  Tyler,  i.  517;  ii.  4;  letter  to 
Mr.  Weed,  if.  43,  60,  116;  letter  from  Mr. 
Weed,  ii.  118. 
!  Spencer,  Joshua  A.,  lawyer,  i.  27. 

Spencer,  Julius,  i.  148;  mentioned,  i.  28. 

Spencer,  Philip,  executed  for  mutiny  on 
board  brig  Somers,  i.  515. 

Spencer,  Dr.  Thomas,  physician,  i.  28. 


608 


INDEX. 


Spencer,  William,  attempted  chastisement  ! 
of  Gorham  A.  Worth,  i.  49. 

Spinner,  Francis  E.,  Treasurer  of  United 
States,  i.  34. 

Spofford  &  Tileston,  merchants  of  New 
York,  i.  502;  ii.  339. 

Squandering  of  the  public  domain,  ii.  510. 

St.  Paul's  Church,  London,  ii.  105. 

St.  Peter's,  illumination  01,  ii.  210. 

Stage-coach  traveling  in  1824,  i.  140. 

Stamford,  town  of  Connecticut,  i.  1;  ii.  1. 

Stanford,  Leland,  ii.  471. 

Stanley,  Lord,  i.  512. 

Stanlv,  Edward,  concerning  nullification,  | 
i.  422;  leading  Whig,  i.  442;  Secretary 
of  War  in  President  Taylor's  Cabinet,  i. 
590. 

Stanton,  Edwin  M.,  coup  d'etat  thwarted 
by,  ii.  331. 

Stanton,  Henry  B.,  political  career,  i.  159. 

Stanton  and  Seward,  union  of,  ii.  332. 

Statesmen  of  pure  character  needed,  ii. 
501. 

Steamboat  Columbia,  incident  of  the,  i. 
477. 

Steamboats  adapted  to  the  use  of  coal,  i. 
387. 

Stephens,  Alexander  H.,  ii.  176,  259. 

Stephens,  John  L.,  author  of  ''  Travels  in 
Egypt,"  etc.,  deatli  of,  i.  435. 

Stevens  (General),  Ebcnezer,  ofHcer  of  the 
Revolution,  i.  55,  185. 

Stevens,  Samuel,  secretary  of  a  conven 
tion,  i.  120;  member  of  Assembly  of 
1825,  i.  105;  nominated  Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor,  i.  3(57;  success  as  a  lawyer,  i.40(). 

Stevens,  Thaddeus,  at  convention  at  Balti 
more,  i.  389;  at  Chicago,  ii.  202. 

Stetson,  Charles  A.,  i.  025;  ii.  250. 

Stewart,  A.  T.,  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  318, 
411;  mentioned,  ii.  382. 

Stewart,  Alvan,  lawyer  of  Utica,  i.  35. 

Stilwell,  John  &  Kibbe,  incident  of,  con 
cerning  Mr.  Crawford  for  President,  i. 
124. 

Stilwell,  Silas  M..  bill  of,  abolishing  im 
prisonment  for  debt,  i.  379;  nominated 
for  Lieutenant-Governor,  i.  430. 

Stocking,  Samuel,  of  Utica,  i.  30. 

Stone,  William  L.,  marriage  of,  i.  37;  edi 
tor  of  several  papers,  i.  33;  in  Lafayette 
party,  i.  180:  quoted,  concerning  tlie  di 
visions  of  Freemasons,  i.  245:  account 
of  trial  of  Elisha  Adams,  i.  280-295  ; 
mentioned,  i.  358,  300;  ii.  4,  20,  195. 
Storrs,    Henry   R.,   lawyer,    i.    31;    men 
tioned,  i.  418;  a  dinner  with,  i.  537. 
Stower,  John  G.,  a  dinner  with,  i.  537. 
Strachau,  John,  i.  501. 
Stranahan  (Colonel),  Farrand,  of  Otsego, 

i.  24;  lawyer  at  Cooperstown,  i.  102. 
Strikes  and  unions,  ii.  512. 
Strong,  Judere  Elisha,  mentioned,  i.  158. 
Strong,  I.  C.',  ii.  33. 
Strong,  Oliver  R.,  meeting  Mr.  Weed,  i. 

Strong,  Samuel,  political  worker,  i.  449. 
Stryker,  John,  legislator  of  1835,  i.  407. 
Stu'rgis,  Jonathan,  i*  £02. 


Sudani,  John,  leading  Federalist,  i.  84. 

Suffrage,  c  nceniing,  i.  89;  ii.  501. 

Summerfield,  Rev.  John,  i.  61. 

Sumner,  Charles,  i.  017;  assault  upon,  ii. 
250;  lecture  in  New  York,  ii.  308  ;  on 
slavery  and  the  war,  ii.  418. 

Sunstroke  in  18l>8,  ii.  475. 

Supreme  question,  the,  immediately  before 
the  war,  ii.  315. 

Swartwout,  Samuel,  bet  of  Thurlow  Wood 
with,  i.  137. 

Swartwout,  Mr.,  a  legislator  of  1821,  i.  397. 

Swett,  Leonard,  mentioned,  i.  334;  con 
cerning  Mr.  Lincoln's  nomination,  i.  G02; 
an  early  supporter  of  Lincoln,  ii.  291; 
his  reminiscences  of  the  Chicago  conven 
tion,  ii.  L)(.«.'J:  letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  29^; 
concerning  Mr.  Lincoln's  cabinet,  i.  611 ; 
letter  to  Mr.  \\Ved.  ii.  301. 

Swindling  emigrants  at  New  York,  ii.  138. 

Syracuse,  village  of,  in  1824,  i.  144. 

Syracuse  convention,  1850,  ii.  180. 

Talcott,  S.  A.,  member  of  "Albany  Re- 
gencv,"  i.  8. 

Taliafe'rro,  John,  leading  Whig,  i.  442. 

Talhnadge,  Governor  of  Wisconsin,  ii.  121. 

Tallmadge,  James,  delegate  to  convention, 
i.  89;'  leader  of  Adams  party  in  1824, 
i.  107;  votes  cast  for  him  for  Senator, 
i.  108. 

Tallmadge,  General,  concerning  his  nomi 
nation  for  Governor,  i.  109 ;  concerning 
removal  of  Governor  Clinton,  i.  113; 
concerning  the  electoral  law,  i.  110;  Mr. 
Weed's  political  tour  for,  i.  118;  elected 
Lieutenant-Governor,  i.  119-121;  at  the 
electors'  dinner,  i.  138;  the  breach  be 
tween  Governor  Clinton  and,  i.  178; 
disappointment  at  not  receiving  his  mis 
sion,  i.  183. 

Tallmadge,  Nathaniel  P.,  in  Lafayette 
party,  i.  180;  at  Lafayette  reception,  i. 
189  f  mentioned,  i.  402;  nominated  for 
Senator  and  defeated,  i.  400;  presents 
petition  of  Missouri,  ii.  12. 

Tammany  Hall,  measure  concerning  a  cer 
tain  canal,  i.  73. 

Taney,  Roger  11,  appointed  Secretary  of 
Treasury,  i.  424;  decision  in  the  Dred 
Scott  case,  ii.  251. 

Tappan,  Arthur  &  Lewis,  formation  of 
Anti-Slavery  Society,  i.  430. 

Tariff  of  1842  working  wonders,  ii.  131. 

Tariff,  free  trade  and  protection,  ii.  202; 
and  the  public  domain,  ii.  511. 

Tavlor,  Henry  W.,  speech  on  small  bill 
question,  i.  445 ;  on  prosecution  of 
Morgan  affair,  i.  233  ;  speech  concerning 
the  "small  bill  question,  i.  444;  at  con 
vention,  i.  452. 

Taylor  (Governor),  John,  meeting  organ 
ized  by  i.  112 ;  presidential  elector,  i.  137  ; 
incident  of  a  dinner  with  Mr.  Thompson, 
i.  390  ;  mentioned,  ii.  470. 

Taylor,  John,  notice  of,  ii.  138. 

Taylor,  J.  P.,  support  of  General  Taylor, 
i*.  577;  married  daughter  of  Mr.  John 
McLean,  i.  182. 


INDEX. 


GOO 


Taylor  (Colonel),  Joseph  P.,  recommends 
McClellan,  Sherman,  and  Tyler  as  the 
most  promising  officers,  ii.  342. 

Taylor  (ColonelJ,  J.  T.,  meeting  with  Mr. 
Weed,  i.  571. 

Taylor,  .Moses,  i.  502. 

Tavlor  (General),  Zachary,  mentioned,  i. 
182;  relations  with  Mr".  Weed,  i.  570; 
suggested  for  the  presidency,  i.  571 ; 
chances  for  securing  the  presidency,  i. 
572;  close  of  the  Mexican  campaign,  i. 
573  ;  close  of  military  career,  i.  575; 
goes  to  his  plantation  near  Baton  Rouge, 
i.  575;  Whig  administration,  guaranties 
fora,  i.  576;  presidential  campaign,  his 
prospects,  i.  577:  nominated jn  the  Whig 
national  convention,  i.  578;  elected  Pres 
ident,  i.  586;  concerning  the  administra-  , 
tion  of.  i.  589;  the  Cabinet  of,  i.  590;  j 
death  of,  i.  591:  character  of,  i.593;  sug 
gested  as  Whig  candidate,  ii.  165-167; 
elected  President,  ii.  171 ;  his  views  of 
party  obligations,  ii.  175;  interview  with 
Mr/ Weed,  ii.  177;  his  patriotism,  ii. 
177;  disunion  is  treason,  ii.  178;  letter 
to  Jefferson  Davis,  ii.  179. 

Telegram,  Seward  to  Weed,  ii.  339;  Cam 
eron  to 'Weed,  ii.  339. 

"Telegraph,"  the,  newspaper,  i.  158. 

Telegraph,  first  experiment  with  the,  i. 
386. 

Telegraphs  before  the  electric,  ii.  20. 

Tennant,  Sir  J.  Emerson,  i.  633;  ii.  411. 

Texas,  a   controlling   topic  in  elections  of 

1844,  ii.  112;  question,  ii.  123  ;  admitted 

1845,  ii.  132. 

The  public  domain,  ii.  441. 

The  second  Lincoln  canvass,  ii.  446. 

Theatre,  the,  of  Rochester,  i.  206;  Mr. 
Weed  at  in  New  York,  ii.  570. 

Third  term  opposed,  ii.  508. 

Third  year  of  the  war,  ii.  431. 

Thompson,  Judire,  nominated  for  Governor 
by  national  Republicans,  i.  304. 

Thome,  Stephen,  supports  Mr.  Adams  for 
President,  i.  122,  449. 

Thorpe,  Charles,  ii.  14. 

Throop,  Judge,  pronounces  sentence  on  the 
abductors  "of  Morgan,  i.  236;  mentioned, 
i.  41,  143,  198.  232,  340;  nominated  for 
Governor,  i.  367;  elected  Governor  of 
New  York,  ii.  40. 

Throop,  George  B.,  of  Auburn,  i.  143. 

Throop,  Simon  G.,  Judge  in  Pennsylvania, 
i.81. 

Tibbitts,  George,  member  of  Thompson 
committee,  i.  304. 

Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  elected  Governor,  ii. 
505. 

Tillotson,  Midshipman,  concerning  mutiny 
on  board  brig  Somers,  i.  516. 

"Times  "  (London),  Mr.  Weed's  letter  to, 
on  the  Trent  affair,  ii.  355;  comments 
on  Mr.  Weed's  letter  about  the  Trent 
affair,  ii.  359;  comments  on  Emperor's 
speech,  ii.  399. 

Toasts  given  at  reception  of  General  La 
fayette  at  West  Point,  i.  187;  at  a  Web 
ster  dinner,  ii.  478. 

6* 


Tomatoes,  first  grown  in  Rochester,  i.  205. 
Tompkins,  Daniel  1).,  elect.  1  Governor  of 
New  York,  i.  5;  mentioned,  i.  23,  21), 
43,  56,  8!),  106;  elected  Vice-President, 
i.  82;  reception  at  Albany,  i.  84;  an  in 
cident  of  the  Tompkins-Clinton  canvass, 
ii.  16. 

Tompkins,   Jonathan  G.,  delegate  to  con 
vention  1801,  i.  2i!0. 
Tompkins,  Minthorne,   legislator  of  1833, 

i.  40G. 
Toombs,  Robert,  concerning  admission  of 

California,  i.  617;  ii.  176,  490. 
Topeka,  constitution  of  K;ui>;is,  ii.  240. 
Torrens,  McCullagh,  of  London,  i.  643,  ii. 

352. 
Tory,  name  applied  to  the  Jackson  party, 

ii"  48. 

Total  abstinence  question,  ii.  151,  153. 
Town,  Charles,  legi>lator  of  1824,  i.  399. 
Townsend,   Isaiah,  mentioned,    i.  68,  112, 

447. 

Townsend,  John,  concerning  bank  charter, 
i.  106:  at  op-ningof  lirst  railroad,  i.386; 
dissolves  anti-Masonic  party,  i.  425;  as. 
a  merchant,  i.  447. 

Townsend,  Peter,  of  Canandaigua,  i.  140. 
Tracv,  Albert  IL,  ii.  20;  letters  to  Mr. Weed, 
ii.  31,  32,  49:  votes  cast  lor  him  for  Sen 
ator,  i.  168;  letters  to  Thurlow  Weed 
concerning  United  States  Senator,  i.  169, 
170;  efforts  to  pass  the  Niagara  bill,  i. 
173;  letter  to  Thurlow  Weed  on  election 
of  President  Adams,  i.  173;  on  General 
Jackson's  chances  of  the  presidency,  i. 
173;  letter  to  Mr.  Weed  concerning  Gov 
ernor  Clinton's  appointment  to  Court  of 
St.  James,  i.  177;  concerning  political 
anti-masonry,  i.  299;  prominent  anti- 
Mason,  i.  336;  elected  to  Senate,  i.  339; 
attempts  to  be  president  of  bank,  i.  340; 
at  convention,  i.  366;  mentioned,  i.  390; 
president  of  convention,  i.  413;  separa 
tion  from  his  party,  i.  421 ;  member  of 
Congress,  i.  256;  reiilected,  i.  443;  re- 
nominated,  i.  453. 

Tracy,  Uri,  Senator  in  Congress,  i.  77.  ^ 
Tract  societies,   organization   of,    in   New 

York,  i.  56;  ii.  307. 

Traitors  weeded  out  of  Buchanan's  Cabi 
net,  ii.  332. 

Treason,  charge  of,  against  Seward,  ii.  330. 
Treaty  of  Utrecht,  ii.  397. 
Tree, "Ellen,  actress,  i.  59. 
Trent  affair,  tiie,  agitation  in  England,  i. 
639;    Mr.    Weed's    interview   with    Earl 
Russell  concerning,  i.   643;  the  Queen's 
action    concerning    the,    i.    646;    Prince 
Albert's  action  concerning,  i.  647;  mem 
orandum  of  the(^ueen  and  Prince  Albert, 
ii.  377:  capture  of  the   Trent  by  Com 
modore  Wilkes,  ii.  34S;  comments  of  the 
London  "Times,"    ii.  359;  ^settled  and 
commissioners  released,  ii.  378. 
Trent  case  decided  in  a  week.  ii.  409. 
True  reform  agencies  ii.  472. 
Tucker,  Gideon,  legist,,,-  ,,f  1830,  ,404.. 
Tucker,  James   W.,  legislator  of   1837,  l. 
407. 


610 


INDEX. 


Turner,  Orsamus,  trial  of.  on  Morgan  affair, 
i.  259,  202,  2(55;  testimony  of,  i.  276,  278. 

"Tyburn  Hill  Dictator,"  'meaning  Judge 
Spencer,  i.  43. 

Tyler,  Asher,  i.  21,  452. 

Tvler,  John,  President,  nominated  for 
'Vice-President,  i.  482;  elected,  i.  494; 
acting  President,  i.  506;  goes  over  to 
Democratic  party,  i.  507;  nominated  for 
Vice-President,  *ii.  77 ;  succeeds  Presi 
dent  Harrison,  ii.  93;  resignation  of  his 
Cabinet,  ii.  94. 

Ulshoeffer,  Michael,  mentioned,  i.  59,  73; 

a  legislator  of  1818,   i.  395;  a  legislator 

of  1821,  i.  397. 
Union  convention  at  Philadelphia  in  1865, 

ii.  452. 
Union  ticket,  the,  made  from  the  Adams 

and  Crawford  tickets,  i.  123. 
United  States,  incapacity  of  Europeans  to 

comprehend  the  magnitude  of,  ii.  409. 
Universalist  Church  in  New  York,  i.  60. 
Utica,  convention  at,  in  August,  1824,  i. 

117;  in  the  war  of  1812,  i.  26;  prominent 

citizens  of,  i.  30;  Republican  convention 

in  1872,  ii.  485. 
Utrecht,  treaty  of  1713,  ii.  397. 

Valedictory  to  the  Albany  "  Evening 
Journal,"  ii.  431. 

Van  Benthuysen,  Charles,  mentioned  in 
Mr.  Weed's  will,  577. 

Van  Benthuysen,  Obadiah,  in  New  York 
for  a  copy  of  President's  message,  i.  369. 

Van  Buren,  John,  son  of  Martin  Van  Bu- 
ren,  i.  69;  legislature  of  1829,  i.  403. 

Van  Buren,  Martin,  member  of  "Albany 
Regency,"  i.  8;  mentioned,  i.  25;  state 
Senator,  i.  45,  47:  concerning  a  political 
attack  on  Governor  Clinton,  i.  67,  68; 
heads  a  faction  of  Republican  party,  i.  67; 
measure  concerning  Erie  and  Champlain 
canal,  i.  73;  originated  the  term  "non 
committal,"  i.  74;  chief  of  the  "  Albany 
Regency,"  i.  103;  as  candidate  for  Pres 
ident  in  1824,  i.  107;  delegate  to  consti 
tutional  convention,  i.  200;  his  power, 
i.  118;  when  a  law  student,  i.  162;  Dem 
ocratic  candidate  for  President,  i.  442; 
elected  Governor  of  New  York,  i.  307; 
concerning  Mr.  Tracy  for  judge,  i.  340; 
appointed  minister  to  England,  i.  375; 
letter  from  Silas  Wright,  concerning  his 
political  views,  i.  376;  his  banking  sys 
tem,  i.  382;  ii.  11 ;  "  my  sufferings  is  in 
tolerable,"  ii.  173;  renominated  in  1840 
as  the  Democratic  candidate,  ii.  80. 

Van  Cortlandt,  Philip,  in  Lafavette  party, 
i.  186. 

Van  Cortlandt,  Pierre,  a  Whig  elector,  i. 
491. 

Vanderbilt,  Cornelius,  mentioned,  i.  52; 
anecdote  of,  ii.  381. 

Vanderpoel,  Aaron,  in  legislature,  1826,  i. 
401. 

Van  Dervoort,  James,  death  of,  i.  4. 

Van  Ness,  William  W.,  delegate  to  con 
vention,  i.  89 ;  at  dinner  with  Lafayette, 


i.  190;  judge  in  the  case  of  Miss  Knowl- 
son,  i.  489. 

Van  Rensselaer,  Henrv,  at  convention,  i. 
452. 

Van  Rensselaer,  Jacob  Rutsen,  Federal 
member  of  legislature,  i.  47;  at  dinner 
with  Lafayette,  i.  190. 

Van  Rensselaer,  Stephen,  at  Rome,  N  Y., 
i.  70;  commissioner  of  Erie  canal,  i.  71: 
delegate  to  convention,  i.  88;  votes  for 
Mr.  Adams  for  President,  i.  172;  dele 
gate  to  convention,  1821,  i.  199;  delegate 
to  convention,  1801,  i.  200;  in  Assem 
bly  in  1818,  i.  396;  incident  at  house  of, 
i.*435;  death  of,  i.  461;  nominated  for 
Congress,  ii.  17. 

Van  Sanvoord,  Abram,  friend  of  Thurlow 
Weed,  i.  30. 

Van  Schaick,  Myndert,  legislator  of  1832, 
i.  406. 

Van  Vechten,  Abraham,  delegate  to  con 
vention,  i.  88,  199. 

Van  Vechten  Abram,  as  a  jurist,  5:  447. 
I  Van  Vechten,  Tennis,  mentioned,  i.  112. 

Van  Vechten,  Stephen,  delegate  to  con 
vention,  1801,  i.  200. 

Van  Wyck,  Pierre  C.,  mentioned,  i.  54; 
ii.  458,  487. 

Varian,  Isaac  L.,  legislator  of  1831,  i.  405; 
specimen  of  his  spelling,  i.  405;  mayor 
of  New  York,  ii.  7. 

Variek  (Colonel),  Richard,  officer  of  the 
Revolution,  i.  55;  meeting  with  Lafay 
ette,  i.  185,  186. 

Vassar,  Matthew,  at  Lafayette  reception, 
i.  189. 

Vernon,  town  of,  i.  148. 

Verplanck,  Gulian  C-,  merchant,  New 
York,  i.  59  ;  editor  of  the  "  American," 
i.  118;  election  to  Assembly  of  1821,  i. 
397,  399;  becomes  a  Whig,  K  430;  men 
tioned,  i.  626;  ii.  398,  399. 
i  Vesey,  William  H.,  consul  at  Havre,  ii. 
326. 

Vexations  of  European  travel,  ii.  211. 

Victoria,  Queen,  qualities  of,  ii.  200;  mem 
orandum  on  the  affair  of  the  Trent,  ii. 
377,  416. 

Vienna,  ii.  212. 

Virginia  justice,  ii.  258. 

Virginia,  the  secession  of,  ii.  370. 

Visits  to  Europe,  ii.  102,  200,  349,  460. 

Wade,  Benjamin,  ii.  305. 

Wr.dsworth,  James,  duel  of  with  Oliver 
Kane,  i.  153;  early  settler  of  Rochester, 
i.  202;  concerning  political  anti-ma 
sonry,  i.  299;  his  work  in  the  cause  of 
education,  i.  343;  letter  of.  refusing 
nomination,  i.  344;  tribute  to,  ii.  551. 

Wadsworth,  James  S  ,  nominated  for  Gov 
ernor,  ii.  425;  progress  of  the  canvass, 
ii.  425,  426. 

Wadsworth,  James  W.,  mentioned,  ii.  551. 

Wadsworth,  General  William,  president  of 
Masonic  convention,  i.  256  ;  mentioned, 
i.  343. 

Walker,  Robert  J.,  in  London,  i.  538  ;  ii. 
201. 


INDEX. 


611 


Walker,  Thomas,  publisher  of  "Colum 
bian  Gazette,"  i.  27;  of  Utica,  i.  30;  ii. 
195. 

Wai  pole,  Horace,  mentioned,  i.  151;  ii. 
387. 

Walworth,  Chancellor,  ii.  153. 

War  begun,  ii.  327  ;  for  the  Union,  ii.  335; 
forced,  not  on  the  South,  but  on  the 
North,  ii.  375;  the  third  year  of,  ii.  431. 

War  of  1812,  concerning  some  regiments 
for,  i.  24;  ii.  371. 

Ward  (Captain),  Aaron,  representative  in 
Congress,  i.  43  ;  married  daughter  of  El- 
kanah  Watson,  i.  70. 

Ward,  Henry  Dana,  edited  the  "Anti- 
Masonic  Review,"  i.  310;  at  Baltimore 
convention,  i.  389. 

Ward,  John,  merchant  of  New  York,  i. 
502,  G25. 

Warren,  Stephen,  leader  of  Adams  party 
in  1824,  i.  107. 

Washington,  George,  oration  on,  by  Cap 
tain  lloudin,  i.  48  ;  letter  concerning 
certain  canals,  i.  71;  mentioned,  i.  188;  i 
letter  concerning  imprisonment  of  Lafay 
ette,  i.  193;  mentioned,  i.  210;  life  of, 
reviewed  by  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  28;  "in  his 
Continental  robes,"  ii.  233. 

Washington,  peace  convention  in,  Febru 
ary,  1861,  ii.  316. 

Waterman,  Jeremiah,  mentioned,  i.  112. 

Watertown,  town  of,  i.  40. 

Watkins,  Dr.  Tobias,  defalcation  of,  i.  179. 

Watson,  Dr.  Alexander  H.,  physician  to 
Mr.  Weed.  i.  531. 

Watson,  Elkanah,  an  agricultural  philan 
thropist,  i.  79. 

Wattles,  Miss  Theodosia,  of  Cincinnatus, 
i.  19. 

Weaver,  Judge  Jacob,  incident  of,  i.  149. 

Webb,  Henry  Y.,  political  worker,  i.  449. 

Webb  (Colonel),  J.  Watson,  editor  "Cou 
rier  and  Enquirer,"  i.  369  ;  supported 
United  States  Bank,  i.  372;  libel  suit  of 
J.  Fenimore  Cooper  against,  i.  521; 
Taylor  committee,  member  of  the,  i.  577; 
first  applies  the  name  of  Whig,  ii.  48  ; 
letter  to  Mr.  Weed,  ii.  526;  letter  from 
Mr.  Weed,  ii.  527. 

Weber  (Major),  Jacob  P.,  Commandant, 
Fortieth  Regiment  militia,  i.  38;  trepi 
dation  of,  at  Sackett's  Harbor,  i.  150, 
151. 

Webster,  Daniel,  speech  supporting  the 
United  States  Bank,  i.  372,  374;  men 
tioned,  i.  438;  a  candidate  for  presiden 
cy,  i.  443  ;  Secretary  of  State,  i.  506; 
speech  to  Whig  members  of  Congress,  i. 
508;  urged  for  the  presidency,  i.  575; 
Mr.  Weed,  relations  with,  i.  576;  Whig 
national  convention,  candidate  for  the 
presidential  nomination,  i.  578  ;  at  the 
head  of  President  Fillmore's  Cabinet,  i. 
596  ;  concerning  Washington  Irviug's 
appointment  to  Spain,  i.  627;  predicts 
political  division  between  unionists  and 
disunionists,  ii.  49  ;  his  political  pros 
pects,  ii.  49;  Mr.  Weed's  remarks  on  his 
election  to  the  United  States  Senate,  ii. 


27;  as  presidential  candidate,  ii.  76;  de 
clines  to  be  a  candidate  for  the  vice- 
presidency  under  Harrison,  ii.  77;  letter 
to  Mr.  \Veed,  ii.  95,  135;  declines  the 
vice-presidency  with  Tavlor.  ii.  168;  to 
R.  M.  Hlatchford,  ii.  183;'  his  7th  of 
March  speech,  ii.  183,  482  ;  an  unful 
filled  prediction,  ii.  382;  prediction  as  to 
John  E.  Denison,  ii.  388. 

Webster  dinner  in  New  York  in  1831,  ii. 
477. 

Webster,  Ephraim,  white  boy,  among 
Onondaga  Indians,  biographical  sketch 
of,  i.  145. 

Webster,  Fletcher,  ii.  169. 

Weed,  Daniel,  action  concerning  the  Indi 
ans,  ii.  1. 

Weed,  George  L.,  son  of  Joseph  Weed,  i.  5. 

Weed,  Harriet  A.,  passenger  on  board  ship 
Cornelia,  i.561:  at  reception  of  Emperor 
of  Austria,  i.  598  ;  taken  into  her  father's 
confidence,  ii.  27;  accompanies  her  fa 
ther  to  West  Indies,  ii.  127;  executrix 
of  Mr.  Weed's  will.  ii.  579. 

Weed,  James,  died,  1851,  ii.  152. 

Weed,  Joel,  father  of  Thurlow  Weed,  i.  1, 
5,  6;  and  Marv  Ells,  his  wife,  ii.  2. 

Weed,  John,  ii.  482. 

Weed,  Jonas,  emigrated  from  England, 
ii.  1. 

Weed,  Joseph,  uncle  of  Thurlow  Weed, 
i.  5. 

Weed,  Mrs.  Thurlow,  death  of,  i.  74. 

Weed,  Nathan,  soldier  of  the  Revolution, 
i.  1;  mentioned,  ii.  1;  enlisted  in  Conti 
nental  army,  ii.  2. 

Weed,  Osborn,  brother  of  Thurlow  Weed, 
i.  1. 

Weed,  Thurlow,  his  ancestors,  ii.  1;  born 
in  Cairo,  Greene  County,  New  York, 
1797,  i.  1;  ii.  2;  death  of  "sisters  of,  i.  1; 
autobiography,  begun  at  Island  of  Santa 
Cruz,  ii.  127;  as  cabin  boy  on  sloop 
Ranger,  i.  2;  ii.  2;  his  first  employment, 
i.  2;  ii-  2;  at  work  in  a  tavern,  i".  2;  ii. 
2;  his  first  shilling,  i.  2;  cabin  boy  on 
sloop  Jefferson,  i.  3;  as  journeyman 
printer,  i.  3;  ii.  25;  becoming  a  politi 
cian,  i.  4;  ii.  9;  going  to  see  the  steam 
boat  of  Robert  Fulton,  i.  4;  going  to  see 
Governor  Morgan  Lewis,  i.  4  ;  leaves 
Catskill,  i.  9;  moves  to  town  of  Cincin 
natus,  i.  10;  borrowing  books  to  read,  i. 
11;  employed  at  sugar  making,  i.  11; 
his  early  life  at  Cincinnatus,  i.  15;  earn 
ing  a  pair  of  shoes,  i.  18;  removal  from 
Cincinnatus,  i.  20;  his  first  fur  hat,  i. 
20;  removal  to  Onondaga,  i.  20;  ii.  3; 
at  work  at  Mickle's  Furnace,  i.  20;  at 
work  for  Ja*per  Hopper,  i.  21;  appren 
ticed  to  a  printer,  in  office  of  ''The 
Lynx,"  i.  21 ;  ii.  3;  at  work  on  the  "  Toc 
sin,"  i.  25;  desire  to  go  to  war,  i.  23;  ii. 
5;  imbibing  a  hatred  toward  England,  i. 
23 ;  emploved  in  printing  office  of  Messrs. 
Seward  &  Williams,  i.  25;  enlists  as 
soldier  of  war  of  1812,  i.  26;  ii.  5;  camp 
life  at  Brownville,  i.  29;  returns  to  print 
ing  office  of  Mr.  Walker,  i.  30 ;  attends 


612 


INDEX. 


a  theatre  for  first  time,  i.  31;  in  the  of 
fice  of  Webster  &  Skinner,  i.  31 ;  walk 
ing  to  Utica  from  Albany,  i.  32;  ii.  5; 
at  a  Whig  state  convention,  i.  32;  inci 
dent  at  Conine's  tavern,  i.  32;  concern 
ing  the  printing  of  Republican  tickets, 
i.  33;  employed  on  newspaper  at  Her- 
kimer,  i.  33;  a  zealous  Republican,  i.  33; 
arrest  and  trial  at  Cooperstown,  i.  36; 
an  incident  which  occurred  at  Coopers- 
town,  i.  -3(5;  at  Cooperstown,  i.  36;  be 
comes  attached  to  daughter  of  Mrs. 
Ostrander,  i.  36;  enlists  as  a  "year  vol 
unteer,"  i.  37;  returns  to  Herkimer,  i. 
37;  with  Mr.  Stone  at  Herkimer,  i.  37; 
quartermaster  in  Fortieth  Regiment, 
etc.,  i.  38;  ii.  5;  in  printing  office  at  Au 
burn,  i.  40;  trial,  concerning  the  inci 
dent  at  Cooperstown,  i.  41,  42;  goes  to 
Albany,  i.  4-3:  ii.  5;  employed  on  the 
"Albany  Register,"  i.  43;  "ii.  6;  tem 
perate  habits  of,  i.  44,  5!);  his  passion  for 
the  drama,  i.  45,  51);  at  Aiken,  S.  C.,  i. 
45;  ii.  4(!1;  employed  on  Albany  "Ar 
gus,"  i.  4(i;  visit  to  New  York,  i.  51;  in 
the  office  of  Van  Winkle  &  Wiley,  New 
York,  i.  51;  reminiscences  of  New  York, 
by,  i.  52;  emploved  by  Daniel  Fan- 
shawe,  i.  55;  ii.  193;  at  office  of  Samuel 
Wood  &  Sons,  i.  56  ;  in  office  of  George 
Lang,  i.  56;  at  work  on  the  "Courier." 
i.  56;  leaves  Mr.  Seymour,  i.  57;  in  of 
fice  of  William  A.  "Mercien.  i.  57;  ii. 
194;  in  office  of  Jonathan  Seymour,  i. 
57;  elected  member  of  Typographical  So 
ciety,  i.  58;  plan  of  visiting  the  churches, 
i.  59;  attendance  at  the  Universalist 
church,  i.  60;  acquaintance  with  the 
Presidents  of  the  United  States,  i.  62; 
tries  his  hand  at  editorials,  i.  62;  ii.  6; 
seeing  President  Monroe,  i.  62;  writes 
an  unfortunate  paragraph,  and  arraigned 
before  magistrate,  i.  62;  offered  position 
of  foreman  on  "  Albany  Register,"  i. 
62;  sets  tvpe  without  manuscript,  i.  70; 
defenseWif  Pontius  Pilate,  i.  70;  sup 
ports  Governor  Clinton  and  his  policy, 
i.  73;  ii.  9;  married  to  Miss  Ostrander, 
i.  74;  married  life  of,  i.  74;  starts  the 
"Agriculturist,"  i.  76;  ii.8;  warfare  with 
John  F.  Ilubbard,  i.  76;  ii.  9;  goes  to 
Norwich,  Chenango  County,  i.  76;  ii.  8; 
friendship  of  James  Birdsall,  for,  i.  77; 
appointment  from  Governor  Clinton,  i. 
78;  friendship  of,  for  David  G.  Bright, 
i.  79;  supports  the  Clinton  administra 
tion,  i.  8-5:  discharged  as  a  "  Clinto- 
nian,"  i.  85;  return  to  Albany,  and  at 
work  on  the  "Argus,"  i.  85;  a  political 
trip,  i.  86;  edits  the  "Republican,"  at 
Manlius,  i.  87;  ii.  17;  incident  of  the 
silver  coin,  i.  88;  arrival  of  his  family 
at  Manlius,  i.  83;  an  exhausted  treasury, 
ii.  19;  concerning  universal  suffrage,  i. 
89;  ii.  561;  success  of  the  "Republi 
can,"  i.  90;  his  life  at  Manlius,  i.  91 ;  ii. 
17;  his  friend  Addison  Gardiner,  i.  91; 
ii.  20;  editorial  on  Fourth  of  July  cele 
brations,  i.  93;  ii.  28;  moves  to  Roches 


ter,  i.  95,  157;  ii.  22;  employed  by  Mr. 
Peck,  i.  95;  interview  with  Mr.  Peck 
described,  i.  96;  assumes  management 
of  the  ''  Telegraph,"  i.  97;  ii.  22;  politi 
cal  and  personal  relations  with  Frederick 
Whittlesey.  i.  100;  pleasant  settlement 
with  Mr.  Peck,  i.  101 ;  personal  relations 
with  members  of  "Albany  Regency," 
i.  103;  ii.  550;  fricndlv  relations  with 
Mr.  Croswell,  i.  104;  ii."  37;  sent  to  Al 
bany  for  bank  charter,  i.  104;  supporter 
of  J.  Q.  Adams  for  President,  i.  105, 
107,  166 ;  attends  the  legislature  of  1824, 
i.  105;  obtains  a  charter  for  the  bank  of 
Rochester,  i.  106;  return  to  Rochester 
with  the  bank  charter,  i.  107;  concern 
ing  a  bill  for  presidential  electors,  i.  108; 
represents  the  Adams  cause,  i.  108;  con 
cerning  removal  of  Governor  Clinton,  as 
canal  commissioner,  i.  109;  political 
tour  of,  i.  114;  invited  to  dinner  with 
Governor  Yates,  i.  114;  a  second  polit 
ical  tour,  in  favor  of  Mr.  Tallnmdge 
for  Governor,  i.  117;  given  the  print 
ing  of  the  union  ballot,  i.  123;  breaks 
up  an  intrigue,  concerning  Mr.  Craw 
ford  for  President,  i.  123-125;  traveling 
from  Rochester  to  New  York.  i.  124; 
bet  with  Samuel  Swartwout,  i.  137; 
money  borrowed  for  political  purposes, 
i.  137 ;  repugnance  to  office,  i.  137;  ii. 
110;  first  meeting  with  William  H.  Sew- 
ard,  i.  139  ;  memories  of  a  stage-ride  fifty 
years  ago.  i.  139;  catching  salmon  in 
Onondaga  Creek,  i.  145;  ii.  4;  nomi 
nated  for  member  of  Assembly,  i.  160 ; 
elected  to  the  Assembly,  i.  161;  incident 
concerning  his  election"  to  the  Assembly, 
i,  163;  at  political  dinner  with  Governor 
Clinton,  i.  165;  concerning  Judge  Spen 
cer,  for  Senator,  i.  168;  father  of  the 
Oswego  canal,  i.  170;  action  concerning 
the  Lackawanna  canal,  i.  171;  not  gifted 
as  a  speech-maker,  i.  171;  ii.  191;  sent 
on  a  mission  to  President  Adams  by  Gen 
eral  Tallmadge,  i.  178,  179;  interview 
with  President  Adams  concerning  Gen 
eral  Talmadge's  mission,  i.  181  ;  call  upon 
Mr.  Clay,  i.  181;  reception  of,  by  Mr. 
John  McLean,  i.  182;  in  Lafayette  party, 
i.  186;  return  to  Rochester,  i.  202;  pro 
posed  as  postmaster  of  Rochester,  i.  204; 
concerning  the  incof/nito  of  Walter  Scott, 
i.  206 ;  succeeds  Mr.  Peck  as  editor  of 
the  "Telegraph,"  i.  207;  article  on  as 
suming  editorship  of  the  "Telegraph," 
i.  208;  an  anti-Mason,  i.  212;  "ruin  of 
his  paper,  on  account  of  anti-Mason  prin 
ciples,  i.  214;  publishes  an  anti-Masonic 
paper,  i.  215;  appointed  to  investigate 
the  Morgan  affair,  i.  230;  editorial  arti 
cle  concerning  the  Morgan  affair,  i.  246; 
member  of  anti-Masonic  organization,  i. 
257;  arrest- of  Elisha  Adams  by,  i.  259; 
visit  to  Vermont  to  arrest  Parkhurst,  i. 
268;  Elisha  Adams  explains  his  testi 
mony  to,  i.  266;  in  consultation  con 
cerning  political  anti-masonry,  i.  299; 
concerning  the  election  to  legislature  of 


JNDEX. 


G13 


Timothy  Child*,  i.  301 ;  efforts  to  nom-  | 
inate  Mr.  Granger  for  Governor,  i.  303;  j 
at  anti-Masonic  state  convention  atUtica, 
i.  304;  mission  to  Judge  Thompson,  con 
cerning  his  nomination  for  Governor,  i.  i 
305;    editorial  by,  concerning  the  nom-  j 
ination   of  Southwick   for   (iovernor,    i.  i 
306;    a  malicious  accusation  against,    i. 
311;  at  inquest  on  body  supposed  to  be  j 
William  Morgan,  i.313;  member  of  com 
mittee  on  Morgan  inquest,  i.  316;  accu 
sations  against,  concerning   the  Morgan 
body,  i.  319;  Frederick  Follett  to,  con 
cerning  Morgan  affair,    i.  320; 'suit    for  j 
libel  against,  by  Jacob  Gould,  i.  332:  ex-  > 
pi  an  at  ion  of  John  Whitney  to,  concern 
ing  Morgan's  fate,   i.  332;    suggests    to 
Judge  Birdsall   his   nomination  for  Con 
gress,  i.  337;  recommends  Mr.  Porter  for 
Senator,  i.  337;  Judge  Birdsall  appointed 
at  request  of,  i.  338;  goes  to  Buffalo  on 
senatorial  business,  i.  338;  proposes  Ad- 
dison  Gardiner  for  Circuit  Judge,  i.  339; 
effects  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Norton  for 
Congress,  i.339;  organizing  anti-Masonic 
party  in  Delaware  County,  i.  341;  visit 
to  Erastus  Root,  i.  341;  trip  to  Delaware 
and    Chenango    counties,    i.    342,    343; 
friendship   with    James   Wadsworth,    i. 
343;    helps   in  establishing   libraries,    i. 
343;  friendship  with   Philo  C.  Fuller,  i. 
348;  concerning  the  selection  of  certain 
comptrollers  of  New  York  by,  i.  349;  at 
Niagara  Falls,  i.  355;  meeting  with  Mr. 
and  Mrs.    Folger,    i.    358;    offered    the 
printing  of  the    Mormon    bible,  i.    359; 
elected  to  legislature,  i.  360;  establishes 
the   "Evening  Journal"    at   Albany,  i. 
360;  ii.  39;    his  reception    in    Rochester 
after     thirty    years'    absence,    i.     361; 
charged  with  the  defeat  of  General  Wads- 
worth,  i.  361;  his  duties  and  salary  on 
"Evening  Journal,"  i.  362;  ii.  283;  ac 
quaintance  with  Mrs.  Eaton,  i.  366;  visits 
Hon.  Silas  Wood  on  political  errand,  i. 
366;  trip   to   New  York   for   a   copy   of 
President's  message,   i.    369;    passenger  j 
on  steamboat  with  Governor  Lewis  and  , 
Aaron  Burr,  i.  370:  concerning  Bank  of  | 
United  States,  i.  371;  requested  to  pub-  [ 
lish    Mr.   Wrebster's   speech,    i.    372;  re-  i 
veals  a  secret  of  United   States  Bank,    i.  | 
373;    information   of  Mr.    Devereux   to,  j 
concerning  bank  controversy,  i.  374;  edi 
torial  concerning  Mr.   Van  Buren's  ap 
pointment  to  England.  5.  375;  concerning 
imprisonment   for  debt,    i.   380;    seeing 
John  Randolph  in  Congress,  i.  381;  inter 
view  with  Mr.  Pauklinir,  author,  i.  383; 
witness  of  Professor  Morse's  demonstra 
tion  of  his  telegraph,  5.  386  ;  at  opening  of 
the  first  railroad,  i.  386;  a  passenger  on 
first  canal  boat,  ii.  10;  acquaintance  with 
Edwin  Forrest,  i.  386;  meets  with  an  ac 
cident,  i.  387;  mission  to  Europe,  i.  388; 
ii.349;  action  in  nomination  of  Mr.  Wirt, 
i.    390;  friendly  relations   with   Francis 
Granger,  i.  392*;  ii.  58;  with  George  W. 
Patterson,  ii.  47;  evenings  at  Mr.  Crut- 


tendcn's,  i.  401;  duties  of,  as  editor, 
i.  411;  opposition  to  masonry,  i.  412; 
friendly  relations  renewed  with  Mr. 
Ryckman,  i.  413;  at  county  conventions, 
i.  413;  relations  with  James  Hunter,  i. 
413;  visits  to  Aaron  Burr,  i.  415;  edito 
rial  obituary  on  Mr.  Maynard,  i.  418; 
an  attack  of  rheumatism, *i.  419;  friend 
ship  with  William  H.  Seward,  i.  423;  ii. 
262:  concerning  United  States  Bank, 
i.  424;  opposed  to  the  Regency,  i.  425; 
sentiments  concerning  slavery, 'i.  428;  ii. 
242;  conversation  concerning  emancipa 
tion,  i.  428;  action  at  Whig  convention, 
i.  430;  editorial  concerning  Whig  elec 
tion,  i.  431;  editorial  Hie  of,  i.  433;  life 
insurance,  concerning,  i.  433;  old  friends 
of,  i.  434;  ii.  546-551;  concerning  a  re 
view  of  "  Travel  in  Egypt,"  etc.,  i.  435; 
friendship  and  gifts  of  Mi-.  Leyinan  to, 
i.  436;  action  concerning  small  bill  ques 
tion,  i.  444;  concerning  the  elections  in 
the  "Fourth  Ward,"  i.  448;  residence  at 
Albany,  i.  448;  ii.  36;  opinion  concern 
ing  certain  gubernatorial  candidates,  i. 
451 ;  concerning  the  "  pantaloon  "  slorv, 
i.  453:  Governor  Marcv's  retort  to,  *i. 
455;  mission  to  Rufus  King,  i.  457;  car 
ries  commission  to  Mr.  Kane,  i.  465; 
first  acquaintance  with  Horace  Grcelev, 
i.  466;  acquaintance  with  Preston  King, 
i.  471;  visit  to  Washington,  at  time  of 
Lincoln's  assassination,  i.  473;  confer 
ence  with  friend  on  Preston  King  for 
United  States  Senator,  i.  473:  relations 
with  Preston  King,  i.  473-475;  interview 
with  President  Johnson,  i.  474;  ii.  452; 
in  conference  with  friends  concerning 
state  elections,  i.  476;  at  Whig  conven 
tion  at  Ilarrisburg,  i.  481  ;  a  summer  ex 
cursion  with  Messrs.  Kent,  Silhinan, 
Wood,  and  Rugbies,  i.  485-487;  a  steam 
boat  passage  with  Captain  Marrvatt  and 
William  Kent,  i.  487;  electioneering  tour 
during  Harrison  campaign,  i.  491;  bet 
with  Dr.  Colvin  on  Harrison  election,  i. 
492:  breaking  the  dead-lock,  concerning 
returns  for  Seward  election,  i.  495-497; 
presentation  of  silver  to,  by  merchants 
of  New  York,  i.  504;  at  gathering  of 
Whig  members  of  Congress,  i,  508  ;  in 
terview  with  Senator  Maiiginn  concern 
ing  Everett's  mi»ion  to  England,  i.  509; 
interview  with  Edward  Everett  in  Eng 
land,  i.  511;  trip  to  Europe,  i.  511;  ii. 
102;  entertained  at  American  legation 
at  Paris  i  512;  ii.  399;  dines  with  Sir 
Henry  Holland  at  Edward  Everett's,  i. 
513;  concerning  the  mutiny  on  board 
brig  Somers,  i.  516,  517;  libel  suit  of  J. 
Fenimore  Cooper  against,  i.  520,  521, 
522:  acquaintance  with  Paul  Cooper,  i. 
527;  plaintiff  in  a  libel  suit,  i.  527; 
Erastus  Coming's  libel  suit  against,  i. 
528  ;  libel  suit  of  George  Opyke  against, 
i.  528;  trip  to  Rhode  Island,  concern 
ing  the  Dorr  rebellion,  i.  531  ;  in 
jured  by  marching,  during  the  Dorr 
rebellion,  i.  531 ;  goes  to  England,  i. 


614 


INDEX. 


532;  ii.  200;  dinner  with  Mr.  Clay  at 
Washington,  i.  535 :  dinner  with  'Mr. 
Southard  at  Washington,  i.  536;  din 
ner  with  Hon.  D.  I).  Barnard  at  Wash 
ington,  i.  536;  dinner  at  Hyatt's  house, 
i.  537;  "why  he  did  not  dine  with  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,"  i.  537;  invites 
Mr.  Ashwnrth  and  Mr.  Pendar  to  dine, 
i.  539;  a  trip  to  the  West  Indies,  i.  556; 
ii.  127 ;  the  adoption  of  Mary  Chapman 
by,  i.  564;  visits  Brunswick,  Ga.,i.567; 
relations  with  General  Taylor,  i.  570 ; 
dines  with  John  McLean,  i.  571;  meets 
Colonel  J.  T.  Taylor,  i.  571;  suggests 
General  Taylor  for  President,  i.  571; 
supports  General  Taylor  for  the  presi 
dency,  i.  572:  interview  at  the  Astor 
House  with  Colonel  J.  T.  Taylor,  i.  572: 
Colonel  J.  T.  Taylor,  letter  from,  i.  574; 
Whig  press,  efforts  in  behalf  of  General 
Taylor,  i.  575;  General  Scott,  relations 
with,  i.  576;  Mr.  Webster,  relations  with, 
i.  576;  Mr.  Clay,  relations  with,  i.  576 ; 
urged  to  consent  to  Mr.  Clay's  nomination  i 
for  President,  i.  578;  his  influence  in  pol-  I 
itics,  i.  584;  at  national  convention  at  ' 
Philadelphia,  i.  585;  suggests  General 
Taylor  for  President  and  Abbott  Law 
rence  for  Vice-President,  i.  585;  first 
meeting  with  Millard  Fillmore,  i.  585; 
action  in  the  presidential  campaign  of 
1848,  i.  586-588;  consultation  with  Presi 
dent  Taylor  concerning  the  latter's  Cabi 
net,  i.  590;  at  Washington  concerning  a 
mission  for  Daniel  1).  Barnard,  i.  594; 
offered  a  mission  abroad,  reasons  for 
it,  i.  595-597;  a  winter  at  Aiken.  S.  C., 
i.  597;  ii.  460;  in  Europe,  i.  598;  ii.  461;  I 
at  an  imperial  reception,  i.  599;  at  a  < 
review  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  i.  j 
600;  action  concerning  the  consulship 
at  Falmouth,  i.  600;  visit  to  Abraham 
'Lincoln,  i.  603;  ii.  293;  consulted  by 
President  Lincoln  concerning  his  Cab 
inet,  i.  605;  ii.  294;  concerning  office- 
seeking,  i.  613;  carries  Mr.  Gilmer's  ap 
pointment  to  him,  i.  614;  interview  with 
Mr.  Bennett  concerning  the  war  senti 
ments  of  the  "  Herald,''  i.  616-618:  con 
sulted  by  President  Lincoln,  concerning 
a  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  i.  620-624 ; 
visit  to  Mr.  Lincoln  at  Springfield,  i. 
623  ;  sentiments  concerning  the  prosecu 
tion  of  the  war,  i.  636  ;  ii."328;  a  break 
fast  at  the  Astor  House,  i.  637  ;  reception 
in  Europe,  i.  637;  ii.  367;  tendered  an  j 
interview  with  Earl  Russell,  i.  639;  ii.  [ 
352;  meeting  with  General  Scott  on 
board  steamer,  i.  640;  character  and  per 
sonal  appearance  of,  ii.  6  ;  at  Cooperstown 
in  1818,  ii.  8;  remarks  on  the  year  1819, 
ii.  11;  retires  from  "  Republican  Agricul 
turist,"  ii.  13;  his  house  at  Norwich,  ii. 
14;  revisits  Chenango  County  in  1872,  ii. 
15;  "an  interesting  sinner/'  ii.  21;  be 
gins  to  cultivate  his  memory,  ii.  26;  his 
forgiving  disposition,  ii.  29;  his  wonder 
ful  power  over  men,  ii.  29  ;  anecdotes  of 
his  even  temper,  ii.  30 ;  his  sympathetic 


nature,  ii.  34;  denounces  the  gag  re 
solves,  ii.  55 ;  visits  New  York  in  refer 
ence  to  the  presidential  nomination  in 
1840,  ii.  58;  declares  in  favor  of  Seward 
for  Governor,  ii.  59 ;  prophesies  success 
to  the  Whigs  in  1840,  ii.  78;  favors  a 
single  presidential  term,  ii.  79 ;  visits  J. 
Q.  Adams  at  Quincy,ii.  79;  sings  a  Har 
rison  song  at  Syracuse,  ii.  80;  declines 
to  be  candidate' for  any  political  office, 
ii.  113;  writes  reminiscences  of  his  life, 
ii.  127;  returns  home  in  1845,  ii.  131; 
visits  Boston,  ii.  131;  his  influence  in 
the  apartment  of  commissions,  ii.  143; 
his  personal  habits  as  to  drinking,  ii. 
153  ;  the  religious  element  in  his  nature, 
ii.  156  ;  his  generosity,  ii.  158;  his  creed, 
ii.  158;  a  zealous  church  goer  in  youth, 
ii.  159  ;  interested  in  Moody  and  Sankey, 
ii.  160;  his  favorite  hymns,  ii.  160;  an 
attendant  at  McAnley's  meetings,  ii. 
160;  on  the  Lord's  Prayer,  ii.  164;  de 
clines  to  be  Mayor  of  Albany,  ii.  182; 
"Generalissimo  of  the  abolition  forces," 
ii.  184:  on  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  ii. 
185;  Fillmore  administration  propose  to 
crush  him,  ii.  184  ;  forty  years  a  printer, 
ii.  191:  reminiscences  of 'his  apprentice 
ship,  ii.  192:  goes  to  Europe  in  1851,  ii. 
200;  opposed  to  the  native  American 
party,  ii.  224;  sets  type  for  the  last  time, 
ii.  227;  his  legislative  dinners,  ii.  232; 
alienation  from  Mr.  Granger,  ii.  229;  the 
evening  of  life,  ii.  236:  desires  to  with 
draw  from  journalism,  ii.  236:  his  room 
in  New  York,  ii.  237:  his  accessibility 
to  all,  ii.  237;  joins  the  new  Republican 
partv,  ii.  242;  ready  to  retire  from 
journalism,  ii.  249;  rupture  of  rela 
tions  with  Washington  limit,  ii.  252; 
sorrow  for  Seward;s  defeat  in  1860,  ii. 
271  ;  visits  Lincoln  at  Springfield,  ii. 
271  ;  his  reply  to  the  Greeley  letter  of 
1854,  ii.  283;*  the  greatest  politician  of 
the  country,  ii.  288  ;  President  Lincoln's 
estimate  of  him,  ii.288;  his  disappoint 
ment  at  Seward's  failure  in  the  Chicago 
convention,  ii.  292;  conference  with  Lin 
coln  on  cabinet  appointments,  ii.  293; 
his  high  appreciation  of  Lincoln,  ii.  295; 
never  deserted  a  principle  or  a  friend,  ii. 
296;  visits  Mr.  Lincoln  at  Springfield,  ii. 
296  ;  goes  to  Paris,  January  15,  1862,  ii. 
390;  interview  with  the  Due  de  Morny, 
ii.  394;  his  reply  to  Lieutenant  Maury, 
ii.  369 ;  card  on'  General  Scott's  return 
to  America,  ii.  367;  attention  paid  him 
in  London,  ii.  368;  interviews  with  E*rl 
Russell  on  the  Trent  question,  ii.  352; 
interview  with  Lady  Russell  at  Pembroke 
Lodge,  ii.  353:  in  London,  1861,  ii.  350; 
confers  with  Charles  Francis  Adams,  ii. 
350  ;  sent  to  Europe  with  Archbishop 
Hughes  and  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  ii.  349; 
in  frequent  conference  with  Lincoln  and 
his  Cabinet  before  Bull  Run,  ii.  343 ; 
reminiscences  of  the  opening  days  of  the 
Rebellion,  ii.  338;  his  patriotic  course  in 
1860,  ii.  335;  his  foresight  concerning 


INDEX. 


the  war,  ii.  035;  his  policy  as  to  the  bor 
der  states,  ii.  333;  urged' to  be  a  candi 
date  for  United  States  Senator,  ii.  -'523; 
his  policy  in  1801  opposed  as   "  political 
suicide,"    ii.  31(3  ;   a  new    epoch    in    his 
life,  ii.  300;   at   the  opening  of  the  war  ' 
ceases   to   be   a  partisan,  ii.  30G:  urges 
concession,  ii.  300  ;  his  feelings  towards 
abolitionists,  ii.  305;  returns  to  London, 
ii.  403;  ''an  ill  Aveed/'  ii.  400;  returns 
to  New  York,  June.  1802,  ii.  413;  a  pub- 
lie  dinner  and  freedom  of  the  city  ten 
dered  him,  ii.  413;  letter  to  the  Common 
Council,  ii.  413;  in  1802  vigorously  en-  j 
gaged  in  forwarding  troops,  ii.  419;  pro-  j 
posed  visit  to  Europe,  ii.  420;  the  visit  j 
abandoned,  ii.  428;  declines  to  be  a  can-  ' 
didate  for  United  States  Senator,  ii.  430;  j 
retires  from  journalism,  ii.  431 :  removes  ' 
to  New  York,  1803.   ii.  433;  summoned  I 
to  Washington,  ii.  434;  raised  money  for  | 
the  government,   ii.  435  ;    submits   plan 
for  carrying  on  the  war  to  tiie  President, 
ii.   437;  urges  repeal   of  the  homestead 
law,    ii.  440  :  active  in    organizing   the 
Peace  convention  at  Philadelphia  in  1805,  j 
ii.  453  ;  returns   to  journalism,  ii.    454; 
introductory    article    on    taking   charge,  : 
of  the  "  New  York  Commercial  Adver-  ! 
tiser,"  ii.  454;  his  political  affiliations  at  | 
different  periods,  ii.  457;  Ins  health  be-  , 
gins   to   fail,  ii.  45!):  his  last  cigar,   ii.  | 
459;  visits  Europe  again,  1807,  ii.  400;  | 
returns  home,  ii.  401;  goes  to  Aiken,  S.  I 
C.,  ii.  401;  withdraws  h'nally  from  jour-  j 
nalism,  ii.  401;  reconciliation  with  Mil- | 
lard   Fillmore,   ii.    402;    not  in  favor  of  j 
Jenckes'    civil    service    system,   ii.   403;  j 
principles  of  appointment   to   office,   ii. 
473;  as  a  reformer,  ii.  473;  approach  of 
old  age,   ii.   475;  sunstroke,  ii.  475  :  ac 
tively  interested   in   conventions   up   to 
1872*  ii.  487;  in  favor  of  Charles  Francis 
Adams  in  1872,  ii.  487:  opposed  Horace 
Greeley  as  Comptroller,  ii.  488;  his  rea 
sons  for  so  doing,  ii.  488;  visits  Europe 
for  the  last  time  in  1871,  ii.  477;  makes 
a  trip  through  Canada   in   1870,  ii.  477; 
from  the  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion  knew 
no  party,  ii.  485;  delegate  to  Utica  con 
vention"  in   1872,  ii.  485;   New  York  As-  , 
sembly  tenders  the  freedom  of  the  floor  j 
to,   ii.'  502:    resigns   seat   in  Republican 
central   committee,    ii.    525  ;    opposes   a  i 
third  term  for  General  Grant,  ii.  540-540  ;  , 
reception    in    honor   of   his    birthday   in 
1880,  ii.  552;  routine  of  his  life   hi  old  ' 
age,    ii.    509;    his   family,    ii.    571;   his  j 
house  and  surroundings, 'ii.  571 :  usages  | 
and  peculiarities,  ii.  572;  picture  of  the 
Chateau  Chavaniac,  a  present  from  Ma 
dame  cle  Remusat,  ii.  572 ;  no  one  turned 
from  his  door,  ii.  572;  interviewed  on 
public  matters,  ii.  559  ;  on  the  obelisk, 
ii.  559;  on  the  Passion  Play,  ii.  559  ;  on 
newspapers,  ii.  500;  on  the  ignorance  of 
the   masses,  ii.  501 :  on  the  educational 
qualification  for  suffrage,  ii.  561:  on  spe 
cial  parties,  ii.  562;  on  strikers,  ii.  563; 


on  the  political  outlook  in  1882,  ii.  504: 
visits  Albany  in  September,  ]882,  ii! 
574;  his  eighty-fifth  birthdav,  ii.  575; 
visitors  to  his  sick  lied.  ii.  57.S ;  ,lj,.s  No 
vember  22,  1X82,  ii  570;  hi-  last  will,  ii. 
577;  letters  from  Thomas  ('.  Acton,  ii. 
488;  George  Aslmmn,  ii.  18!i  :  August 
Behnont,  ii.  310,  420;  John  Bigelow,  ii. 
300;  R.  M.  Blatchford,  i.  480?  ii.  401; 
James  IJowen,  i.  504;  Samuel  Bowies', 
ii.  200;  David  G.  Bright,  i.  80;  (Jov- 
ernor  James  Chirk  concerning  Mr.  ('lav, 
i.  351  ;  Henry  ('lay,  ii.  42.  98,  llli  ;  M*r! 
(•roswell,  ii/38;  'David  Davis,  ii.  299 
300,  323,  444;  George  Da\v>oii,  ii.  134; 
Governor  Dix,  ii.  423.  501,  505;  Edward 
Ellice.  ii.  380;  Mr.  Evarls,  ii.  410;  Fa 
ther  Mathew.  ii.  150,  151  ;  Millard 
Eillmore,  ii.  01,  (53,  04.  74,  75,  83,  85; 
Governor  Fish,  ii.  190,  190;  Francis 
Granger,  ii.  40,  57;  Mr.  Granger  to,  con 
cerning  election,  i.357,  358;  II.  L.  Gran 
ger,  ii.  17;  Horace  Greeley,  ii.  53,  71,  84, 
91,  94,  95,  97,  131,  197,  210,  220;  i.  408, 
409;  Messrs.  Harper,  i.  489 ;  Robert  L. 
Hone,  ii.  478:  Henrv  Holland,  i.  631;  ii. 
382;  Samuel  M.  Hopkins,  i.  303;  Bishop 
Iluu-hes,  ii.  134.  i.  037:  A,  Hunt.  ii.  185; 
Washington  Hunt,  ii.  112,  130,  173,253; 
William  Kent,  ii.  20,  72,  140,  190;  Hon. 
A.  Kinnaird,  i.  045;  Abraham  Lincoln,  ii. 
297,  310,  324,  433,  440;  S.  P.  Lyman, 
concerning  the  administration,  i.  438; 
Mr.  McElrath,  ii.  430;  Bishop  Mcllvaine, 
ii.  419;  General  McLellan,  ii.  429;  W.  L. 
Marcy,  ii.  228;  Robert  Ii.  Minturn,  ii. 
423:  'i.  503;  E.  D.  Morgan,  ii.  252,  411, 
445,  401:  Butler  G.  Noble,  ii.  317;  an 
old  line  Whig,  ii.  24.'!;  Evcrard  Peck, 
ii.  22;  George  W.  Patterson,  ii.  47,  83, 
85,  434,  445;  George  Peaboily,  ii.  305; 
General  Pleasanton,  ii.  180;  Madame  de 
Remusat,  ii.  570;  II.  J.  Raymond,  ii. 
451:  Erastus  Root,  i.  553:  Gerrit  W. 
Ryckman,  i.  49;  General  Scott,  i.  657; 
MY.  Seward,  ii.  99,  128,  214,  250,  201, 
270;  ii.  307,  308,  319,  323,  332,  378,  407, 
408,  420,  428,  400;  concerning  the  Trent 
affair,  i.  (540;  Vivns  W.  Smith,  ii.  433; 
Gerrit  Smith,  ii.  453;  John  C.  Spencer, 
ii.  43,  110;  A.  T.  Stewart,  ii.  44,318; 
Leonard  Swett,  ii.  298,  301;  Albert  II. 
Tracy,  i.  109,  170;  ii.  31,  32.  49;  on 
election  of  J.  (J.  Adams,  i.  173;  con 
cerning  Governor  Clinton,  i.  177:  typo 
graphical  society,  i.  09;  James  Watson 
Webb,  ii.  520; 'Daniel  Webster,  ii.  95, 
135;  Frederick  Whittle-ey,  ii.  33;  on 
election  of  1830,  i.  308:  to  a  friend,  ii. 
19,38:  to  his  daughter  Harriet,  ii.  107; 
to  his  wife,  ii.  109;  his  son  James,  i. 
552;  his  grandson,  ii.  475;  on  death  of 
General  Rohert  E.  Lee,  ii.  470:  to  Pres 
ident  Arthur,  ii.  503;  reply  to  James  G. 
Bennett's  challenge  concerning  political 
movements,  i.  352;  to  James  (i.  Blaine, 
ii.  522;  editor  of  Catskill  "  Recorder," 
concerning  his  early  life,  i.  5;  Edwin 
Croswell,  ii.  37;  General  Daly,  ii.  562; 


616 


INDEX. 


H.  C.  Goodwin,  concerning  history  of 
Cortland  County,  i.  15:  Governor  Dix,  ii. 

500;  from  the '  West  Indies,  i.  556 ;  to 
Addison  Gardiner,,  ii.  5(35,  507;  Mr.  Gid- 
dings,  ii.  133;  Franc-is  Grander,  ii.  40, 
45,^50,  86-88,  230;  James  W.  Hasted, 
ii.  502;  Preston  King,  ii.  309:  A.  Lin 
coln,  ii.  300,  438;  Senator  Morgan,  ii. 
441;  New  York  Typographical  Society, 
ii.  191;  Joseph  Parkes,  ii  443;  Benjamin 
K.  Phelps,  ii.  525;  Henry  J.  Raymond, 
ii.  430;  W.  H.  Seward,  if.  41  ;  Governor 
Seymour,  ii.  427;  diaries  E.  Smith,  ii. 
524;  Yivns  W.  Smith,  ii.  507;  John  C. 
Spencer,  ii.  118;  the  "Times"  on  the 
Trent  affair,  ii.  355;  General  Webb,  ii. 
527;  John  Whitney,  i.  334. 

Weldon,  James,  i.  44!). 

Welles.  Gideon,  mentioned  for  place  in 
President  Lincoln's  Cabinet,  i.  000:  ap 
pointed  Seeretarv  of  the  Xavv,  ii.  325. 

Wellington,  the  Duke  of,  ii.  105. 

Weils.  Henry,  founded  Merchant's  Union 
Express  Company,  i.  142. 

Wendell,  General  John  II.,  a  revolution 
ary  veteran,  mentioned,  i.  112. 

Wendover,  Peter  II.,  delegate  to  constitu 
tional  convention,  i.  200. 

Western  States,  Mr.  Weed's  earlv  recollec 
tions  of,  ii.  3. 

Wetmore,  Prosper  M.,  legislator  of  1835, 
i.  407. 

Wetmore.  Robert  C.,  concerning  illegal 
voters,  i.  4i)3. 

Wheaton,  Henry,  delegate  to  convention, 
i.  89;  leader  "of  Adams  party  in  1824, 
i.  107;  Democratic  supporter  of  Mr. 
Adam?,  i.  119;  at  the  electors'  dinner,  i. 
138:  appointed  to  Sweden,  i.  183;  legis 
lator  of  1824,  i.  399. 

Wheeler,  Andrew  C.,  legislator  of  1835,  i. 
400. 

Wheeler,  Ira  B.,  a  legislator  of  1825,  i. 
400. 

Wheeler,  Jedediah,  recollection  of  Mr. 
Weed  in  Norwich,  ii.  14. 

Wheeler,  Melancthon,  supports  Mr.  Clay, 
i.  122. 

Wheeler,  William  A.,  ii.  187. 

Whig,  first  use  of  the  word,  ii.  48;  extinc 
tion  in  1848,  ii.  166. 

Whig  lenders,  stigmatized  as  "pipe  \ay- 
ers,"  i.  493. 

Whig  convention,  candidates  of  the,  i.  430  ; 
at  Harrisburg,  i.  481;  indications  in 
favor  of  Mr.  Clay,  i.  575;  Mr.  Clay's 
friends,  i.  577;  delegates  instructed' to 
vote  for  Mr.  Clay,  i.  577;  candidates, 
the,  i.  578;  delegates  withdraw  from  the 
convention,  i.  578;  General  Taylor  nom 
inated  for  President,  i.  578;  Millard 
Fillmore,  nominated  for  Vice-President, 
i.  578;  of  1839,  ii.  75,  77;  at  Albany, 
1856,  ii.  246. 

Whig  party,  development  of,  i.  425;  prin 
ciples  of,  i.  427;  popularity  of,  i.  430; 
leading  men  of  the,  i.  442 ;"  unfortunate 
advocacy  of  United  States  Bank,  i.  445; 
success  of,  in  1837,  i.  451 ;  victory  of 


the,  in  election  1839,  i.  479;  carries  New 
York,  in  1838,  ii.  04. 

Whig  Press,  Mr.  Weed's  newspaper  work 

in  behalf  of  General  Taylor,  i.  575. 
j  Whig  state  government,  a.  i.  458. 
|  Whig  victory,  of  1840,  i.  404. 
1  Whigs  make  gains  in  elections  of  1837.  ii.  50. 

Whigs  of  the  South,  ii.  515. 

White,  Hugh  L.,  a  candidate  for  the 
presidency,  i.  443. 

White  feathers,  at  the  North,  ii.  447. 

White  fish,  the,  in  Lake  Ontario,  i.  206. 

White  leagues,  of  Louisiana,  ii.  514. 

White,  John,  leading  Wliiir,  i.  442;  of 
Kentucky  (Speaker),  ii.  118. 

White, William,  an  early  anti-Mason,  i.448. 
I  Whiting,  Bowen,  leader  in  Clav  parfv  in 
1824,  i.  107:  a  Clay  Democrat,  i.  110; 
member  of  Assembly  of  1825,  i.  105;  on 
prosecution  of  Morgan  affair,  i.  233; 
prosecuting  attorney,  at  trial  of  Klisha 
Adams,  i.  202. 

Whitney,  J.>!m.  tc-iimony  of,  at  the  Mor 
gan  trial,  i.  231:  leaves  IJochcster,  i. 
245;  indicted  on  Morgan  affair,  i.  248; 
trial  on  Morgan  affair,  i.  271 :  sentenced,  - 
i.  273:  testimony  of,  i.  287:  explanation 
concerning  the  laic  of  Morgan,  i.  332; 
witness  in  libel  suit,  i.  .'!:;2:  death  of,  i. 
334;  letter  of  Thurlo\v  Weed  to,  i.  334. 

Whitney,  Stephen,  i.  402. 

Whittlesey,  Frederick,  political  and  per 
sonal  relations  with  Thtirlow  Weed,  i. 
100;  of  Rochester,  editor  of  the  "  Re 
publican,"  i.  100;  member  of  base  ball 
club,  i.  203  ;  appointed  to  investigate 
the  "Morgan  affair,"  i.  230;  at  anti- 
Masonic,  convention,  i.  257;  concerning 
political  anti-masonry,  i.  299;  concern 
ing  an  article  written  against  Mr.  Weed, 
i.  310;  decides  the  question  of  political 
anti-masonry,  i.  310;  editor  of  Roches 
ter  "Republican,"  i.  310;  elected  to 
Congress,  i.  312;  member  of  committee 
on  Morgan  inquest,  i.  310;  of  anti-Ma 
sonic  party,  i.  330;  recommends  Mr. 
Gardiner  for  Judge,  i.  389;  quoted  con 
cerning  "Evening  Journal,"  i.  301;  let 
ter  to  Mr.  Weed' on  election  of  1830,  i. 
308  ;  anti-bank  man,  i.  372  :  dissolves 
anti-Masonic  partv,  i.  425 ;  letter  to  Mr. 
Weed,  ii.  33. 

Widrig,  Major-General,  mentioned,  i.  149. 

Wilberforce,  Mr.,  concerning  imprisonment 
of  Lafayette,  i.  193. 

Wilcox,  Roswell,  concerning  imprisonment 
of  Colonel  Miller,  i.  230 :  sentenced,  i.  255. 

Will  of  Thurlow  Weed,  ii.  585. 

Willett,  Colonel  Marinus,  officer  of  the 
Revolution,  i.  55;  meeting  with  Lafay 
ette,  i.  185. 

Williams,  A.  B.,  mentioned,  i.  335. 

Williams,  David,  death  of,  i.  388. 

Williams,  Elisha,  eminent  lawyer,  i.  42; 
mentioned,  i.  45  ;  delegate  to  conven 
tion,  i.  89;  at  dinner  with  Lafayette,  i. 
190 ;  legislative  service  of,  i.  201 ;  legis 
lative  "ijiant,"  i.  397;  in  legislature, 
1828,  i.  402. 


INDEX. 


G17 


Williams,  Ezekicl,  workingman's  candi 
date  for  Governor,  i.  307. 

Williams,  John,  merchant,  i.  30. 

Williams,  Lewis,  leading  Whig,  i.  442. 

Williams,  Nathan,  lawyer,  i.  31;  of  Roch 
ester,  i.  419. 

Williams,  Samuel,  a  printer,  i.  44  ;  men 
tioned,  i.  48. 

Williams,  William,  friend  of  Thurlow 
Weed,  i.  20;  of  Utica.  i.  30. 

Wilkes, 'Commodore,   ii.  248,  358. 

Wilkin,  Samuel  J.,  leader  of  Adams  party 
in  1824,  i.  107;  member  of  Assembly  of 
1825,  i.  104;  at  Lafayette  reception,  i. 
18J;  death  of,  i.  400." 

Wilkinson  (General),  at  Sackett's  Harbor, 
i.  39. 

Wilmot  proviso  carried,  ii.  140. 

Wilson.  Henry,  supports  Mr.  Clay,  i.  577; 
ii.  178;  "dictatorial  and  insolent"  to 
President  Johnson,  ii.  451,  470;  appeals 
to  President  Grant  to  strengthen  his  Cab 
inet,  ii.  520. 

Wilson,  James,  ii.  108. 

Wilson,  Jared,  of  Canandaigua,  i.  140. 

Wilson,  John,  aryest  of  Morgan  by,  i.  217. 

Winder,  General,  at  Sackett's  Harbor,  i. 
39. 

Winne,  Billy,  at  opening  of  first  railroad, 
i.  380. 

Winthrop,  Colonel,  of  New  Orleans,  i.  050. 

Winthrop,  Hon.  Robert  C.,  i.  513. 

Wirt,  William,  mentioned,  i.  351;  at  Bal 
timore  convention,  i.  390;  nominated  for 
President,  i.  390,  413. 

Wiswall,  Commodore  S..  attentions  of,  to 
General  Lafayette,  i.  184. 

"With  malice  to  none,"  ii.  449. 

Witt,  Stillman,  a  political  worker  at  Al 
bany,  i.  449. 

Wood,  Fernando,  sentiments  concerning 
the  Rebellion,  i.  015;  ii.  139. 

Wood,  Jethro,  of  Aurora,  i.  142. 

Wood,  Julius,  recollections  of  1800,  ii. 
208,  209. 

Wood,  Mr.,  an  uncomfortable  stage-coach 
passenger,  i.  144. 

Wood,  Samuel  &  Sons,  printers,  i.  50. 

Wood,  Hon.  Silas,  declines  nomination,  i. 
300. 

Wood,  W.  J.,  removed  from  office,  ii.  33. 

Wool  (General),  John  E,,  mentioned,  i.  24; 
Mexican  war,  i.  574. 

Woolsey,  Captain  of'  United  States  brig 
Oneida,  i.  144. 

Woolsey,  Lieutenant,  concerning  some 
cannon-balls,  i.  25. 

Workingman's  convention  at  Syracuse,  i.  ' 
307. 

Workingman's  party,  delegates  of,  to  leg-  i 
islature,  1830,  i.  404,  400. 

Workingmen's  parties,  ii.  502. 

Works,  Sam,  soubriquet  of  Leather-Stock-  < 
ing  applied  to,  i.  99;  a  pioneer  of  Roch 


ester,  i.  99;  concerning  the  bank  at 
Rochester,  i.  104;  mentioned,  i.  158; 
signs  a  petition,  i.  204;  mentioned,  i. 
215;  appointed  to  investigate  the  Mor 
gan  affair,  i.  230;  at  anti-Masonic  con 
vention,  i.  257;  concerning  political  anti- 
masonry,  i.  299;  on  Morgan  inquest 
committee,  i.  310;  member  of  anti-Ma 
sonic  party,  i.  330;  recommends  Mr. 
Gardiner  for  Judge,  i.  339. 

Worth,  Gorham  A.,  chastisement  of  by 
William  Spencer,  i.  49;  "sketches"  of, 
i.  50;  teller  of  Mechanics'  Rank,  Al 
bany,  i.  50;  president  of  New  York  City 
Bank,  i.  50. 

Worth,  James  L.,  son  of  Gorham  A. 
Worth,  i.  50. 

Wright,  Benjamin,  engineer  of  Erie  canal, 
i.  71. 

Wright,  Miss  Francis,  authoress,  men- 
^tioned,  i.  ISO. 

Wright,  Mr.  member  of  Congress  from 
Ohio,  i.  25G. 

Wright,  Silas,  member  of  "Albany  Re 
gency,"  i.  8,  103;  death  of,  i.  9;  elected 
United  States  Senator,  i.  108;  Comptrol 
ler  of  New  York,  i.  348;  letter  to  Mr. 
Van  Buren,  presenting  political  views, 
i.  370. 

|  Wright,  Silas,  Jr.,  member  of  the  Van  Bu 
ren  pirty  in  1824,  i.  107;  at  political  din 
ner  at  Governor  Clinton's,  i.  105. 

Wright,  S.  J.,  prominent  Democrat,  i.  105. 

Wright,  Solomon  C.,  trial  of  for  participa 
tion  in  Morgan  affair,  i.  284. 

Wyman,  John  W.,  concerning  Mr.  Clinton 
for  Governor,  i.  82. 

Wyncoop,  Augustus,  mentioned,  i.  394. 

Yates  (Governor),  Joseph  C.,  mentioned, 
i.  40;  Democratic  Governor,  i.  142;  at 
opening  of  iirst  railroad,  i.  386  ;  and  his 
proclamation,  i.  114-110  ;  message;  to  leg 
islature  concerning  presidential  electors, 
i.  110 :  quoted,  i.  J55. 

Yates  (Judge),  Peter  W.,  mentioned,  i.  147. 

Yates,  Juliana,  wife  of  Samuel  S.  Bald 
win,  i.  147. 

Yates,  John  Van  Ness,  Secretary  of  State, 
i.  114. 

Young,  John,  chosen  Governor,  1840,  ii. 
135. 

Young  (Colonel),  Samuel,  concerning  Erie 
canal,  i.  443;' in  Assembly  of  1820,  i. 
397;  a  brush  with  A.  B.  "Dickinson  in 
legislature,  i.  441  ;  leaves  his  Clay  friends 
and  accepts  Democratic  nomination  for 
Governor,  i.  108:  member  of  legislature, 
i.  45;  supports  Mr.  Clay  for  President, 
i.  107;  at  Rome.  New  York,  i.  71;  del 
egate  to  convention,  i.  89. 

Zabriskie.  George,  a  legislator  of  1S25,  i. 
400 ;  a  legislator  of  1837,  i.  407. 


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